Good afternoon, my name is Jayeesha Dutta and I work with the Gulf Restoration

Network based in New Orleans, Louisiana. I was born in Mobile, Alabama, grew up in New York City, lived in the Bay Area of California and even right here in Colorado for a few years. Every single one of these places that I consider my home is suffering from the impacts of climate change: devastating flooding, sea level rise, record droughts, and stronger storm systems like Hurricane Sandy. As such, this is not only about my work - this issue is a personal one, close to my heart. The places I am most connected to and the people who are nearest and dearest to me are already suffering from the impacts of climate change. The time to take action is now, our communities, environment and economy cannot wait any longer. So I thank you for taking the time to hear my comments here in Denver today.

I coordinate the Gulf Future Coalition, a diverse consortium of nearly 60 community, environmental, arts and social justice organizations across the 5 Gulf Coast states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. I am here today to urge the federal government to take swift, immediate and significant action around climate change before it is too late for many of the communities I am here representing today. For example, coastal Louisiana communities and tribes like the Isle de Jean Charles Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw are becoming the first climate change refugees of our nation. The next decade or so will very likely wipe out the tribe's remaining strip of land, as most of the Island has already claimed by rising sea level due to climate change.

Coastal land loss in areas such as Isle de Jean Charles has been accelerated due to oil and gas canals criss crossing our delicate ecosystem in the Gulf, another impetus for shifting our reliance on extractive energy to renewable, sustainable forms of energy production. Gulf coast communities and ecosystems have become highly vulnerable to climate change due to a host of factors such as sealevel rise, subsidence, and increasingly strong storm systems on an annual basis.

This has become even more obvious in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion, which we will be spending decades recovering from. The costs of relocating people and planning to relocate folks now is cheaper in the long run than scattering impacted citizens to the wind, which we horrifically experienced during Katrina. However, we can avoid these relocation costs and the loss of culture that would inevitably come with a climate change diaspora by implementing clean energy standards and efficiency measures immediately. In this light, it is high time we work not only to cut carbon pollution but decrease our dependence on all forms of dirty energy.

We support cutting carbon pollution, and commend the current ambitious plan to move our country away from dirty coal plants to a clean energy future. We also believe the proposed Plan must consider the EPA's Principles of Environmental Justice and Climate Justice for guidance. It is essential that in adopting the Plan, the EPA fulfill the intent of Executive Order 12898. We see a need for the EPA to conduct a thorough analysis of this proposed plan's impact on highly vulnerable and marginalized communities, and make it a required part of the State Implementation Planning Process.

Additionally, we believe clean energy solutions must benefit all communities. Opportunities for clean energy jobs, education and affordable alternative energy solutions must be available for residents living in the most impacted communities such as those I currently serve in the Gulf Coast, one of the poorest regions in the country. The State Implementation Planning process must include leaders and advocates from these impacted communities at the table and this outreach should be included as a significant part of the SIP process. Also at the state level, we need to make sure that access to renewable and alternative energy opportunities are equitable. We must encourage a variety of avenues to insure eligibility of the

### widest swath of our citizenry to participate in programs for clean energy, possibly

by partnering with community organizations, churches and local municipal agencies. Please consider these types of nontraditional collaborations to address an unprecedented dilemma.

Finally, we believe coal exports are a problem that need to be addressed. Gulf Coast states are feeling the impact of that, too. Frontline communities in our region near coal export terminals and along rail routes are often affected by these exports - contributing to adverse health consequences, lower property values and degradation of the environment. Further, even if the US is not burning the coal, by exporting it somewhere else for it to be consumed, we haven't done anything to decrease the impact on our climate. We cannot mine, transport, ship and burn all that coal and also avert the worst climate impacts. As such, we encourage the Agency to also adopt strict regulation and enforcement of coal exports in this Plan.

While the current proposed Clean Power Plan is a step in the right direction, we urge the Agency to take courageous action in developing a systemic approach instead of a symptomatic one, to broaden the breadth and depth and be comprehensive in addressing these interconnected and urgent issues. As I have shared with you this afternoon, the Gulf Coast is on the front lines in experiencing the impacts of the climate change. We know it will take a concerted and coordinated effort from federal, state and local agencies in tandem with communities across the country to build a resilient, healthy and clean future for us all. Again, I thank you for taking the time to listen to our concerns and recommendations to move us in that direction.