Comments on Carbon Pollution Standard for Modified Sources-- Docket ID EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0630 

August 1, 2014 (3:20 PM), Pittsburgh, PA 

My name is Bob Mitchell. As a scientist and engineer with graduate degrees in physics and electrical 

engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, I have studied the climate change issue with increasing 

interest over the past five years. I will briefly address three main points: 

First: The Role of Government 

Our nation is founded on the principle of balancing individual freedom of action on one hand against the 

need for effective national governance on the other hand. We do not want excessive government that 

intrudes on individual liberties- but neither could we accept the weak government created by the 

Articles of Confederation following victory in the Revolutionary War. And so the founders of our nation 

produced a constitution that established a strengthened government that seeks to "provide for the 

common defence, [and] promote the general Welfare". The founders recognized the need to address 

national level priorities such as defense that require large resources and long-term strategic planningthey understood that individuals, corporations, or even states cannot effectively deal with such 

resources or timescales. 

Second: The Threat of Climate Change 

We are now facing a problem that poses a great challenge to our general welfare -and also, as we shall 

see, to our common defense. As the national and world scientific community has been telling us for 

more than two decades now, the emission of infrared active gases such as C02 is causing a range of 

harmful consequences. These consequences include: 

1. Increasingly severe heat and drought as we saw in 2011 in the Midwest and are currently seeing 

in California 

2. loss of glaciers and mountain snow pack that provide water for drinking and irrigation 

3. rising sea levels that threaten many of our coastal cities 

4. more severe storms like Sandy that are amplified by higher sea level, and 

5. acidification of our oceans that threatens the root of the world's food chain. 

Each of these consequences alone is daunting- but, taken together, they represent a truly frightening 

threat to our national welfare and safety. 

The arctic icecap provides perhaps the clearest warning as its September volume is only about 25% of 

what it was just 40 years ago. We know this from both satellite imagery that shows ice extent and from 

our Navy's submarine sonar measurements of ice thickness dating back to the 1950s. The "Northwest 

Passage" that explorers sought for centuries is now a reality. Does anyone really believe that this could 

be a coincidence? 

And according to the Defense Department's 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review, "The pressures caused 

by climate change ..... are threat multipliers that will aggravate stressors abroad such as poverty, 

environmental degradation, political instability, and social tensions- conditions that can enable terrorist 

activity and other forms of violence." 
All of these consequences amount to nothing less than a war on our children, our grandchildren and the 

generations that follow. It is a moral imperative that we act to ensure that our descendants will have 

the same fair shot at prosperity and freedom that we have enjoyed. 

Third: Need for Government Leadership on Climate Change 

And so the government is acting now-- as the nation's founders intended-- to defend the general 

welfare of the nation against an ominous threat. This action is necessary because the threat involves 

timescales and resources that require a national level response. 

It is only fair to say that these actions will cause some to lose their jobs. But if we don't take action now, 

many, many more will be harmed. And while jobs will be lost in the coal and oil industries, many jobs 

will be created in the renewable energy sector. Our nation has flourished, not by clinging to outmoded 

ideas or harmful technologies, but by harnessing our creativity to lead the world toward a safer and 

more prosperous future. 

The proposed EPA guidelines are a small but very important step toward addressing the most critical 

technical and ethical issue of this century. They represent the beginning of what our government must 

do in confronting a problem that transcends individual, corporate or state capabilities- the founders of 

our nation would expect no less. 

Robert R. Mitchell, PhD 

3507 Mayer Drive 

Murrysville, PA 15668 

rrmitchell350@gmail.com 

Others who have read and support this statement: 

Rebecca Studer 

Mary Schinhofen 

Raymond Schinhofen 

Rebecca Lubold 

Barbara Litt 

Scott Smith