First ofalii want to thankyou for holding this public hearing on the proposed C02 pollution standards for new power plants. I believe thatthe standards you have announced are a morethan reasonable response to the instruction by the United States Supreme Courtthatyou take steps to regulate a pollutantwhich we now know beyond any question to be harmful to people and other livingthings. I knowyou are hearing testimonyfrom experts in the fields of public health and environmental science
on how importantthis is. I am here today as a minister, and as the director ofthe Illinois Interfaith Power & Light Campaign of Faith in Place. Faith in Place and our Illinois Interfaith Power & Light Campaign work with over

### 900 congregations in this state to help people of all faiths become better stewards of creation, because all
ourfaiths teach us thatwe musttake care ofthis beautiful planet. Each faith teaches this in different ways butthey all speak to the need for us to be careful stewards ofthe extraordinary gift of being here at all. We are part ofthe Interfaith Power & Light coalition nationally, which involves 

### 14,000 congregations in this call for stewardship in 38 states. Many ofthose congregations are taking steps themselvesto address climate change by reducing their energy consumption. The Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview has installed a solarthermal system to heatthe water they use to wash for Friday prayer, making them the first solar mosque in the nation. Our friends at the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston builtthe first Platinum LEED-rated worship space in the country. The Euclid Avenue United Methodist Church in Oak Park retrofitted their heating system to geothermal, and while they had the parking lot dug up anywayforthe well field, they replaced itwith a permeable surface. For the climate change we don't manage to prevent, thatwill help them with the heavier rains that are coming. St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Urbana converted afiveacre field they had planted in corn to a CommunitySupported Agriculture farm, the Sola Gratia CSA, making them the only church I know ofanywhere with afarmer on the payroll. These examples are inspiring. They inspire us at Faith in Place, without doubt. But all the communities offaith who have taken steps like these know that to impact an issue as big as climate change we need more than individual action, or even action by hundreds ofcongregations. We need policiesthat go across the economy as awhole. I am also here to speak to you as a human, a mother, and someone who grew up in a part of Illinois which has coal beneath it. I recently took part in atour ofthe mining areas ofCentral Illinois with
a group ofclergy. We stood atthe base ofthe slurry impoundments, and we thought about what will happen to the rivers ofour state, and to ourfields, ifthat impoundmentwall breaks and the billions of gallons behind it spill out. We also watched the prairie wind blow across piles ofcoal ash, the final remnant of coal burned for electricity, which is being disposed of back at the mine sites by the acre. This mining goes on in proximityto ourwater and ourfood because ofthe demand for coal. When we burn that coal, which is after all nature's own carbon sink, we are also releasing tons ofcarbon into the atmosphere. We have heard a lot over the last 13 years that I've been in this work about howto describe the impacts ofcarbon pollution from industrial sources on the climate ofthe Earth. The biggest single source ofthis pollution is ourfleet ofold coal-fired power plants. As a person offaith Ithink we shouldjusttell the truth aboutthem- that they will disrupt natural systems and may soon push the Earth beyond its resilient capacity. We are already seeing impacts on agriculture. The harvesttwo years ago was the latest ever recorded. Last year there was hardly any winter, so the pests that should be killed by freezing are probably here in greater numberthis year. The rain patterns have become erratic, with ferocious storms followed by weeks of dry weather. This year's fruit crop in southern Michigan and Illinois has been devastated by early warmth followed by hard frost. Igrew up among farmers so that mattersto me. But
we all knowthejoy ofthat first ripe peach in summer, the way it bursts and thejuice runs down our chins. That won't happen for us in the Midwestthis year. Too manyofthese disruptions have occurredyear afteryear in the last decade for us notto be looking to greenhouse gas concentration as acause. This is the beginning ofthe altered world- aworld of less joy and less beauty. It will also be aworld of more suffering. And notjustfor ourfarmers, orfor our urban residents who will have to deal with increased heat. The floods and famines that climate change will trigger among the millions in the world who live in poverty are an injustice that could be prevented. The rituals I most often engage in have a rhythm to them, aformality and a pattern. Rituals like this one do too, and the essential truth ofthings can get lost in theirform. Iwish sometimes that we could just come here as whatever kind of citizen we are and say in plain language that our dependence
on dirty and destructive sources ofenergy is ruining our planet and we expectyou as the agency charged with protecting the environmentto do something aboutthat. Your regulations are afirst step, and a hopeful one. People offaith are united with me todayto thank you for making it.

Rev. Dr. Clare Butterfield Executive Director Faith in Place/Illinois Interfaith Power & Light Campaign 70 E. Lake Street Chicago, IL 60601



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