Testimony of Dylan Voorhees, Clean Energy Director, Natural Resources Council of Maine

In Support of Proposed Carbon Rules

My name is Dylan Voorhees and I am the Clean Energy Director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM.) NRCM is a nonprofit membership organization founded in 1959 and dedicated to protecting, restoring, and conserving Maine's environment, now and for future generations. We have over 12,000 members and activists. Improving air quality, promoting clean energy and advocating for action on climate change are high priorities for NRCM—because they are high priorities for Maine.

The EPA's proposed carbon pollution standards for power plants are essential to protecting Maine people and environment. Maine's environment is tied to our culture and economy in unique ways, making it especially critical that we address climate change and power plant air pollution.

Folks all across Maine care deeply about climate and its impact on our state, but I would like to share some words from one of them with you. Harry Dwyer was a master logger and licensed forester from Fayette, Maine who worked in the woods for his own small forestry business. Sadly, Harry passed away in 2013, but his story and legacy live on. Harry didn't earn a salary, his pay came from the time he spent logging the woods. He said:

"I don't think climate change is a future problem. I think we are in the midst of it right now, and I've been absorbing the economic costs of lost work time when heavy rain shuts us down or when we are waiting for the ground to freeze to start a logging job.

"Ten or fifteen years ago, no one had to worry about deer ticks [carrying Lyme disease] in Central Maine. Now I'm picking ticks off hours after I get home. They just weren't here because we used to have those cold winters that kept them at bay.
"I am a parent, and the world we hand off to our children matters more to me than the lost work time and the economic cost of these things. Our asthma rates, especially childhood asthma are far higher than is morally or ethically defensible. If you have ever laid awake at night listening to your child struggle to breath, and had to go everywhere with an inhaler, wondering at what point are you going to head to the hospital because the inhaler and nebulizer are not helping, then you will agree that these rules are long overdue."
Harry exemplifies the Maine people caught in the crossfire of warming and pollution—a vulnerable spot that will only get worse. The loss of traditional winter, declining habitat for industrial softwood species, and increased invasive pests pose an enormous threat to the forest products industry in Maine. On top of that, his son is one of over 23,000 kids in Maine suffering from asthma.

My six year old daughter asked me recently why I was travelling to Washington, DC. She has a vague sense of what I do, so she asked "Are you going to clean the air, daddy?""Yes, I'm trying," I answered. "But to do that I have to persuade our leaders to make sure that

we have less pollution."

That's why I wanted to send in this testimony —on her behalf, and on behalf of the members of NRCM and the people of Maine who support these rules and insist that we have strong carbon pollution standards. Thank you.

Dylan Voorhees 3 Wade St. Augusta, ME 04330 (207) 430-0112 dvoorhees@nrcm.org