Chris Applegate

1540 Logan Street Apt. 25 Denver, CO 80203

Good afternoon and thank you for allowing for public comment on the proposed Clean Power Plan. My name is Chris Applegate and I was born and raised in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri and I am now living here in Colorado working in the oil and gas industry. I am here today to speak in favor of this plan though. I don't believe that our future is doomed if we move to a renewable energy future. I don't believe we are going to live with the lights off. I don't believe we are going to be using horse and buggy. This, coming from someone who works in the oil and gas industry. I may work in the fossil fuel industry, but it doesn't mean I don't care about our climate. What I do believe, is that this plan offers our country a great opportunity. I believe it will make us a world champion on solving our future energy problems. I believe that the millions of people in communities that are subjected to power plants that emit large amounts of pollution directly in their backyards are going to see a healthier future. The Clean Power Plan will create healthier communities, jobs, and will help protect our heritage for future generations. Our communities are at risk as well. My hometown of Branson, Missouri has been impacted from droughts and three major flooding events in the past decade. Residences in the area are weary and have noticed a change in the climate. My grandmother's home has been subjected to flooding that has never occurred before, except over the past decade she has had over 3 flooding events in her home. She has had to install a water pump, replace carpet multiple times, and work aggressively to reduce the amount of runoff hitting her home. It was no easy task to deal with and completely unexpected. Our community has been hit by floods, droughts, and twisters, one of which even impacted my mom and dad and community friends just two years ago. Some of my family items were found up to 500 yards away from their home. Some of which were found in the cemetery. Which really makes me blessed that my parents were not injured or killed like countless others in communities across the country due to these extreme events. These series of events in this past decade have shown our community that the climate is changing and is having a real economic impact on our livelihoods. Even though our climate may be changing, there is hope. The Clean Power Plan is a step towards a better tomorrow. It is a step that we are long overdue to take. It is progress towards a future with cleaner air and water for every community across our country. I don't see coal jobs or my job just disappearing with nowhere to go. I see these jobs moving with our every changing economy. I already know some coal miners back in Oklahoma that now work in other sectors of our economy today. I see no harm in these rules that will affect me, other than creating cleaner air and water for myself and every American around the country. We need to be investing in technologies that will power us forward in the 21 st century. We can solve our climate issues, protect our economy, and make the air we breathe and water we drink cleaner. Clean energy is on the rise and our economy has not tanked, quite opposite. We are adding jobs, unemployment rates are the lowest since the height of the Great Recession. Our economy is moving towards clean energy, just to slow. This plan will boost investment and continue the job growth we have been witnessing. I hope the Clean Power Plan is adopted, because the cost of inaction will be greater if we don't act now.