To: EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy 

2 Schiller Ave. 

Narberth, PA, 19072 

Testimony for EPA hearings on EPA's proposed Clean Power Plan 

My testimony, which I am submitting today, is in enthusiastic support for the 

EPA's Clean Power Plan. 

I am a family physician practicing in Delaware County, PA. I've been concerned 

about climate change ever since Barry Commoner made "the greenhouse effect" a talking 

point in his 1979 presidential campaign. At the time, I was in medical school at Tufts, in 

Boston. 

Since that time, the decades have marked successful initiatives to curtail pollution 

from power plants, from acid rain to mercury, which were having a massive impact on 

public health, and the health of our forests. Meanwhile, the coal industry has continued 

to treat the air we breathe as an open sewer for the disposal of fine particulates- which 

cause asthma, COPD, pulmonary fibrosis, and cancer: and C02, contributing 1/3 of our 

nation's annual carbon emissions. The latter threatens the livability of our planet, and 

the survival of generations yet unborn. 

According to the American Lung Association's 2011 report, "Toxic Air", "Over 

386,000 tons of84 separate hazardous air pollutants spew from over 400 (coal-burning) 

plants in 46 states." This is more than the emissions of the next three top polluting 

industries combined. I am very concerned about these emissions from coal-fired power 

plants, which cause tens of thousands of deaths and many more disabilities every year 

nationwide. While I cannot tell whether my patient with asthma or COPD is sick because 

of pollution from coal, the epidemiology tells me that it is a major contributing factor, if 

not the primary etiology. By the time they see me, sometimes struggling for every breath 

on 4 liters per minute of oxygen, there is no way to undo the damage. Meanwhile, the 

billions of dollars in health care costs are borne by the victims, their families, and our 

society. 

Furthermore, coal-fired power plants leave behind mountains oftoxic ash, which 

threaten the safety of our drinking water, and poison the air of neighboring communities. 

With all due respect to the workers who dedicate their lives to mining coal, the 

industry's arguments for protecting their industry are, to me, reminiscent of the tobacco 

industry's arguments against legislation to restrict tobacco sales and smoking. The 

evidence from my colleagues in public health is clear: coal is a public health threat, and 

we should shift our energy production to cleaner, safer alternatives as soon as possible. 

Energy experts tell us that this is technically feasible in less than a decade. 

I applaud EPA's proposal to leave implementation of the Clean Power Plan to 

individual states, which could apply a carbon tax as part of the solution. Economists tell 

us that a revenue-neutral fee or tax on carbon would reduce carbon emissions, and with 

them toxic emission from burning coal, without additional complex regulation. A recent 

study from Regional Economic Models (REMI) reports that such a measure, 

implemented nationally, would prevent a quarter of a million deaths from respiratory 

disease in the first 20 years. British Columbia, Canada has set such an example, resulting 

in lower fossil fuel consumption, improved air quality, and a boost to their economy. 

In medicine, if a patient is at risk for death or disability from a disease, the 

precautionary principle tells us to implement preventive measures, For the sake of our 

public health, the Clean Power Plan is such a measure. 

Sincerely, 

Daniel Wolk, MD