My name is Sam Booher and I now live in Augusta, GA. 

I was born and raised in West Virginia's Coal County. My Grandfather died due to 

Black Lung disease. Upon high school graduation "in my day" most young men 

only had two choices: going into the Coal Mines or the Army. I am now retired 

from the Army and living in Georgia. 

Realizing that solar and wind power are much safer options than coal-powered 

plants, when I retired I began buying Southern Company stock. Twelve years ago 

my wife and I began attending annual Shareholder meetings and speaking out for 

solar power. Today I own enough stock that we are welcomed when my wife and 

I attend a Southern Company Shareholder meeting. They know I am pushing 

Southern Company to close their coal burning power plants and move to solar 

and wind energy. What they do not know is that my efforts are because of my 

memory of my Grandfather who worked for years in coal mines and died because 

he did. 

Job lose- Before my Grandfather died from Black Lung, he told me there were 

approximately 35,000 coal miners in West Virginia just like him working deep in 

a coal mine every day. Today, Mountain Top Coal Mining has replaced traditional 

mines. Due to the few jobs they need to get to the coal out, I would guess there 

are probably less than 1,000 people still working at actually producing coal in my 

home state. Coal mining is no longer providing jobs. In fact, Mountain Top 

mining is today destroying drinking water wells, destroying mountain streams, 

and driving people from their homes. So therefore, I cannot understand why 

everyone is not supporting EPA's carbon pollution standards for power plants. 

Well okay, I do understand why Mountain Top Coal Mining Industry does not 

share my view. 

Rising Cost - Burning coal is expensive to society. What is going to be more 

costly to America: learning to live with Climate Change or preventing it ? A few 

people do not believe massive Tropical Storms and Hurricanes are a result of 

excess carbon in the atmosphere. They do not believe excess carbon dioxide 

results in increased energy that absorbs additional moisture and is melting ice 

worldwide. There will be more rain, but where? 

Almost, everyone however does recognize our oceans are rising and our coasts 

are feeling the effect. Will climate change significantly impact Georgia ? Will it 

impact our agriculture with more rain or less rain ? Will we have a one foot ocean 

rise by 2050 or maybe sooner? No one knows, yet. But these changes are coming. 

Last --the coal ash spill at TV A's Kingston Plant in 2008 was the alarm bell that 

drew public, media and the government's attention to the very real danger of this 

toxic ash, a byproduct of coal-fired power plants. The Nation was shocked by the 

amount of damage when a TV A coal ash pond dam gave way and horrified by the 

cost of clean-up. 
., 

One comment needs to be made-- we did not learn our lesson. Since 1V A's spill 

the Nation has watched as Duke Energy on 2 Feb this year had a coal ash dam 

break in North Carolina. 

There is a True-ism that says "All Landfills leak, it is just a matter of when." Allow 

me to start a new True-ism. "All earthen dams will break. It is just a matter of 

when." EPA needs to get into the Coal Ash Pond inspection and regulation 

business. To not do so will result in more coal ash toxic pond spills into America's 

waters. 

I will close by saying it was a" Good News day" when we learned that EPA will 

begin limiting the carbon pollution from the our existing coal-burning power 

plants. To me this is especially important because EPA's proposed limits address 

the real issue facing all of us and that is Climate Change. 

Thank you for being here.