Good morning. My name is MaryAnne Hitt. I'm a mother, aconcerned citizen, and the directorofthe Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign. !live in West Virginia with myfamily, and because my husband is travelingon business this week, I am joined today by mytwo-year-old daughter, Hazel. Hopefully, her patience will match the length of my remarks this morning. We will see. I'm here todayto voice myfull support forthe EPA's proposed carbon pollution standard. A decade ago, there were over 200 proposed coal-fired power plants on the drawing board nationwide. Fast forward to today, ten years later, and only a handful ofthose plants have been built. Why? Some were rejected by moms, dads, small business owners, and other local residents who feared a major new industrial polluter in their backyard would harm theirchildren's health, destroytheir propertyvalues, and trap them in atown or neighborhood condemned to a downward spiral of pollution and poverty. Some were rejected by governors, who wanted their states to be clean energy leaders in the 21 51 century, and thought major new investments in coal would taketheir state in exactly the wrong direction. Some were rejected by state regulators, who feared that ratepayers would pay dearly on their electric bills iftheirstate became locked into high carbon energyforthe next fifty plus years. And some were rejected by financial backers, who realized thatthese projects were an increasingly bad bet, because they simply could not compete with the rapidly dropping prices of cleaner sources ofenergy. As a result, onlyone new coal-fired power plant has broken ground in the US since 2008, and the permit forthat project was recently struck down in a unanimous decision by the Mississippi Supreme Court. MaryAnne Hitt- Page 1Duringthis same decade, in 2009, the EPA issued itsfindingthat carbon pollution endangers public health and welfare. As Ijust noted, Americans ofall walks of life were simultaneously reaching the same conclusion- from financiers to governors, from state regulators to local moms and dads. In issuingthis proposed carbon pollution standard, the EPA has taken an important step to safeguard our health and ourfamilies. As I'm sure you will hear manytimestoday, carbon pollution has been linked by scientiststo increasingtemperatures and increasing levels of smog, which triggers asthma attacks and other life-threatening health problems. But carbon pollution doesn'tjustthreaten ourchildren's health today. As the main cause ofclimate disruption, carbon pollution casts a dark shadow over every aspect oftheir future, afuture menaced by the threat of increasing droughts, wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and rising sea levels, notto mention the resulting political instability around the world. My daughter Hazel is the light of my life. She is learningto sing, she neverwants to come inside, and one of herfavorite things is wandering around the alleys ofoursmall town looking for cats. She is also an 11th generation West Virginian, through herfather. With our deep Appalachian roots, we understand all too well the challenges that the clean energy future poses to some parts ofour country. But Ibelieve we have the ingenuity and know-howtotackle those challenges. Here is howthe largest newspaper in West Virginia, the 

### Charleston Gazette, put it in their editorial this past Sunday: "Thistopic [climate change] has special resonance in West Virginia, afossil fuel treasure trove. And what happens here has aspecial impact on the future ofthe planet. Pollution controls seeking to reduce global warming are sure to impose tighter restrictions on coal and natural gas. West Virginia's energyshould not be squandered on a shortsighted attemptto protect the status quo, orto discredit science in the public's eyes, orto vilify the Obama administration'svery reasonable proposal that new coal-fired power plants be required to limittheirgreenhouse gas emissions."

MaryAnne Hitt- Page 2The EPA's proposed carbon pollution standard is a common-sense step towards addressing avery real threat to this nation, and tothe future that my daughter, and all our children, will inherit. Ifanything, the EPA is arriving late in the game, following in the footsteps of community leaders, governors, state regulators, and financiers who all realized, in the past decade, that new power plants in this country must deal with their carbon pollution. I support the proposed standard, and Iencourage you to finalize itwith all due haste. Thank you.

MaryAnne Hitt PO Box 459 Shepherdstown, WV 25443 maryanne.hitt@sierraclub.org 304-876-7064

MaryAnne Hilt- Page 3