Testimony to EPA on Carbon Limits for New Coal Fired Power Plants Herschel Peeker tor the National Wildlife Federation May 24,2012

Good morning. Myname is Herschel Peeker, ofthe National Wildlife Federation, and I am here on behalfofour47,000 wildlife advocates who submitted comments online to the EPA in support oflimitsto carbonpollution from coal fired powerplants. The National Wildlife Federation and our supporters who submitted comments to the EPA are in support oflimits to carbon pollution from powerplants, because climate change is the number one threat to wildlife today. In the lifetime ofa child born today, 20-30 percent ofthe world's plant and animal species will beon the brink ofextinction because ofglobal warming. Polarbears are a particularly vulnerable species for which the impacts ofglobal warming are quite evident and alarming to National Wildlife Federation advocates. As climate change melts sea ice, the U.S. Geological Surveyprojects that two thirds ofpolar bears will disappear by 2050. This dramatic decline in the polarbearpopulationis occurringin our lifetime, which is a miniscule fraction ofthe time polarbears have roamed the vast Arctic seas. Last year, in 2011, sea ice melted especiallyrapidly. Arctic sea ice extent for January 2011 was the lowest in the satelliterecord for that month. A female polarbearreportedly swam for nine days-nonstop--across the BeaufortSea before reaching an ice floe, costingher 22 percent of her weight and her cub. These struggles are onlyworsening for the Arctic wildlife whose habitats are quickly altering. In southern portions oftheir range, like Hudson Bay, Canada, there is no seaice during the summer, and the polarbears must live on land until the Bay freezes in the fall, whereupon they can again hunt onthe ice. While on land during the summer, these bears eat little ornothing. In the past 20 years the ice-free period in Hudson Bay has increasedbyan average of20 days, cutting seal hunting season short by nearly three weeks. Exacerbating the problems ofthe loss of hunting areas, the shrinkingpolarice cap will also likely cause a decline in polarbears' prey: seals. Wildlife are strugglingbeyond the Arctic as well. The changing climate and associated extreme weather events are altering wildlifehabitat and harming species across the country, including the western pika, waterfowl, coldwater fish, salmon, lizards, moose, and songbirds. Thelist goes on and on. National Wildlife Federation supporters from states across the country are in D.C. and Chicago to testify today, and sharingtheir first-hand accounts ofthe changes in water fowl migration, the decline in fish populations that depend on cold streams, and the changes to the forests and waterswhere we go to find wildlife, reconnect with nature, and pass on the love ofwildlife and the outdoors with the next generation. National Wildlife Federation advocates strongly support limits on carbon pollution causing global warmingbecause we want this wildlife to survive for the next generation to know. Along with our supporters, I strongly support the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed first-ever national carbon pollution limits for new power plant smokestacks and ask that the EPA continue to work on limits to existing power plants and other sources ofpollution that cause global warming.