Testimony of Elizabeth Martin Perera in support of EPA’s Power Plant Carbon Standard ( Docket ID No. EPA

- HQ

- OAR

- 2011

- 0660 )

On behalf of the Union of Concerned Scientists May 24, 2012

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today in support of EPA’s power plant carbon standard. My name is Elizabeth Martin Perera , I live in Bethesda, MD and I am a senior Washington Representative and Public Health Analyst at the Union of Concerned Scien tists . I present this testimony today on behalf of my two children Lia and Aiden and also o n behalf of UCS’s more than 350,000 supporters, and network of more than 17,000 scientists. W e strongly support the EPA’s efforts to regulate carbon emissions from coal and oil fired power plants under the Clean Air Act

. Ameri ca ’s public health is gravely threatened by Climate Change and EPA’s actions to move forward regulating global warming emissions are grounded in strong science

. This first draft rule regulates global warming emissions from new power plants and we urge the EPA to move swiftly in completing this rule and in releasing a draft rule to regulate emissions from existing power plants as the majority of global warming emissions come from existi ng power plants. I would like to submit three things for the record today as part of my testimony. First, is a letter I have signed along with 369 physicians, nurses, and public health experts urging our policy makers to support the Environmental Protect ion Agency’s (EPA’s) ability under the Clean Air Act to take action that will protect public health and address climate change.
This letter reads: Climate change poses significant threats to the health and well

- being of all Americans, with disproportio nate impacts on children, the elderly, and the poor. Our own medical journals1,2,3,4,5 and professional organizations (such as the American Medical Association,6 American Academy of Pediatrics,7 American Public Health Association,8 and American Nursing Ass ociation9) havesounded the alarm. Health effects will include heat

- related illnesses, exacerbated cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, more frequent outbreaks of water

- borne diseases (such as Cryptosporidium) and vector

- borne diseases (such as West Ni le virus), and mental health impacts resulting from the stress of coping with extreme weather including flooding and hurricanes.10

O n April 2, 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that global warming emissions are air pollutants covered by the Clean Air Act (CAA ).12 Subsequently, the EPA performed an exhaustive review of the relevant scientific research and determined that global warming emissions endanger public health and welfare and therefore must be regulated under the CAA.13 Because the EPA’s finding is base d on well

- established science, any effort to prevent or delay the agency from taking action to reduce global warming emissions is a rejection of that science. The EPA is charged with protecting our public health and our environment, and the Clean Air Act is an extraordinarily successful and cost

- effective way of doing so. In 2010 alone, this science

- based law prevented an estimated 160,000 premature deaths and millions of cases of respiratory and cardiovascular disease

— annual benefits that are projected to grow during the next decade. The Clean Air Act is also good for the economy, with its benefits exceeding its costs by 26 to 1.14 Now the EPA must be allowed to act on its authority under the law and begin regulating global warming emissions.
Finally I would like to submit two short reports which I co

- authored with our climate scientist Todd Sanford that provide more details on the expected impacts from climate change. These two reports are a part of the UCS Climate Change and Your Health series, and th e first is entitled Rising Temperatures, Worsening Ozone Pollution

. Ozone pollution is directly linked to temperature, thus climate chang e could likely lead to increased ozone levels. Our analysis found that, within the next ten years, climate change

- induced ozone increases in the United States could result in 2.8 million additional respiratory illnesses, 5,100 more infants and seniors hosp italized with serious breathing problems, and 944,000 extra missed school days. All told, these and other health

- related impacts could cost approximately $5.4 billion in 2020 alone. And if global warming pollution continues unabated, the impacts and costs could rise

.The second report is entitled After the Storm: The Hidden Health Risks of Flooding in a Warming World . Heavy rainfall events that can lead to flooding have been increasing at the same time as temperatures have been rising in the United State s. The problem will likely grow worse in the coming years as Earth's atmosphere continues to warm, leaving more and more Americans vulnerable to the immediate and lingering health impacts of flood events. This report combines a review of flooding health r isks with a look at how climate change and current development patterns will likely increase the threat in the years ahead. We urge you to act swi f tly to finalize this rule and propose the rule for existing power plants. Our children’s future depends on i t. Thank you for your time.