Good afternoon. My name is Mary Feeherry. Thank you for the opportunity to speak in support of The Clean Power Plan. The Clean Power Plan has the potential to reduce harmful carbon emissions that are changing our global climate. I am a resident of the DC. I am a member of the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society and an interpreter at the Bird House at the Smithsonian National Zoo. I have a particular interest in the effects of climate change on our birdlife, especially on the 60% of North American birds that shift their ranges with the seasons.. These birds are dealing with a climate crisis that grows worse each year. An example is the ruby-throated hummingbird that we see in our flower beds or feeders in summer. Soon this tiny bird will be traveling a thousand miles over land, mountains and water to its winter home in Mexico or Central America, stopping along the way to rest and eat. Migratory birds have depended on the same system of breeding, wintering and stopover sites for thousands of years. Climate change has disrupted this system, and scientists tell us that birds we love may become extinct in our lifetimes. Migratory birds move through different habitats. They nest in the north in summer, migrate south when the weather turns colder, and pass through many different habitats in their migration. Their journeys have always been dangerous, but now they are also at risk from climate change at each of these habitats. Because the climate is changing, spring is arriving earlier in the northern states, where migratory birds nest, and birds may arrive when the caterpillars and other insects they depend on to feed their young are not available. In coastal areas, climate change is causing rising sea levels and destroying beaches and marshes where seabirds nest. Further north in the Arctic, migratory birds that build nests on the ground are finding that in the changing climate, trees are growing in what was formerly treeless tundra. Migrants that nest in pine trees in the Arctic are losing nesting sites because deciduous forests are moving up the mountains, crowding out alpine forests that provided nesting sites. On their migratory routes, birds are also encountering new threats. As the climate changes, they are vulnerable to heat waves, drought and unseasonable cold snaps. Global climate change is also increasing the number and intensity of wildfires, making it difficult for migrating birds to find safe forest areas to rest and feed. And as the oceans warm, marine life that migrating birds depend is less available. Fewer horseshoe crabs are washing up on Delaware beaches, where the red knots stop on their long migration from the South Pole to the North Pole. Violent storms are impacting birdlife, locally and across the nation. Close to home, I recently came to the Dyke Marsh, a national park in VA, where I meet with fellow birders every Sunday. Migrating birds both nest here and stop over on their journeys farther north. We were horrified to find dozens of thetrees in this bird-friendly park cut down by a significant storm that destroyed bird nests, and required

the park to spend its limited resources on extensive clean up. EPA is offering each state an opportunity to develop an individual plan to counter the effects of global climate change by reducing carbon emissions from power plants. Every state provides habitats for migrating birds and can benefit by addressing the problem of global climate change. Why should we care? Birds are not just beautiful. They are a critical link in our ecosystems. We depend on birds to control many insect pests and to pollinate many plants. We cannot duplicate their role in seed dispersal, or in pest and parasite control. Birds have long been recognized as indicators of environmental health. We all know about the canai•y in the coal mine. The fate of our migratory birds is bound up with our own fate. Neither of our species can survive in a carbon polluted world. We ignore their peril at our own peril. What we do today will affect our planet, our birdlife, and ourselves for centuries to come. We can and must reduce carbon pollution. We need the Clean Power Plan! Thank you. Dr. Mary J. Feeherry 3001 Veazey Ter, NW #1417 Washington DC 20008