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Hello. My name is Eleanor Hand. I live in Atlanta. Thank you for giving 

me the opportunity to tell my story and express my views in support of 

the EPA Clean Power Plan. 

I, and my family, have personally experienced the effects of carbon 

pollution and have subsequently viewed the fine line between life and 

death. I will tell my story perched on a three legged stool. One leg is in 

Atlanta, one is in California and one is in the Carribean. 

1. My son almost died from asthma in Atlanta in 1988. 

2. My daughter and her husband work in the winter ski industry in Lake 

Tahoe California. Their jobs may disappear. The ski industry is teetering 

between frantic investments in artificial snowmaking and economic 

collapse after a decade of drought and low snowfall. 

3. In 1985, my children and I swam in wonder and awe among vital, 

colorful and plentiful coral in the Carribean waters. In 2011, I swam in 

shock and horror among the dying, bleached white, and scarce coral in 

those same Carribean waters. 

My children grew up in Atlanta in the 1980's and 90's. They suffered 

from asthma. We made five trips to the emergency room. These trips 

were in the late afternoon. The children had been playing outside in hot 
polluted air trapped over the city. The skies were not blue. My child was 

turning blue! We arrived at the ER just in time to save him. 

I suffer from inflammatory joint disease that is aggravated on code 

orange days. On these days we have learned to stay inside and use air 

filters. This is difficult and unnatural for a family that loves outdoor 

exercise, blue skies, and the connection with nature. I wanted to send 

our medical bills to Georgia Power. Georgia has the number one and 

number three most polluting power plants in the United States. My 

children chose to move to cleaner air in Vermont and Lake Tahoe, 

California. Georgia will be a healthier place for them to live in 2030, if 

Georgia has reduced the carbon emissions from power plants 44% 

below 2005 levels. 

Yes, Lake Tahoe has cleaner air and jobs my kids love. But over the last 

decade, the winter tourism industry has lost an estimated $1 billion and 

as many as 27,000 jobs. This is a result of diminished snowfall patterns. 

(These figures are published in a 2012 study commissioned by Protect 

Our Winters and the Natural Resources Defense Council.) The authors 

write that failure to respond quickly to climate change "spells economic 

devastation for a winter sports industry deeply dependent upon 

predictable, heavy snowfall." For decades dirty power plants have been 

allowed to dump unlimited amounts of carbon into the air. Reducing 
carbon emissions from power plants may save many jobs in the winter 

sports industry. 

Tropical coral reefs form the very foundation of marine biodiversity 

and they protect our shorelines. Have you snorkeled or dived among 

the coral reefs of the Carribean? In 1985 the corals in the Carribean 

were iridescent and green as spring leaves, yellow and orange like 

shades of ripening tomatoes, purple, pinks, royal blue, turquoise, 

shocking red. All mixed together like an abstract painting. If you have 

not seen these reefs it may be too late. In 2011, I returned to the 

Carribean and snorkeled in areas far from human development. I saw 

reefs that were all white and crumbling. There was an occasional "aha' 

and waving towards a bit of color. Whoa! Our grandchildren will only 

see pictures of vividly colored coral in history books; books that sit next 

to the dinosaur books on their shelves. 

Colorful algae living in the tissue of the coral, provide color and food to 

the coral. When sea surface temperatures rise these algae pack up and 

move out of the coral, leaving the coral tissue white and hungry. Over 

time the coral deteriorates or dies. The EPA website indicates a rise in 

in sea surface temperatures of .13 degrees F per decade between 1901 

and 2013. 
(Increasing sea surface temperatures have led to a dramatic rise in coral 

bleaching incidents in which the stressed organisms expel the colorful 

algae living in their tissues, leaving a whitish color. Up to 90 percent of 

corals in parts of the eastern Caribbean suffered bleaching in 2005, and 

more than half died. (Phil Kramer, Director of The Nature Conservancy's 

Carribean Program). 

Additionally the oceans are absorbing nearly 24 million tons of C02 

every day. C02 dissolved in seawater increases ocean acidity. More 

acidic oceans decrease the availability of carbonate ions, which coral use 

to build their skeletons. 

A 500 ofthe world's leading ocean acidification experts say, the oceans 

are currently acidifying at an "unprecedented rate, faster than at any 

time in the last 300 million years". Ocean acidification alone is likely to 

cause reef building to cease by the end of the 21st century on the 

current C02 emissions trajectory. 

(http:f/thjnkprogress.org/climaW2013/Llj1_4/2942311/ocean-

?Siclification-marine::sJ>_e_C:ie~/) This may prove to be one of the first 

irreversible consequences of climate change. 

(http://www.nan.edu/catalog.php?record_id=18373) 

Viewing life on planet earth from my three legged stool, it seems that 
the time is now, not later, to adopt the EPA Clean Power Plan. It is time 

to stop debating. Let's take care of our children's health, preserve jobs 

in industries that are collapsing as a result of climate disruption, and 

stop the destruction of the ecosystems which sustain us. Thank you for 

listening.