Testimony of LuCinda Hohmann in support of EPA's Power Plant 

Carbon Standard 

On behalf of the Union of Concerned Scientists 

May24, 2012 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today in support of EPA's power plant 

carbon standard. My name is LuCinda Hohmann and I am with the Midwest Office 

of the Union of Concerned Scientists. UCS is the nation's leading science-based 

nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world. I am here on 

behalf of UCS's more than 350,000 supporters, and network of more than 18,000 

scientists to show strong support for the EPA's efforts to reduce carbon emissions 

from coal and oil fired power plants under the Clean Air Act. UCS works on 

advancing awareness of both the science of climate change and the solutions to 

help lower emissions and mitigate the worst impacts of climate change. 

There are many reasons to reduce carbon emissions, and many of those reasons 

you've heard about today. I want to use my time with you today to pull all of 

those reasons together and emphasize the diversity and volume of support for 

this rule. 

In my work, I have personally traveled the Midwest region extensively over the 

last 7 years and have had conversations with literally thousands of individual 

citizens concerned about climate change. I've worked with scientists, economists, 

and business leaders; engineers, concerned parents, and farmers, just to name a 

few. These individuals all have very different perspectives, but all agree we need 

to reduce carbon emissions and transition to a clean energy economy. 

Let me explain: 

I grew up on a farm in rural Wisconsin. And I can tell you first hand that no one 

cares more about the changing climate than Wisconsin dairy farmers. One 

example of how climate change is impacting farmers is extreme heat. Extreme 

heat puts an enormous amount of physical stress on dairy cattle and any dairy 
farmer will tell you that milking cows experiencing high levels of physical stress 

will decline in milk production. 

During one of my recent trips to Ohio, I spent an afternoon with the President of 

Dovetail Solar and Wind. Dovetail Solar and Wind is a small firm that specializes 

in renewable energy system design and installation. The President spent the 

afternoon filling me in on how he started his company 17 years ago with 5 

employees and today employs more than 40 full time, well-paid staff. Any savvy 

business owner will tell you that to stay ahead in the business world you have 

to be on the cutting edge of innovation. 

And just a couple of weeks ago I was at a clean energy event in Michigan and I 

asked the woman sitting next to me why she decided to come to such an eventand she didn't say a word, but instead pointed to the young boy beside her. Any 

parent will tell you that one of the most important goals in life is to create a 

better world for their child. 

With me today, I have 320 comments signed by concerned citizens from Ohio, 

Indiana, and Kentucky. Today I would like to enter into the record these 320 

comments in support of the EPA's standards to limit carbon emissions from new 

power plants. But I want to emphasize that these comments are just a small 

sample of the hundreds of thousands of people across the country who support 

action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, protect our health, and transition to a 

clean energy economy. The diversity and volume of support for this rule is 

unmistakable. 

We applaud the EPA for moving forward with these carbon standards for new 

power plants. We request that you move quickly to finalize them and we urge 

you to issue strong carbon standards for existing power plants without delay. 

Ultimately, other forms of strong action will be required to achieve the full scale 

of deep reductions needed to reduce or avoid some of the worst impacts of 

climate change, but these are very necessary and important first steps. 

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today.