Tuesday July 29' 2014 

Sarah B. Bucic, MSN, RN 

Personal Testimony RE: EPA Docket No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0602 and EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0630 

Good Afternoon, my name is Sarah Bucic. I am here today in Washington D.C. as a 34 year resident of 

New Castle County, Delaware, a registered nurse and a mother. 

So why am I here today to testify? 

Growing up, I never thought much about the environment. My great-grandparents were from Eastern 

Europe and worked in coal mines upon arriving to the United States. My grandmother and her father 

worked in the coal mines of Pennsylvania. Many in my family have worked either in factories or in 

chemical production. Industry and chemicals have always been part of my life. 

I was born on Grand Island, New York in 1978. While my mother was pregnant with me, 7 miles 

alway, the Love Canal neighborhood was being evacuated. I spent the first 3 years of my life in upstate 

New York and when I was 3, I moved to New Castle County, Delaware. 

Eight years ago I moved next to one of the largest sour crude refineries in the United States without 

much thought. Industry in Delaware is so prevalent, it actually felt familiar. 

When I was 29, I had a daughter. When she was three months old, an event occurred at our local 

refinery. Some people in my community reported a substance on their cars. I called our local Natural 

Resources Agency and was told not to worry about my baby. 

When I was 30, I had a growth on my neck that continued to grow. After requiring surgery, I was told I 

had carcinoma of my thyroid gland. I go back now for yearly ultrasounds and require daily medication. 

I am fortunate that, unlike many other cancer patients, I did not require radiation and separation from 

my child for 48 hours at a time. 

Over the last 5 years, I have wondered about where I was born and have grown up and I don't have 

answers. 

Here is what I do know. I do know my county, New Castle County, Delaware, is a non-attainment zone 

for particulate matter (PM) 2.5 as well as 8 hour ozone. I do know interstate air pollution contributes to 

our non-attainment. I do know that where I was born had "legacy contamination" and where I continue 

to live has "legacy contamination" as well. 

In 2011, after speaking to our local refinery. I was subsequently asked to join their Community 

Advisory Panel to report back their progress to the community since I had started an environmental 

Facebook page about our area. I recall most vividly, a year into my being on the panel, the night I 

attended their monthly meeting. I sat and listened to how clean they were and how much better they 

were than prior owners. I believed them. 

However, it provided little comfort to me as this was the same day I found out about my daughter's 

diagnosis of reactive airway disease. That day I was given 2 inhalers and a pediatric spacer. There were 
changes that had taken place in her lungs by age 3 1/2 and these were visible on a basic x-ray. The 

changes are referred to as "bronchial cuffing". I am not sure this means for future lung functioning. 

Carbon pollution is not a problem of our children or grand or great-children. It is my problem. It is our 

problem. 

My family in the past experienced the financial benefits of industry. However, we have also 

experienced the health consequences. We have experienced black lung disease, we have experienced 

leukemia. I will also add to that list my cancer and my daughter's, now diagnosed, asthma. These are 

prices that are not calculated when decisions are made. 

Asthma can be a life-threatening disease if not properly managed (American Lung Association, 2012). 

In Delaware alone, from 1994-2001, a study done by Delaware Division of Public Health and our 

Department of Natural Resources and Environrnental Control concluded 113 fatalities were directly 

linked to asthma (DHHS, DPH & DNREC, 2005). 

We can no longer rely on the ignorance of consequences to calculate a cost. 

We also need to consider many costs: 

How much is the cost of a lost of head of household? 

How much does it cost to lose a parent? A child? Many of these costs are not in dollars. 

We cannot allow any longer the false choice of "jobs vs. the environment." 

This is a false choice for a government to ask citizens to choose between their own health and their 

own finances and this is not a real choice. 

However, this problem can be solved and I look to the EPA to strongly regulate in order to protect not 

only families who live near facilities but for their workers and their families as well. 

If you cannot work a job due to health, whether a job exists or not will not be relevant. 

We can no longer ask people to work and live in polluted communities as a normal American practice. 

The projected health impacts of not imposing this new carbon standard will be disabling and deadly. 

I urge anyone who considers the costs of this standard to consider that peoples' lives will be saved by 

this proposed standard. The costs to those individuals will be immeasurable. 
American Lung Association. (October 2012). Asthma and children fact sheet. Retrieved 

http://www.lung.org/lun -disease/asthma/resources/facts-and-fi ures/asthma-children-factsheet.html 

American Lung Association. (June 2, 2014). American lung association says proposed carbon pollution 

standards would protect health of miIlions of Americans. Retrieved http://www.lung.org/press -

room/press-releases/healthy-air/Statement-Obama-Carbon-Pollution-Standards. html 

American Nurses Association. (2007). American nurses association principles of environmental health 

for nursing practice with implementation strategies. Silver Spring, MD. Retrieved 

http://www.nursingworld. org/MainMenuC ategories/WorkplaceS afety/Healthy-WorkEnvironment/EnvironmentalHealth/ANAResources/ANAsPrinciplesofEnvironmentalHealthforNursingPractice.pdf 

Delaware Health and Social Services, Division of Public Health (DHSS, DPH) & Department of 

Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC). (August 2005). The burden of asthma 

in Delaware. Retrieved http://dhss.delaware.gov/dph/dpc/files/asthmaburden rpt.pdf