Docket No. EPA-HQ-20ll-0660 Laura KateAnderson EnvironmentVirginia 202-461-3844 landerson@environmentvirginia.org ---**----------------~**

My name is Laura KateAnderson. I live in Falls Church, Virginia and I'm afield organizer with Environment Virginia, a statewide, citizen-based environmental advocacy organization. I stand before youtoday in strong support ofEPA's proposed standardto limit carbon pollution from newpower plants. Powerplants are the biggest single source ofcarbon pollution, and carbon pollution causes global warming. Cleaning up carbon is crucial to protecting ourhealth. In my capacity as field organizer, I've been lucky enough to travel the state to help get the word out to the media and the public aboutthe biggest problems facing Virginia's environment, and the solutions we have to fix them. Andeverywhere 1go, 1meet people who are passionate about keeping carbonpollution out ofour air. There is no place in Virginia that will be immune from the effects ofglobal warming. Global warming is not only raising sea levels around the world, but also makes it more likely that we'll see stronger storms and more frequent rains. Thanks in large part to industrial carbon pollution, Hampton Roads residents are literally struggling to stay above water. I've spoken with some who have watched the danger grow each year, facing more andmore storms that could flood their homes. One volunteertook me on atourofNorfolk's Larchmont neighborhood and pointed out the places that had flooded in the past few hurricanes, and whole streets that will find themselves permanently under water in a matterofyears ifthings continue the way they're going. Coastal communities aren'tthe only ones facing problems. Richmond had the dubious distinction ofbeing named the asthmacapital ofthe country by the Asthma andAllergy Foundation of America in 2010 and 2011. Smog exacerbates asthma. and more global warming pollution means more smog. I've had asthma almost my entire life, and on particularly smoggy days, 1can't do anything more strenuous outside than walk. I also vividly remember childhood asthma attacks and trips to the emergency room, andthe baffling, terrifying feeling ofnotbeing ableto breathe. I can only imagine that my asthma was even scarier for my parents. Once, when I was five, a severe stint ofasthmaattacks landed me in the hospital for a week. My parents were overseas visiting relatives at the time, and when they found out from an international phone call from my grandmother, they tookthe first flight home. Maybe when I'm aparent myself, I'll be able to understand exactly how my parents felt as they sat through atwelve-hourplane ride, with no way ofknowing how I was doing. In the meantime, though, 1do knowthat industrial carbon pollution means more parents will haveto go through what mine went through.-----··-- ----

A warming world will have more smog days, days when more kids with asthma are rushed to the hospital, days when playing outside is dangerousjustbecause ofthe air ourchildren breathe. In 2010, the Richmond area had 12 ofthose days. The DC area had 36. Everywhere I go, Imeet people who are concerned about the impactthat smog has on their health. In Northern Virginia, people in places like Reston and Loudoun are forming their own startup environmental organizations to help combat air pollution and other problems on the most local level. People in Fairfax recently gathered at an Environment Virginia event to learn more about what dirty air means for ourhealth and exchange ideas onhowto fix it. In Charlottesville. one doctor I spoke said that asthma is reaching epidemic proportions among children there. and that that epidemic is being fueled by the dirty airthey breathe. Another Charlottesville doctor saidthat he treats children nearly every day for asthmaflare-ups, and that pollution is part ofthe reason they're getting sick. I've also worked with college students from George MasonUniversity inFairfax to the University ofVirginia in Charlottesvilleto the College ofWilliam & Mary in Williamsburg. Many ofthe college students I've met see global warming as the most profound environmental threat oftheirgeneration. They're doing whatthey canto stop it, from gettingtheir friends to use less electricity in the dorms, to startingbike share programs and campus gardens, to lobbying their school administrations to adopt sustainable practices. Butthey also knowthat these actions are only part ofthe puzzle. andthat federal government action to cut carbon pollution is an essential piece. All over Virginia. people are speaking up aboutthe needto fight global warming. We're getting news articles written about it in papers across the state. We're getting our opinions printed as letters to the editor. We're knocking on doors and talking to citizens and hearing time and time again, "We need to do something about these problems now." EPA's proposed standard to limit carbon pollution from new power plants is a necessary step in the fight to protect ourhealth and our communities from the effects ofglobal warming. Butit's not a sufficient one. EPA needs to finalize its standard for new power plants, andthenmove forward to propose and finalize a rule that cuts carbon pollution from existing power plants, too. Virginia power plants poured 32,441,939 tons ofcarbon pollution into the air in 2010 (according to the Environmental Integrity Project.) We simply can't stop global warming without setting limits on those plants. Clean air is a needthattranscends every possible division among people: race, location, background, political party. We can't wait any longer to tackle global warming. Iurge EPAto protect ourhealth by finalizing its proposed standards to cut carbon pollution from new power plants as soon as possible, because our health can't wait.