.•Hello. My name is Eleanor Hand. Ilive in Atlanta. Thankyou for giving me the opportunityto tell my story and express my views in support of the EPA Clean Power Plan. I, and myfamily, have personallyexperienced the effects ofcarbon pollution and have subsequentlyviewed the fine line between life and death. Iwill 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 herhusband workin the winter ski industry in Lake Tahoe California. Theirjobs may disappear. The ski industry is teetering between frantic investments in artificial snowmaking and economic collapse after a decade ofdrought 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 emergencyroom. These trips were in the late afternoon. The children had been playing outside in hotpolluted airtrapped overthe city. The skies were notblue. My child was turning blue! We arrived atthe ERjustin time to save him.

I suffer from inflammatoryjoint disease thatis 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 thatloves outdoor exercise, blue skies, and the connection with nature. Iwanted to send ourmedical bills to Georgia Power. Georgia has the number one and numberthree most polluting powerplants in the United States. My children chose to move to cleaner airin Vermont and Lake Tahoe, California. Georgia will be a healthierplace 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 andjobs mykids love. But overthe last decade, the wintertourism industryhas lost an estimated $1 billion and as many as 27,000jobs. This is a result ofdiminished snowfall patterns. (These figures are published in a 2012 study commissioned by Protect OurWinters and the Natural Resources Defense Council.) The authors write that failure to respond quickly to climate change "spells economic devastation for a winter sports industrydeeply dependentupon predictable, heavy snowfall." For decades dirty powerplants have been allowed to dump unlimited amounts ofcarbon into the air. Reducingcarbon emissions from power plants may save manyjobs in the winter sports industry. Tropical coral reefs form the very foundation ofmarine biodiversity and theyprotectour shorelines. Have you snorkeled or dived among the coral reefs of the Carribean? In 1985 the corals in the Carribean were iridescentand green as spring leaves, yellow and orange like shades ofripening tomatoes, purple, pinks, royal blue, turquoise, shockingred. All mixed together like an abstractpainting. Ifyou have not seen these reefs itmaybe too late. In 2011, I returned to the Carribean and snorkeled in areas far from human development. I saw reefs thatwere all white and crumbling. There was an occasional "aha' and wavingtowards a bitofcolor. Whoa! Our grandchildren will only see pictures ofvividly colored coral in history books; books that sit next to the dinosaurbooks 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 packup and move outofthe 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 Fper 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 ofthe eastern Caribbean suffered bleaching in 2005, and more than halfdied. (Phil Kramer, DirectorofThe Nature Conservancy's Carribean Program). Additionally the oceans are absorbing nearly 24 million tons ofC02 every day. C02 dissolved in seawater increases ocean acidity. More acidic oceans decrease the availability ofcarbonate 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 reefbuilding to cease bythe end ofthe 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 ofthe first irreversible consequences ofclimate change. (http://www.nan.edu/catalog.php?record_id=18373) Viewing life on planet earth from my three legged stool, it seems thatthe time is now, notlater, to adoptthe EPA Clean Power Plan. It is time to stop debating. Let's take care ofour children's health, preservejobs in industries thatare collapsing as a result ofclimate disruption, and stop the destruction ofthe ecosystems which sustain us. Thankyou for listening.