Comments to the EPA

regarding the Clean Power Plan July 28, 2014 Denver, Colorado Submitted by Rhonda Lashley Lopez, Redstone, Colorado I am 52 years old and I have had colon cancer and breast cancer - twice. I've had genetic testing, and it was negative. So I ask the question, "Why me?" I grew up along the Texas Gulf Coast. I ran barefoot through cotton fields where the crop dusters had just dropped their loads of pesticides. I played in the warm Gulf waves, where you couldn't even see your feet in two feet of water because it was so dirty. And for 47 years I breathed the air in a state that's the number one coal burner in the nation, and also the state that's number one in carbon dioxide emissions. My mother died a few years ago. She was 62 and beautiful and kind. Mesothelioma gave her two years of surgeries, suffering, and death. Asbestos exposure causes mesothelioma, and it is a terrible cancer suffered by many coal miners. My young and beautiful mother died with five different tubes coming out of her body. How much illness and suffering will we accept before we say "NO" to the desecration of our environment? Because there is absolutely no doubt that the poisons we put into the air and water make us sick. I mean, why aren't we jumping up and down and screaming about this? Don't we get it? And the biggest source of this environmental disaster is coal. "Coal" means "pollution" from the time it's mined to the time it's burned. Coal is the biggest air polluter in our country. It produces smog and acid rain and it is a major contributor to global warming. Would we knowingly give our children contaminated food to eat? Well, how is that different from giving them dirty air to breathe? Do we want to contribute to the incidence of cancer in children? And asthma? But not only does coal energy defile our air and water, it also helps heat up our world. I live in Redstone, Colorado, a tiny town in the mountains, and I keep a nature journal. I want my grandchildren to be able to someday read my journal and say, "Oh, so Western Grosbeaks arrived in June back then, and the service berries were ripe in July." Because I imagine things will be very different in 20 years. The climate is changing, and with it, all of nature is being altered. Here in Colorado, as a result of climate change, we're faced with vicious and terrifying wildfires that devour thousands of acres of forests. Then we havemudslides and flooding because of that deforestation. I don't know anyone in the

state who doesn't worry about wildfires destroying their homes. On my drive to Denver today, I passed mountains covered with dead forests, killed by pine beetles that take advantage of trees stressed by rising temperatures. The water levels in our rivers are nearly always below average in recent years. Last year, whenever I drove south from Redstone toward Paonia, the reservoir was just a big muddy hole. I wrote a book about women ranchers in Texas. The higher temperatures and lack of rain have devastated ranching in Texas, as well as in Colorado and throughout the American West. That's a part of America that can't hold out in the face of global warming. And that's a sad thing.

Coal energy is the biggest contributor to CO2 emissions in our country, and that means it changes our climate. To deny this is wishful or faulty thinking. Here's something that makes me feel sick: The greed that motivates the owners of coal companies. They spend millions of dollars on publicity. They pay for ad campaigns that deny the truth - that intentionally mislead Americans - into thinking coal means security and jobs. But don't believe it. They don't care about you and me or our children. They just want to get richer and richer. It's a shameful thing. And though we are just regular people, when we stand together, we can accomplish great things. We can say "NO" to coal companies. So in regard to the Clean Power Plan: It's about time! Let's all get behind it. We owe our children and grandchildren clean air, pure water, a chance to be healthy, and a beautiful world in which to live.