RE: Docket ID: EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0602

Pres. Obama and the US EPA - Significantly Improve the Clean Power Plan - So it gets the job done.

While members of Frack Free Illinois appreciate that Pres. Obama and the US EPA are attempting to finally addressing carbon emissions from existing power plants, we are extremely disheartened that all of the evidence of the planetary risk of run away climate change has not been translated into a draft Clean Power Plan that actually takes the threat seriously. We are calling for an urgent redraft of this Plan.
Many analysts are calling this Plan arbitrary, ineffective and political. Your criteria for reduction goals are unnecessarily complicated and the abatement standards are flipped upside down: states that already have significant clean energy mixes have to do a higher percent of abatement than states that burn large amounts of coal. Concessions were obviously made to the coal states in these state-by-state requirements. All we can say is, "get ready for the lawsuits" and "stop wasting precious time". The Onion described the Clean Power Plan the best in their headlines: "New EPA Regulations Would Force Power Plants to Find 30% More Loopholes by 2030", http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-epa-regulations-would-forcepower-plants-to-fi,36176/
We are saddened beyond words that Pres. Obarna and the EPA have chosen to nip around the edges of our "carbon" problem rather than embracing the science of climate change and promoting policies that will actually make a significant impact on the climate. The number one danger of inadequately dealing with carbon pollution is the accelerated warming of the Arctic seas and the release of vast stores of methane from frozen methane hydrates on the sea floors. This danger is beautifully illustrated in the video "Last Hours" at www.lasthours.org

. We must take heed of what is happening in the Arctic. The Arctic Methane Emergency Group, http://www.ameg.me/index.php/our-blod, has been sounding the alarm that Arctic methane is a global warming carbon bomb. Please keep in mind that methane is 86 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2 over a 20-year period. The Groups reports that the Arctic is presently the site of 40% of all the planet's carbon and that it is already a substantial source of methane released to the atmosphere. The group reports that the methane emissions are increasing as the Arctic is warming several times faster than the rest of our planet. The Group says that if the Arctic continues to warm then methane release will greatly increase and will feedback to accelerate the rate of global warming. Unstoppable runaway Arctic warming will lead to unstoppable runaway global warming. The Group is warning the world that the warming in the Arctic must be halted immediately.

Vast releases of methane from the sea floors were the cause of the Permian mass extinction 250 million years ago, so the precedent of run away climate change has already occurred at least once on this planet.
The Swedish Polar Research group reported on July 28', 2014, that there is presently a methane megaflare being released from the Siberian sea slope. The team of scientists hypothesize that over the last decade a stream of warmer Atlantic ocean water has been flowing along the Siberian ocean's continental slope destabilizing the methane ice.http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/28/1317252/--Vast-methane-plumes-escapingfrom-the-seafloor-discovered-in-Siberian-Arctic-Sea?detail=facebook
These scientists are sounding the alarm, bringing us to the bone chilling realization that humanity might be perched on the precipice of the 6 th mass extinction on this planet. This science is what members of Frack Free Illinois would like Pres. Obama and the EPA to embrace fully, and to use as motivation in your rewrite of the Clean Power Plan. The human race is in peril and we are not going to make it if you and Pres. Obama continue to bow to the political pressure of the carbon polluters. We implore you to act bolder and faster on carbon pollution.
Our biggest disappointment with the draft Plan is that it is too little, too late. Decreasing carbon emissions 30% from 2005 levels by the year 2030 is not nearly enough to actually affect rapidly accelerating climate change. The proposed rules improperly call for reductions from 2005 levels. The problem is that CO2 levels in 2005 were the highest ever. In fact, current levels of CO2 are15` ) /0 less than in 2005. The proposed rules should call for bigger cuts. The Sierra Club has suggested a more serious goal of a 50% reduction from 2005 levels by 2030, we second their call for deeper cuts. Today we are delivering to you over 1000 signatures on a petition urging you to take bolder steps in your Plan. Your plan should prioritize and accelerate the deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency - resulting in a larger impact on the dimate.
We ask that you: 1) Phase out dirty coal fired power plants — any further use of coal, no matter how efficient, will continue to emit significant carbon. 2) Reject the reliance on frack gas — scientists have found extensive leakage of methane from our entire gas infrastructure, (from the frack wells to the pipes entering homes). Methane from the Oil and Gas Industry represents a growing proportion of total green house gases (GHG). In the US their emissions expanded from 10% of total GHGs in 2009 to 37% today. Frack Gas moves us in the wrong direction.http://grist.org/news/americas-natural-gas-system-is-super-leaky-and-thats-bad-newsfor-the-climate/

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/february/methane-leaky-gas-021314.htmlhttp://www.pnas.org/content/111/30/10955.full.pdf+html?sid=2f719da9-832d-42aa-ad6fe6a607c42ece

