~ INTERFAITH Interfaith Power & Light 

0 

S{:ower z cia IFC 1 00 Allison St NW • 

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c Washington, DC 20011 Light • 

c 202-256-1450 • joelle@gwipl.org ::!: 

Through our local Interfaith Power & Light program, hundreds of congregations of all religious traditions work 

together on energy and climate issues. 

This morning, I'm only the first of a diverse group of religious leaders from Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and 

DC who will speak in support of the EPA's proposed Carbon Pollution Standards for New Power Plants. Our words 

will be joined, also, by those of religious leaders testifying at today' s hearings in Chicago. And over the coming 

month, many of the 14,000 congregations in the Interfaith Power & Light movement nationally will be sending our 

messages to the EPA in written testimony. 

The teaching from my own tradition that informs my thoughts on this comes from Rabbi Isaac ben Sheshet, a 

14th Century scholar of Jewish law. He wrote: "One is forbidden from gaining a livelihood at tbe expense of 

another's bealtb" (Responsa 196). Simple, ethical wisdom. Not bad for Medieval Spain. 

For too long- here- now- those who operate our power plants have been permitted to gain their livelihoods 

at the expense of people's health. 

Right now, coal pollution in the United States results in more than $100 billion dollars annually in health costs. 

12,000 emergency room visits per year are due to coal-related illnesses. 

Here in DC, we have one of the nation's highest asthma rates, particularly among children. 10,000 children in our 

nation's capital city sometimes struggle to breathe because of our dirty air. Someone is making their living at the 

expense of these kids' health! 

And it should be forbidden in this country for folks in the energy business-or for anyone else-to make their 

livelihood at the expense of people's health. 

In the religious communities with which I work, people are heart-sick about the role of coal power in producing the 

heat-trapping gases that are causing global climate change. They are working to reduce their electricity use in their 

sanctuaries and at home. They are using their energy dollars to support wind energy generation. They are working 

to bring off-shore wind power to our coasts, and they are figuring out how to finance solar panels for their roofs. 

So often, we are told that the change we are trying to make is unrealistic because clean renewable energy is so 

expensive, while coal power is cheap. In fact, coal power is intolerably expensive- but until now, its true 

costs have been borne by others. 

Who bears the cost of the permanent destruction of a mountain through mountain-top removal mining? Who bears 

the cost of buried streams, air pollution from coal prep plants, and toxic coal ash dump sites? Who bears the cost of 

bad air quality, the cost of kids with asthma, and seniors having heart attacks, and pregnant mothers with mercury 

in their bodies? Who bears the cost of stronger storms, extreme drought, devastating floods, and other scary 

weather caused by global climate change? 

On this historic morning, for the first time, the EPA stands poised to set national limits on our nation's largest 

sources of carbon pollution. Protecting people's health and the climate is the only way to take a truer measure of 

the real cost of coal power. 

Please approve Carbon Pollution Standards for New Power Plants. New power plants shouldn't be permitted to 

damage our climate or make people sick. 

Thank you.