Public Hearing: Carbon Pollution Standard for Future Power Plants 

Speaker: 

Daniel Lee 

6113 S Kimbark Ave, #3S 

Chicago IL 60637 

Scheduled date and time. 

24 May 2012, 0950-0955 

Representing: 

Physicians for Social Responsibility 

ll l l - 14th St. NW, suite 700 

Washington, DC 20005 

In what capacity 

At-large board member 

Summary of comments: 

I would like to preface my remarks by reviewing some basic givens: 

• The earth is undeniably in a warming phase, with the worldwide 

average temperature currently 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit higher than it 

was a century and a quarter ago. 

• The rate of warming is accelerating and, as a result, most of this 

increase has occurred within the past few decades, with 11 of the 

past l 2 years among the dozen warmest on record since l 850. 

• The primary cause of this global warming trend is the increasing 

level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which in turn is the 

result of human activities creating it at a much faster rate than 

plants and oceans can absorb it. In other words, we have knocked a 

key global equilibrium out of balance, and have done so to the 
extent that even if carbon emissions were reduced to pre-industrial 

levels today, the warming would not immediately stop, let alone 

begin to reverse itself. 

Among the most devastating consequences of global warming is climate 

change, a term which includes the increasing incidence of ever-morepowerful hurricanes, heat waves, wildfires, and other natural disasters. 

In addition to these relatively transient, short-lived types of catastrophes, 

severe and long-lasting droughts are transforming an increasingly large 

proportion of the earth's surface from arable land to deserts, potentially 

resulting in food insecurity in many parts of the world and higher food 

prices everywhere. There is even evidence suggesting that global 

warming may, paradoxically, trigger a mini-ice age in Western Europe 

due to permanent alterations in the oceans' circulation patterns. 

A report on future health costs associated with these climate-changerelated occurrences that was published in the journal Health Affairs late 

last year focused on several public health concerns. Among those most 

pertinent to those living in this part of the country are: 

• More ozone pollution episodes leading to an increase in emergency 

department visits, hospitalizations, and premature deaths as a 

result of reduced lung function and airway inflammation; 

• Longer, more intense, and more frequent heat waves, which 

increase stress on the heart, lungs, kidneys, and other organ 

systems leading to, once again, emergency department visits, 

hospitalizations, and premature deaths; 

• The emergence of infectious diseases previously not found in the 

area-for example, it is thought that the appearance of West Nile 

virus in the United States was linked to changing climatic 

conditions. 
Fortunately, thanks to the work of dedicated scientists, public health and 

health care practitioners, environmentalists, activists, elected and 

appointed officials, and the membership of entities such as the United 

Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the information 

that I've just relayed is widely known and, to a large extent anyway, 

accepted as accurate. 

What I think is a very positive consequence of the dissemination, 

understanding, and general acceptance of this information, gloomy as it 

is, is that we are seeing large numbers of people taking at least some 

measure of personal responsibility for global warming and changing 

behavior accordingly. I'm talking about reducing one's carbon footprint 

by doing everything from converting to more efficient lighting, 

appliances, and cars to designing and constructing green buildings to 

using bicycles and public transport to commute. 

And while I don't want to downplay these things, and applaud the 

genuine sacrifices made by some in the name of saving the planet, this 

type of fragmented, piecemeal, and inconsistently implemented approach 

is not enough. Not by a long shot. 

What is needed, and what has been missing in our country up until now, 

is meaningful collective action toward achieving some measure of control 

over the source of global warming: carbon pollution. This rule presents 

the first real opportunity for us to do that as a society, and I 

wholeheartedly support it. Let us not fiddle and dither and delay and 

remain indecisive any longer. Please implement and then rigorously 

enforce the Carbon Pollution Standard for New Power Plants.