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 21stcentury. 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.