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 have 
mudslides 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.