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THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS 

of Maryland & of Montgomery County, MD. 

and 

THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF MARYLAND 

~ A R Y 

® A ° 111 Cathedral St #201, Annapolis, MD (410) 269-0232 

Comments for EPA hearing on the proposed Clean Power Plan 

Washington DC, July 30, 2014 

I am Linda Silversmith from Rockville, Maryland -- a member of the League of Women Voters 

in four different states, totaling 44 years, as well as a person who awoke to the need to 

actively care about Earth and the environment on Earth Day 1970. 

This timing came after a vacation that included driving at age 10 on a family vacation 

through the factory-caused visible smog formerly found in Pittsburgh and after seeing photos 

of an earlier smoggy London in England, but before I developed asthma while my two siblings 

developed other immunological diseases and before I learned key elements about ecology as 

a science while preparing to teach college biology classes — to non-science majors -- that 

included an environmental component. 

UrQency. In retrospect it is sad that the United States did not have the foresight 30 years ago 

to schedule the steps being proposed in the 2014 Clean Power Plan. While members of the 

League of Women Voters in Maryland are definitely pleased that EPA has stepped forward 

with this proposal, I speak on their behalf today to urge this administration (1) to strengthen 

the plan further and (2) to begin to spell out how best to set a price on carbon emissions. 

Indeed, in June 2014 by an overwhelming vote, League members at our biennial 

convention passed a resolution "supporting a price on carbon emissions that will increase in 

stages, as part of an overall program to improve energy efficiency and to replace fossil fuels 

with renewable energy, fast enough to avoid serious damage to the climate system". This 

resolution is in line with 15 years of League advocacy for reducing carbon dioxide emissions. 

Power plants — our single largest source -- account for 40% of the carbon pollution in the 

United States, the type of invisible pollution that is causing and accelerating climate change. 

For the sake of our children, our children's children, and future generations, we need to act 

now, AND the United States needs to become a leader in fighting and ameliorating climate 

change instead of being the leader in the highest energy use per person in the world. 

It may take a special kind of courage by both industrialists and citizens to put aside shortterm profits and convenience for long-term good. Scientific calculations show that we cannot 

afford to use up all of the remaining fossil fuel supplies on Earth without endangering Earth's 

livability. The third National Climate Assessment report, available since early May 2014 [ 

http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/ ] stresses that the U.S. is already undergoing damages 

League of Women Voters of Montgomery County, Maryland, Inc., 12216 Parklawn Dr., Suite 101, Rockville, MD 20852 

Tel.: 301-984-9585 * Fax: 301-984-9586 * Email: Iwvmc~erols.com * Web: mont.lwvmd.org 
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THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS 

of Maryland & of Montgomery County, 11ID. 

from climate change — such as disappearing shorelines and decreases in numbers of certain 

plant and animal species -- not as dramatic as the impending disappearance of whole Pacific 

islands, but scary nonetheless. [The movie Chasing Ice (2012) also provides some dramatic 

examples of climate change.] 

Economics. While early economists did not recognize that the prices of goods and services 

need to include the costs of using up resources in the manufacturing process and the costs of 

cleaning up any pollution caused by their use, surely it is time for the human world to include 

both of these factors in pricing. There are studies that show that the resulting price changes 

will be much easier to cope with than the rising costs of not addressing climate change [see 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/the cost of delaying action to stem clim 

ate change.pdf (July 2014). 

To any company representatives here today — or reading this statement later — I hope you 

will look around and see how a number of large companies (e.g., General Mills, National 

Grid) have already announced plans to actively address climate change. 

#*#*# 

I hope that other businesses will rapidly join in — and that all of us will focus as much as 

possible on choices that increase (1) energy efficiency and (2) use of renewable energy 

resources. The more we can do now to help mitigate climate change, the less we will have to 

do to adapt to climate change. 

Submitted by — 

Linda Silversmith, Ph.D. (biochemistry) 

260 New Mark Esplanade 

Rockville MD 20850-2733 

lindas@capaccess.org 

League of Women Voters of Montgomery County, Maryland, Inc., 12216 Parklawn Dr., Suite 101, Rockville, MD 2085 

Tel.: 301-984-9585 * Fax: 301-984-9586 * Email: lwvmc@erols.com * Web: mont.lwvmd.org