Also tacking poses unacceptable risks to our communities, such as water contamination, health effects. and earthquakes, http://concernedhealthny.org/wpcontent/uploads/2014/07/CHPNY-Fracking-Compendium.pdf.
3) Remove nuclear subsidies from the carbon rules - Nudear energy is not a dean or renewable energy. We oppose indefinite ratepayer subsidies to support aging, dangerous, expensive nudear power plants. We simply can not afford to prop up 6% of the nuclear plants while at the same time investing heavily in renewable energy, capacity and energy efficiency. Wind energy is coming online now in Iowa at 3.3 cents per kwh, the market simply does not support the continued reliance on expensive nuclear power. Please do not burden us with disincentives to the dosing of aging nudear plants which will become increasingly expensive to maintain. The nudear industry has been massively subsidized by tax dollars since its inception, it is time to cut the cord, let the markets decide. In particular we oppose:-- supporting the building of new nuclear reactors. New nuclear reactors will cost billions of

dollars and take many years to bring on line, they are not the answer to the reality of climate change at the present.

— the claims that nuclear power is reliable. This ignores the many times nuclear reactors have had to shut down due to warm water temperatures, flooding, and extreme weather events, all of which will worsen as the climate warms.

— the claims that nuclear power is renewable. Please do not overlook the fact that fossil fuels are used for uranium mining, milling, processing, and that huge amounts of energy will be needed to isolate nuclear waste for hundreds of thousands of years. Also in this era of global warming related drought we can ill afford the large amounts of water needed to operate and cool the reactors. Water is needed for human and agricultural use, and will be in shorter supply in the drought conditions created by climate change. 4) Prioritize and accelerate the deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency — please revise your Plan to include real incentives to switch to renewable s. Specifically we ask that you move away from recommending cap and trade programs that are often a vehide for polluters to avoid cutting their emissions, and which have failed in the markets in the EU, htttp://www.washi ngtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/0 4 / 20 /europes-cap-andtrade-program-is-in-trouble-can-it-be-fixed/. Instead assist the states in the deployment of a carbon tax, (probably best as a regional carbon tax or fee), with rebates back to the consumer to help defray the costs of the rapid transition to renewable energy. A carbon tax is one of the most effective market mechanisms to drive the deployment of new renewable energy, such as Wind and Solar. Just before the economic collapse in 2008, British Columbia passed a tax on carbon. Five years later, it's a case study in smart climate policy. Although the BC carbon tax has impacted more on the emissions released from transportation, a variation of this "revenue-neutral carbon tax" could be modeled for power generation, http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/03/british - columbia
- carbon
- tax - sanity.
The good news is that renewable energy and energy efficiency investments create far more jobs per dollar spent than fossil fuels -- including natural gas. Specifically, clean-energy investment generates more than 3 times the number of jobs as does spending the same amount of money in the fossil fuel sectors. And the clean energy sector is growing at a rate nearly double the growth rate of the overall economy. We agree with the goals of the "Solutions Project" which has outlined how each state could get to 100% renewable energy by 2050, with the right optimization of Wind, Solar, Hydro and other renewable energy, http://thesolutionsproject.org/. In Illinois their data reveals that not only would we benefit from the clean, green energy, but that 286,200 long term renewable energy jobs would be created. We need those green jobs! We urge you to rewrite the Clean Power Plan and add the incentives necessary to move us forward to the energy sources of the 21st century. Take the warnings of the climate scientists seriously and throw off the politics of the carbon polluters. Please produce a Plan that actually impacts climate change, thus helping to mitigate the serious danger that humanity is facing.



# . itirhy Dr .Lora Chamberlain - Organizer for Frack Free Illinois, www.facebook.com/FrackFreelllinois 773-486-7660, drlora2@yahoo.com , Sincerely,http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/obama - climate
- rules
- not - enough
- to - fight
global-warming/

http://harpers.org/blog/2014/06/a-top-obama-aide - says - historY
- wont applaud-the-presidents-climate-policy/

Fracked Gas Isn't a Bridge Fuel—It's a Gangplank, http://www.commondreams.org/view/20 13 / 06 / 26-6 Prof. Ingraffea of Cornell Univ. talking about how fracking wells and infrastructure leaks methane, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o78j 77 I 7 XUw COMPENDIUM OF SCIENTIFIC, MEDICAL, AND MEDIA FINDINGS DEMONSTRATING RISKS AND HARMS OF FRACKING (UNCONVENTIONAL GAS AND OIL EXTRACTION), http://concernedhealthny.org/wP-content/uPloads/ 2014 / 07 /CHPNY
- Fracking
Compendium.pdf

Nuclear Power And Climate: Why Nukes Can't Save The Planet, http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/nukesclimatefact 614 .pdf

Carbon Tax vs Cap and Trade http://www.vox.com/2014/5/30/5764506/will-obamas-climate - rules
- revive
- cap - and
- trade http://www.carbontradewatch.org/issues/cap-and - trade.html http://www.carbontax.org/

Germany Sets New Record, Generating 74% of Power Needs From Renewable Energy, httplithinkprogress.org/dimate/2014/05/13/3436923/germany-energy-records/