)!, )J' 

The United States Environmental Protection Agency 

New Source Pollution Standards for Carbon Pollution 

EPA-HQ-OAR-2011-0660 

May 24, 2012, Washington, DC 

The Testimony 

of 

The Rev. Mitchell C. Hescox, President/C.E.O. 

The Evangelical Environmental Network 

24 East Franklin Street 

New Freedom, PA 17349 

mitcb @rreatj on care.org 

717-578-2063 

This is an historic step in the right direction to overcome global 

warming and protecting public health. 

"The simple fact is that if man [sic! is not able to solve his ecological problems, then man's resources 

are going to die." 1 Noted evangelical, Francis Schaeffer correctly stated those words in 1970 and they 

remain true today. The earth has a fever, 2 and the fever's impacts have reached epidemic proportions, 

threatening all of us. Simply put climate change is the greatest moral challenge of our time. 

r] 

Climate Change resulting from carbon 

pollution makes bad things worse. It 

intensifies natural processes, making 

natural events unnatural or extreme, 

and hits the most vulnerable the 

hardest. 

1 Francis A, Schaeffer, Pollution ond the Death of Man, Tyndale House, Wheaton, IL, 1970, reprinted 2011, pg. 9. 

2 Jim Ball, Global Warming and the Risen Lord, The Evangelical Environmental Network, Washington, DC, 2010, pg. 

39. 

3 http:/(maplecroft.com/about/news/ccvi 2012.html 
Testimony of The Rev. Mitchell C. Hescox, May 24, 2012 

These threats are not some future event. 

They are happening now, and God's children across this planet cry for our help. The Cape Town 

Commitment' issued by the Lausanne Movement (founded by Billy Graham and John Stott, both 

internationally respected evangelical leaders) recognizes the need for climate change action, as does as 

does the global evangelical network Micah Challenge 5 

observed 

these physk~d ch'*'"'''''· tempcr:rturr:: 

kngthc.q;ing icr>frPc seasons 

Victor Mughogho, the Executive Director of Eagles Relief and 

Development -Malawi, recently visited the United States for my organization's Global Day of Prayer For 

Creation Core and the Poor. During his presentation, Victor shared exactly what climate scientists' have 

predicted for years. 

Victor told us how for their parents the rainy season was so predictable they knew to plant on October 

15 every year. They planted and the rains fell- predictable -stable -reliable. They grew so much food 

they had an overabundance. In their parents' lives, they experienced one major drought. 

4 http://www.lausanne.org/en/documents/ctcommitment.html 

5 http :1/www. m i Gl h network. org/sites/d efa u lt/fl!es/d oc/1 i bra ry/m i ca h network statem enttowo rid I eaders.pdf 

5 Warming increases the risk of civil war in Africa (October 2009); Proceedings of the National Academy of 

Sciences. 

7 United States Department of Defense Quadrennial Defense Review Report (February 2010). 

2 I 
Testimony of The Rev. Mitchell C. Hescox, May 24, 2012 

Since 1970, droughts, floods, and unpredictable rains have become the new normal, exactly what the 

scientists said climate change would do, 8 wreaking havoc for poor farmers. 

2011 was the fourth consecutive year drought has plagued Malawi. Moreover, when the rains come 

they are unpredictable. Victor told us that last year the farmers planted and the crops failed; planted 

again, failed again; planted a third time and they failed a third time. Hunger, malnutrition, the stunting 

of children are the results. Victor reminded us that such stunting harms a person's brain development, 

further jeopardizing their future and that of Malawi. Further, women who were stunted as children are 

at greater risk of having complications giving birth, delivering lower birth weight infants, and higher birth 

morality for both mother and child. 

thr· 

The United States does not escape either. 2011 was the wildest year on record for extreme weather in 

the US with 99 major events. Insurance losses in 2011 were the second costliest on record, only 2005 

with hurricane Katrina were higher. The trend continues in 2012 being the year without winter, extreme 

weather appears to be drawing attention to a changing climate. Science now affirms that North 

America's summer heat waves and changing precipitation are very likely resulting from anthropogenic 

climate change. 9 In other words, the extreme weather events of the past several years are typical of 

8 http://www. a ctiona i d .org. uk/ doc _lib/malawi_ climate_ change _report. pdf 

"Claudia Tebaldi & Katharine Hayhoe, Detection & Attribution of Climate Change, April2012, awaiting 

publication. 
Testimony of The Rev. Mitchell C. Hescox, May 24, 2012 

climate change and very likely will continue. 

Others present today will testify or have already testified to coal-produced electricity (the largest source 

of carbon pollution) adding $0.0972-0.2689 per kWh in hidden health and other costs not currently 

realized by the utility10 Others may testify to jobs created by clean energy, or the American public's 

desire for dean air. All true. However, my testimony is a moral cause for the poor. Someone must 

stand and speak for those without a voice and those who are most impacted by carbon pollution, 

yet the least responsible for its toxic emissions. And there are many Christians in the U.S. who are 

concerned about what happens to poor people in poor countries. 

The New Source Standard for Carbon Pollution remains a first step, but only a first step. We need a 

clean energy revolution whose rate of change must be incredibly fast. A gradual transition will not 

provide an adequate means to protect public health from the well-documented fossil fuel consequences 

of carbon, mercury, lead, and other heavy metals, particulate pollution. 

Our nation must empower a second "Greatest Generation" who, similar to the mobilization required for 

overcoming fascism, provide the leadership for a clean energy revolution. Clean energy and reducing 

carbon pollution, according to the respected business-consulting firm McKinsey & Co., will require a 10-

fold increase in carbon productivity. 11 This will require a united effort of government, business, and all 

society working together, including comprehensive energy/climate legislation. 

A national clean energy policy, including comprehensive climate change legislation that includes a 

price on carbon, must be a national priority. Our nation must lead in driving innovation throughout the 

economy, and success for market-based solutions will occur only as a carbon fuel's true cost becomes 

realized. 

A clean energy future provides a healthy new economy for America and our success at home can then 

be exported to other parts of the world. American innovation and businesses stand to gain if we can 

come up with the next efficient clean energy production. 

The New Source Performance Standard for Carbon Pollution is an historic first step in the right direction 

and we strongly recommend its finalization and promulgation in its current form. However, it's only a 

beginning, a springboard. We urge the Administration, Congress, industry, and the American people 

to work toward a market based solution to reduce current carbon pollution and insure a safer and 

healthier world for all God's children. 

10 Paul R. Epstein, et.al., Full Cost Accounting For The Life Cycle of Coal, Annals of the NY Academy of Sciences, 

1219, (2011), 73·98. 

11 http://www.mckinsev.com/lnsights/MGI/Research/Natural Resources/The carbon productivity challenge. 

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