EPA Clean Power Plan Hearing 

Testimony of David Scott, Sierra Club 

July 29, 2014 Washington, D.C. 

Good morning. My name is David Scott and I am the President of the Sierra Club's 

National Board of Directors. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you today about 

why the Sierra Club supports the EPA's recently proposed Clean Power Plan. The Clean 

Power Plan's carbon pollution standards for existing power plants are an important and 

historic step toward addressing one of the most daunting challenges of our time – climate 

disruption. 

As Superstorm Sandy and other extreme events have shown, the costs of etimate inaction 

are already too high. We face risks no responsible officials would ignore, and we have 

no time to lose. If we are to stem the climate crisis and protect our children's firture, we 

must move quickly to climate solutions such as wind and solar power and energy 

efficiency. Power plants are responsible for 40 percent of the carbon pollution in the US. 

By cleaning up and modernizing power plants, we will begin to clean up our air, reduce 

pollution-related illnesses, and curb climate disruption. Reducing carbon pollution from 

power plants will not only save billions of dollars each year, it will save lives. In fact, for 

every dollar of investment under the Plan, we'11 see roughly seven dollars in health 

benefits. l 

The Clean Power Plan will spur innovation, accelerate the clean energy economy, and 

create good American jobs, because it allows states the flexibility to achieve their targets 

by increasing renewable energy sources and energy efficiency. This means more jobs 

manufacturing and installing solar panels, erecting wind turbines, upgrading the grid, and 

making homes and businesses more energy efficient. And clean energy jobs tend to be 

good jobs—they pay much more than median wage levels across the economy, and 

nearly half of them employ workers who have less than a four-year college degree. 

By taking this step to cut carbon pollution, the Administration is setting the stage for a 

shift in how we power our society. If we are to grow our economy and shift to a 21 St 

century renewable model for energy production, we must modernize our infrastructure 

and diversify our sources. Many states are already leading the charge to transition to 

clean energy. For example, according to the American Wind Energy Association, Iowa 

and North Dakota now receive 20% of their energy from wind power, and 38 states have 

utility-scale wind installations. 

The Clean Power Plan creates a strong framework that will enable states to move towards 

clean energy, a framework that puts states in the driver's seat to create plans to limit 

carbon pollution. The carbon pollution standards present a huge opportunity to improve 

our environment, public health and the economy. The US is well on its way to meeting 

and exceeding the EPA-proposed goal, and the states can be leaders in making the 

transition to a clean, equitable energy future. 

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Sierra Club will be working with allies to strengthen the EPA's carbon standards for 

existing power plants. With improvements that Sierra Club recommends, the Clean 

Power Plan could achieve two important ends: 

• reduce power plant emissions by 35-40 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. This is 

necessary to meet the president's goal of a 17 percent reduction in U.S. carbon 

emissions from 2005 levels by 2020, and also 

• promote energy efficiency and renewable energy without incentivizing nuclear 

energy, natural gas and other dangerous and climate-disrupting energy sources. 

In 2012, wind energy and solar photovoltaics (PV) were two of the fastest growing 

electric generation technologies in the United States: cumulative installed wind energy 

capacity increased by nearly 28% and cumulative installed solar photovoltaic capacity 

grew more than 83% from the previous year. EPA rightly includes these resources in 

setting the state targets, but the availability and quantity of RE opportunities assumed is 

too low. With a current account of retirements of dirty power plants and a more accurate 

estimate of growth in the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors, the Clean 

Power Plan could produce deeper reductions in carbon emissions. 

The Sierra Club is determined that the Clean Power Plan will result in state carbon 

pollution standards that are not only strong, but just. This means we will also be working 

with our partners to ensure that the most vulnerable communities are protected by the 

standards, that they are consulted throughout the standard-setting and state plan 

development process, and that sufficient public and private resources are made available 

to help workers and affected communities make the transition to the clean-energy 

economy. 

Poll after poll demonstrates that the public supports implementation of the Clean Air Act, 

and also supports letting the EPA do its job to protect public health and ensure a cleaner, 

safer future for us all. We should not let a vocal minority of short-sighted, profit-driven 

corporate polluters derail standards that will have tremendous benefits for our children, 

and for all Americans who value clean air and wild places. 

Again, we strongly support EPA's efforts to clean up dangerous carbon pollution and we 

strongly support this rule. Thank you.