My name is Cynthia Schmidt, I live in the mountains west of Denver. I am here 

today as a very concerned citizen, giving my full support to the EPA's Clean 

Power Plan. 

It is clear - we must reduce carbon pollution and it must be a national priority. It is 

imperative for our health and its impact on climate change. Here in Colorado, 

we've seen first hand the devastation of drought on our wild lands, devastating 

forest fires and extreme flooding. I know people who lost homes and businesses 

with the wide spread flooding last year. It is clear we MUST urgently do 

something NOW as a country. 

The EPA Clean Power Plan sets a very achievable goal, giving each individual 

state targets to meet so that overall, we can reduce carbon pollution from power 

plants 30% from 2005 levels by 2030. That's 15 years! 

In 1961, President Kennedy set a national goal of landing a man on the moon - 9 

years later, Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon with his famous quote: "One 

small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind". 

We as a nation put a man on the moon with 9 years of focused national effort. 

Are opponents saying we can't possibly reduce our carbon emissions in 15 

years? It's time to take that one small step towards that giant leap for mankind 

with our energy policy. 

The EPA's plan does not dictate HOW each state must reach its goals. This is an 

important fact that needs to be heard and understood by the public to counter the 

mis-information that the plan will "force" states to close plants and lose jobs with 

no choices and no state control. This is not true. 

I fully support that fact that the EPA's plan allows each state to meet its goals by 

creating its own plan, working with industry and even with neighboring states. 

This is a smart, feasible way to move us away from dirty power to cleaner 

power. 

Many states with large dirty power energy economies, especially those with large 

coal economies, claim this plan cannot be done. This is just not true. The proof 

that it CAN be done is right here in Colorado. 

The energy industry plays a HUGE role in Colorado's economy. In 2012, 

Colorado's energy industry employed more than122,000 people and produced 

more than $41 billion in revenue. In 2011, Colorado ranked 5th in the nation for 

natural gas production, 9th for crude oil and 11th for coal production. BUT, even 

with all that - by 2013, Colorado ranked 8th in the nation for total solar capacity 

and1Oth for installed wind generation - and we've only continued to grow our 

renewable energy power production and industry - meaning cleaner air and more 

jobs in Colorado. Colorado is on the forefront of an environmentally and fiscally 

7/29/14, Cynthia Schmidt, pg 1 
responsible clean energy policy. 

How was this possible? 

In 2010, we passed the Colorado Clean Air-Clean Jobs Act - which already has 

Colorado on the path to meeting the new EPA Clean Power Act goals. Public 

support for the Act was very high - back in 2010, a bi-partisan research/polling 

team found that 79% of Coloradans preferred renewable energy and natural gas 

over coal (reference 1). 

You may ask - WHY have I just reviewed Colorado's success? THIS is why: 

Colorado's continuing progress since 2010 proves it is ENTIRELY feasible for the 

country to meet the new Clean Power Plan goals. Colorado is a MODEL to hold 

up to other states. 

In addition, Coloradans themselves WANT cleaner energy, even more so today 

than in 2010. 

There are no legitimate reasons that we, as a nation, cannot reach the new goals 

in 15 years - by 2030. 

Thank you for listening. 

Cynthia Schmidt 

7511 S Homesteader Dr, Morrison, CO 80465 

303-594-0064 

kaA, — 

?Q.V. Or\ ■'SS 

References ‘ " N\ 

1) A survey conducted by a bipartisan research team — Republican polling 

service Public Opinion Strategies and Democratic pollsters Fairbank, Maslin, 

Maullin, Metz & Associates — found that 79 percent of Colorado voters prefer 

renewable energy and natural gas over coal. 

2) www.colorado.gov 'The Colorado State Energy Report 2014" 

7/29/14, Cynthia Schmidt, pg 2