Jacqueline Patterson 

Silver Spring, MD 

443-226-3773 

jpatters1@yahoo.com 

My name is Jacqui Patterson. I was born and raised here in Chicago, Illinois. I now live in Silver Spring, 

Maryland. 

Last year in February, my father began to complain of a cough, which increased in severity over the 

course of the year, progressing into him being confined to the home and dependent on an oxygen 

machine. He was still severely winded just from walking from the living room to the kitchen to get a 

glass of water. 

My Dad's doctors diagnosed him with pulmonary fibrosis and stated that it was likely due to 

environmental exposure, given that my father never smoked a day in his life. 

We laid my father to rest on September 4'h of last year. 

How many more people must we bury before we are granted equal protection under the law? 68% of 

African Americans live within 30 miles of a coal fired power plant. An African American family making 

$50,000 per year is more likely to live near a toxic facility than a White American family making $15,000 

per year. 

We see the results of this in the rates of respiratory illnesses in African Americans. Even though we have 

lower rates of smoking, African Americans are more likely to die of lung disease. A recent study found 

that, in the Bronx, an African American child is 5 times more likely to die of asthma than a White 

American child. Nationwide, African American children are twice as likely to die of asthma and 3 times 

more likely to be admitted to the hospital for an asthma attack. 

From what I understand, carbon pollution doesn't directly cause these heath conditions, but rather it 

creates what some scientists call "domes" that trap, concentrate, and intensify the myriad of other 

toxins we breathe every day, some of us more than others. With the mercury, arsenic, lead, dioxins and 

other pollutants that come from power plants in communities nationwide, these "domes" are effectively 

creating lethal gas chambers for communities. 

At the same time, we understand that carbon dioxide is the #1 driver of climate change and these power 

plants are the leading emitters of carbon dioxide. Again, climate change affects us all, but its effects are 

felt hardest by communities and people who are politically, economically, physically, and socially 

vulnerable. 

When I did hurricane relief after Katrina and Rita, the throngs of folks who walked through the doors of 

the disaster recovery center every day were largely African American. I also met scores of people with 

hearing impairments where my pathetic one year of sign language was their saving grace ... but my 
presence and meager skills were pure happenstance, so what would have happened if I hadn't been 

there? 

I met people with HIV and AIDS who went weeks without access to their life-preserving antiretroviral 

drugs. 

Overall, I met hundreds of people who had to start their entire lives over with barely two pennies to rub 

together to do so. 

And scientists say that Katrina was only the tip of the iceberg! 

Regarding other effects of climate change, growing up here on the Southside of Chicago, I lived in a 

community that would have been labeled a "food desert", like so many communities of color. This 

means that we have more immediate access to a Dorito or a Fun ion than a leafy vegetable or a 

strawberry. We already see how this plays out for communities who are disproportionately suffering 

from heightened rates of obesity, as well hunger, and all of the health conditions that result from poor 

diet, such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, etc. 

Access to affordable, nutritious foods will only lessen as climate change impacts agricultural yields, here 

and abroad. Last year we saw farmers in Illinois, Iowa, Mississippi, and beyond lose crops both to flood 

and drought. Again, scientists say we've only just begun to see these impacts. 

Finally, I've visited with coastal communities from Florida to Louisiana, to Alaska, some of whom are 

already experiencing coastal erosion and several of whom are facing displacement in the next 20 years, 

due to sea level rise caused by climate change. 

The cost of inaction on carbon pollution is the health, livelihood, culture, economic, and social wellbeing 

of communities nationwide and worldwide with vulnerable communities being hit first and worst. 

We need strong carbon pollution standards to ensure than any newly proposed plant has controls in 

place that protec~c the wellbeing of us all. We must also make sure that our next step is also regulate 

carbon dioxide from hundreds of existing plants that are now polluting thousands of communities. The 

history of decades of pollution from those plants is one of the leading reasons that we are now on the 

brink of catastroohic climate change. We must get this situation under control for all of our sakes. 

Thank you.