EPA CLEAN POWER PLAN PROPOSED RULE PUBLIC HEARING 

BRANDON CHESHIRE TESTIMONY JULY 29TH, 2014 @ 2:25pm 

Hello and good afternoon, by name is Brandon Cheshire and I am the founder and 

Director of Production of Arizona based SunHarvest Solar. My industry has 

experienced tremendous growth due to plummeting solar panel costs, rising energy 

costs, and ideal irradiance levels. SunHarvest Solar currently employs 20 people 

haling from diverse backgrounds including the semi-conductor industry, electrical 

industry, ASU Sustainability students, environmental sciences, communication, 

NGO's as well as former military veterans. We have installed over 10 MW of solar in 

AZ, and continue to double in size and revenue annually since 2009. Last year the 

solar industry alone employed aver 10,000 people in Arizona, and 119,000 

Americans nationally. 

I did not imagine I would ever become politically involved in environmental policy, 

activism, or non-profit work when I started a solar company. The more I learned 

about the carbon pollution issue, the more I felt compelled to act in behalf of those 

who could not, or those who would not. I have participated or volunteered as an 

invested stake-holder for such environmental organizations as: The Sierra Club's 

Beyond Coal Campaign, Forward On Climate rally, Al Gore's Climate Reality Project, 

Citizens Climate Lobby, the Great March for Climate Action, and look forward to the 

People's Climate March in NYC for the UN's historic summit on climate change in 

September. Upon my return to Arizona I plan to file paperwork to establish a 

501C3/C4 called G.R.E.E.N. Communities whose intent will be to make solar power 

and energy efficiency more accessible to lower income communities in Arizona. 

I represent many Arizona voices and organizations today to voice public support in 

favor of the President's Clean Power Plan. We do not have to choose between the 

health of our children and the health of our economy. "YOUR GREED GAVE ME 

ASTHMA" AND "I DESERVE CLEAN AIR" are signs created by my children, who have 

the right to clean air, clean water, and clean energy. 

Point to the visual aid: 

1. Picture of children, and the Arizona Republic article that reported on the 

event. Other media coverage from larger climate related protests in Arizona. 

2. Published editorial content speaking about net-metering, and the changing 

energy economy. The content is necessary to combat the corporate political 

spending of unlimited funds from fossil fuel interests. If only the renewable 

energy sector was allowed to compete fairly on the open market, or with 

similar subsidies...the solar revolution may already have happened. 

3. All of the drugs my children take daily to live with the current level of 

402ppm CO2. 

4. Navajo coal generating station that is polluting the air at the Grand Canyon. 

5. My favorite natural wilderness spot Fossil Creek is closed regularly do to 

drought and fire restrictions, and again for monsoon seasons that cause 

torrential downpours and potential flash floods. 

6. Ironically, this is also memorialized on the back of my son's first protest sign. 
Until we value the trees for their ability to convert pollution to oxygen, more than 

we value the lumber they produce, my 10 year old son Jaxon will continue to suffer 

the effects of childhood asthma and along with his 7 year old brother, Keegan, live 

with severe allergies. The greed of a few should not surpass the needs of all. 

There is a coal industry; there is also a tobacco industry. Both do exist, both are 

harmful, and both are potentially deadly things that society would be far healthier 

without. Our climate is observably changing, the science is clear, and we are a major 

contributor to this changing climate. Science tells us that roughly 80% of all the 

fossil fuel reserves need to stay in the ground for us to maintain a habitable planet 

for human beings. Whether or not one agrees with climate change, there is not a 

downside to healthy and clean air, water, soil, forests, rivers, lakes, and wildlife. 

Winston Churchill said "The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, 

ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is." -Truth 

The truth is that there are more than enough free clean energy resources in 

renewable energies that we can meet our energy needs many times over without 

poisoning the air and water around us. The Clean Power Plan is the catalyst to shift 

towards substantial deployment of renewable energies, we will get the power we 

need and a better world in the process. We will also free ourselves from relying on 

energy sources outside the US from nations that may be hostile to us. We possess 

the technology NOW to do the right thing NOW, and that is exactly the reason I 

support the EPA, the Clean Power Plan, and a future that considered 

intergenerational justice on a finite planet. We all place ourselves in danger to one 

degree or another every time we stand up, but we place our children and 

grandchildren in even greater danger when we don't! 

Brandon Cheshire 

SunHarvest Solar 

3810 W Cochise Drive Phoenix, AZ 85051 

623-204-0366 

brandon@sunharvest-us.com