Testimony at EPA, 6 February 2014

Carla Aronsohn, Environment America, Canvass Director

Hello, my name is Carla Aronsohn and I am with Environment America. I am from Miami, FL where I was born in 1990 (1 know that will date me). Hurricane Andrew hit a couple years after and was one of the most costly storm after Katrina...

It is clear that extreme weather is hitting close to home. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, made up of the world's leading climate experts and government bodies recently confirmed that the frequency and severity of extreme weather events like these will continue to increase unless we dramatically cut the carbon pollution fueling global climate change.

Environment America's Research & Policy Center's recent report, 'America's Dirtiest Power Plants,' shows that America's power plants are the single largest source of carbon pollution — and that a handful of the dirtiest plants make up a huge portion of our emissions. For example,
the 50 dirtiest US plants emit more carbon pollution than all but 6 other entire countries.

If we want a cleaner, safer future for our kids, we can't afFord to ignore power plants' outsized contribution to global climate change, tackling the problem means cleaning up the dirtiest power plants and setting strict standards for new power plants in the United States.

And now, we have our biggest opportunity yet to meet the challenge of globa) climate change. In the climate action plan he laid out this summer, President Obama directed the EPA to propose limits on carbon pollution from new and existing power plants, the single largest source of carbon pollution in America. And Americans are demanding action. We have already submitted more than 3 million comments in support of limiting carbon pollution from power plants. Hundreds of elected officials, business leaders, and organizations have voiced their support for reigning in the biggest polluters.

We know there's a better way than dirty power plants. This is a problem that has a solution— harness the wind and the sun, make our buildings smarter and more efhcient, educate the youth about environmental issues, and slash our dependence on the dirtiest sources of energy. And we know what it will take to get there. In America, we're already taken steps to shift away from dirty power plants and toward a clean energy future. We've made huge strides in recent years and carbon pollution has already dropped 1196 since its 2005 peak, but we're still a long way from solving the climate crisis.The power companies and coal industry who proflt from pollution, along with their allies in

Congress are gearing up to fight to protect their pockets. And these folks are just laughing from their extravagant lifestyles at climate change as President Obama, in his State of the Union address, endorsed fracking and natural gas as a bridge fuel for America. It is also completely unfair that these affluent companies get away with putting our country's most vulnerable communities at the greatest risk, for example emissions from power plants tend to afFect people of lower economic income. These are reasons at the tip of the melting iceberg about why it is that critical that the country's leaders join us in supporting a plan to tackle climate change by limiting carbon pollution from power plants. It's time for action.

It is true that climate change's worst impacts will be felt by future generations. But crippling droughts, devastating wildfires, and destructive hurricanes are a problem for our time. Let's not ignore the message that these devastating events are sending us. Failure to act wouldn't just be a betrayal of future generations — it would be sticking our heads in the sand.

Environment America calls on the EPA to join us in supporting limits on power plants' carbon pollution. America is one of the biggest emitters of carbon pollution, while we consider ourselves the most powerful nation in the world, we are falling fast behind in moving toward a clean energy future, we can't afford to wait to act on climate. It's critical that the EPA step up and support action now.