J_estimony on EP i\ CarbonPollution Standard forFuture Power Plants 

Hello and thank you for giving all of us the opportunity to present testimony on this 

important new standard. My name is Robert Jacob. I've lived in the Logan Square 

neighborhood of Chicago for over !2 years. I'm a scientist at Argonne National 

Laboratory on the southwest side of Chicago but my remarks here today are my own and 

do not necessarily represent the opinions of my employer. 

I'm actually a climate scientist; and my specialty is those complex computer programs 

known as climate models. I'm very familiar with the details of those models and would 

like to say a little about them since the conclusions drawn Jfom those models are partly 

why we are here. We use these programs, and the supereom pulers they run on, to make 

theoretical calculations of how the climate system responds to changes such as an 

increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide. And you should know that the science 

behind these models is extremely well founded. Some of the equations they solve, such 

as those for wind and currents, have their origins in the 19th century. They have been 

veri lied and re-verilled countless times and underlie most of the science and technology 

of our modern world. 

Using the observed changes in carbon dioxide and other gases over the 20th century as 

input, these models calculate a rise in global average temperature. And the calculated 

rise closely matches the observed rise in global average temperature we saw in the 20th 

century. That is a remarkable scientific achievement given the complexity of the full 

climate system. And it is a straightforward application of these models to then calculate 

what would happen as carbon dioxide levels continue to rise. The result from those 

simulations is well known: the global average temperature will continue to rise over the 

long term leading to significant disruptions in the climate we have known. These 

disruptions will be unprecedented in Earth's history because the planet has never before 

experienced this large a rise in carbon dioxide over such a relatively short period of time. 

One of the largest sources of that carbon dioxide pollution is electricity generation from 

burning fossil fuels and coal is one of the worst fossil fuels. There are currently no 

national limits on how much carbon dioxide coal-fired power plants can dump in to the 

atmosphere. It costs the power plants nothing to do so. The only way to llx this market 

failure is through national carbon pollution limits. 

Carbon dioxide mixes in to the global atmosphere relatively rapidly so the pollution from 

power plants here in the Midwest have and will continue to affect the climate of the rest 

of the United States and the world. And those effects will be long lasting. Calculations 

performed by Prof. David Archer at the University of Chicago have shown that this 

excess carbon dioxide can stay in the atmosphere for a thousand years and even after ten 
thousand years, as much as 20% of the pollution emitted today will still be in the 

atmosphere. This is why there is a need to act urgently. We have heard others testify 

about the health effects of other forms of carbon pollution hom power plants. 

These proposed standards will thus protect the health and well-being of children and 

families now and help ensure their future will not be blighted by even more climate 

disruption then we are already seeing. Taking responsibility for carbon dioxide pollution 

on a national level will hopefi.dly encourage other countries to act. 

Over time, we must reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation to zero 

so it will be important to revisit these rules and gradually lower the maximum emission 

rate to further encourage the transition to clean energy. The exception allowed for new 

plants that only plan to use Carbon Capture and Storage should be eliminated. Our 

climate can't afTord a bunch of new plants emitting above the proposed limit for even I 

year, much less 10 years. We can't trust polluters to fulfill a promise to use Carbon 

Capture and Storage especially since it is an expensive technology. Finally. these rules 

should be followed by a similar set of rules for existing po\ver plants. No matter how 

much pollutant has already been emitted, it's always worthwhile to reduce and eliminate 

future pollution. These standards on carbon pollution should be implemented 

immediately and followed by further restrictions. Thank you. 

Contact Information: 

Robert Jacob. 

2445 N. Sawyer Ave. Apt 2, Chicago, IL, 60647 

rljacobrdmncritech,Det