Testimony of Jean Sideris in support of EPA's 

Power Plant Carbon Standard 

Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2011-0660 

On behalf of the Union of Concerned Scientists, May 24, 2012 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today in support of EPA's power plant 

carbon standard. My name is Jean Sideris and I am with the Union of Concerned 

Scientists. UCS is the nation's leading science-based nonprofit working for a 

healthy environment and a safer world. I am here on behalf of UCS's more than 

350,000 supporters, and network of more than 18,000 scientists to show strong 

support for the EPA's efforts to reduce carbon emissions from coal and oil fired 

power plants under the Clean Air Act. UCS works on advancing awareness of both 

the science of climate change and solutions to help lower emissions and mitigate 

the worst impacts of climate change. 

The EPA's actions are grounded in science. The threat posed by unchecked 

climate change has been clearly articulated by numerous national and 

international scientific organizations, including the U.S. National Academy of 

Sciences. If we fail to make deep reductions in carbon emissions, we will greatly 

increase the risk of serious economic, public health and environmental 

consequences including sea level rise, extreme weather events, increased risks of 

asthma and heat stress, a strain on water resources and the loss or degradation of 

vital ecosystems. 

Today, I would like to highlight the risks to public health. I would like to enter into 

the record a letter signed by 356 physicians, registered or advanced practice 

nurses, and public health experts withaMS, MPH, or PhD. The letter, "An Open 

Letter from Health Professionals in support of the Clean Air Act and the 

Environmental Protection Agency," urges U.S. policy makers "to support the 

Environmental Protection Agency's ability under the Clean Air Act to take action 

that will protect public health and address climate change." 
The letter includes endorsers from 48 states and the District of Columbia. It calls 

attention to the professional organizations that have already pointed out the 

health impacts of climate change (American Medical Association, American 

Academy of Pediatrics, American Nursing Association, and the American Public 

Health Association). The most likely health impacts in the U.S. include heatrelated illness, water-borne disease, and mental health impacts from coping with 

extreme weather. The most vulnerable populations are children, the elderly and 

the poor. 

The Clean Air Act has a long history of protecting public health. In 2010 alone, the 

science-based Clean Air Act prevented an estimated 160,000 premature deaths 

and millions of cases of respiratory and cardiovascular disease-annual benefits 

that are projected to grow during the next decade. 

We believe that EPA's draft proposal to limit carbon emissions from new power 

plants is an important first step to putting our nation on a path to reducing global 

warming emissions and avoiding the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. 

Setting an ambitious but achievable standard that is applied uniformly to all fossilfuel fired plants will help ensure a transition to cleaner generation sources over 

time. 

Of course, these standards for new power plants are not enough to address the 

threat of climate change. Reducing emissions from the power sector requires that 

we also set standards for the existing fleet of power plants. Now that the EPA has 

moved to regulate emissions from new power plants under the Clean Air Act, it 

must move quickly to regulate emissions from existing power plants. 

Ultimately, other forms of strong action will be required to achieve the full scale 

of deep reductions needed to reduce or avoid some of the worst impacts of 

climate change, but these are very necessary and important first steps. We thank 

the EPA for taking this first step and look for to continued action to address the 

climate challenge. 

Thank you