Comments in support of the proposed 

Standards of Performance for Greenhouse Gas Emissions for New 

Stationary Sources 

Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2011-0660 

May 24,2012 Washington, D.C. 

Submitted by the Center for the Celebration of Creation 

8812 Germantown Avenue 

Philadelphia, PA 19 11 8 

My name is Joy Bergey, and I speak in my role as Executive Director of the Center for 

the Celebration of Creation. The Center is an inter-religious program affili ated with the 

Chestnut Hill United Church in Philadelphia , Pa. The Cente r works with congregati ons 

and individuals to address problems of environmental injusti ce. 

The Center for the Celebration of Creation applauds President Obama and Secretary 

Jackson for proposing this strong new rule. We urge that it be implemented quickly and 

not weakened in any way. 

Every major faith tradition calls on its followers to protect those at the margins of society 

who cannot defend themselves: the young, the old , the sick, the poor. And it is exactly 

these persons who will be hurt first and worst by climate change, the cl imate change 

caused by industrial carbon pollution. 

T he major faith traditions also call on us to protect, even celebrate the natural worl d that 

God has given us. God's love is infinite; the earth's natural resources are not. The ways 

that we generate our power in this country are causing damage to God's world that may 

take decades or centuries to hea l, threatening to deprive our children and their children of 

safe and healthy communities in which to live and grow. 

Pennsylvania is the third worst state in terms of global warming pollution, with our 12 

million residents creating one percent of the world's heat-trapping emissions. Our state 

creates more global warming pollution than 103 countries combined . 

With a long history of burning fossil fuels to generate our power, Pennsylvani a already 

has abundant scars on o ur landscape- piles of coal waste, mil es upon miles of dead 

waterways, and dirty air. O ur unacceptable air quality is large ly a result of power plant 

pollution. T he Clean Air task Force found that more than I ,300 Pennsylvanians died 

prematurely in 2010 because of this pollution. Almost 2 ,300 Pennsylvanians had heart 

Testimony presented by joy Bergey, joybergey@gmail.com, 215-836-5978 Page 1 
attacks brought on by this pollution . This state that I love so much offers its people the 

second worst mortality risk in the country attributable to power plant pollution . 

And of course, all this industrial carbon pollution is damaging our earth, heating the air, 

the land, the water, and destabilizing the climate. 

Our children deserve clean air so they can play outside without risking asthma attacks. 

Our elders deserve clean air so they can live out their years in good health. 

Our snowshoe hares in Pennsylvania, also part of God's creation, deserve a secure future. 

The National Wildlife Federation calls the snowshoe hares the " polar bears of 

Pennsylvania ," with their already-declining numbers signaling the arrival of climate 

change. 

Pennsylvania 's beloved forests are threatened by global warming, as warmer winters fail 

to kill off pest species, and changing precipitation patterns stress trees, and wildflowers, 

and the birds and other wildlife that depend on them. 

At one time , we simply didn't understand the long-term consequences of our actions, as 

we burned fossil fuels with abandon. We couldn't have been faulted in the 1960s or 

1970s for building countless coal plants that belched enormous quantities of industrial 

carbon pollution. But now we know better. We know this pollution is leading to global 

warming, and we understand just how devastating that may be in the decades ahead. 

Morality compels us, therefore, to require a change moving forward. This is why the faith 

community cares deeply about this country's energy policies, such as the rule we're 

considering today . 

The Center for the Celebration of Creation , on whose behalf I speak today, is an interfaith 

organization. I am of the Christian faith, and I' ll quote St. Paul, who tells us repeatedly in 

the New Testament that all things, all people belong to God: Our little babies in their 

mamas' arms belong to God, our snowshoe hares belong to God , those chronically 

disabled elders with respiratory disease due to air pollution belong to God, our brook 

trout, threatened by Pennsylvania's warming waters, belong to God. 

This rule on which we comment today moves us to better protect the sacred and 

irreplaceable gift of Creation, which comes from and belongs to God. We need this rule. 

Amen. 

Testimony presented by joy Bergey, joybergey@gmail.com, 215-836-5978 Page?-