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Citizen Comment on EPA Clean Power Plan Docket ID: 

### EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0602 Pittsburgh, PA Submitted by Susan 

### C. Edwards 32 College Ave., Swarthmore PA 19081 I see oursociety and economy as having reached a crossroads. We can ignore the warnings ofthe overwhelming majority ofscientists and choose the path ofbusiness as usual, burning fossil fuels to run ourvehicles, heat and cool our buildings, manufacture products, and create electricity. I believe this path leads to pollution, illness, and a dangerousalteration ofthe climate ofour entire planet. OR we can take charge ofour situation and, forthe first time in human history, consciously design together a rational energy future. I believe the first path represents putting our heads in the sand and hoping against hope that the scientists are wrong, whilethe second path means keeping our eyes wide open and using our best minds to plan energy production and distribution, notallowing the profit calculations ofa few owners ofcoal and oil reserves to drag all ofus to the brink ofdestruction and beyond. I applaud the EPA's proposal to reduce carbon emissions from power plants. I am li( retired now, and I am devoting many hours each week to volunteering with environmental groups because I see the issue ofhuman-caused planetarywarming and the resulting chaotic effects on our climate as the most crucial issue ofourtimes. I believe we need to take strong action (1) to increase the efficiency ofall our forms ofenergy use and (2) to reduce fossil fuel consumption and replace itwith clean, sustainable energy sources. I thinkthe Clean Power Plan is a step in the right direction. There is a caveat: I do hopethe EPA will reconsider including nuclear energy and natural gas as alternativesto be encouraged. The problems of nuclear waste storage, the pollution from uranium mining, and the immense water usage in nuclear plants are all reasonsto exclude it and focus on developing efficiency measures and expanding wind, solar, and geothermal electricity generation and storage. And while natural gas may burn cleaner than otherfossil fuels, the problem ofmethane leakage during fracking as well as pollution ofair and water make it highly problematic. We should be focusing investment dollars on long-term sustainability, that is efficiency first, then solar, wind, and geothermal power. The benefits of reducing carbon emissions will not only be to ameliorate climate change but also to improve public health as we clean up ourair and water. I live close tothe city of Philadelphia. Philadelphia's African American children are afflicted with asthma attwice the national rate. Nearly one in four, and in some areas, one in three African American children in Philadelphia suffer from asthma, which has been linked to ozone and rising temperatures. These children deserve an environment in which they won't have to miss school days and can play outside without being sickened. One final but most important note: some tryto pit environmental protection as Jobs Versus the Environment. I think itcan be Jobs Forthe Environment. I fully understand, I think, theanxiety associated with a transition to a clean energy future. People will have to leave behind thejobs associated with our current energy infrastructure. They will be looking for help getting retrained, ifneed be, and finding work in the many avenues thatwill open up, from retrofitting buildings to manufacturing and installing wind turbines and solar panels, as well as many otherjobs thatwill 

### be needed. I say I think I understand because my husband is a retired UAW member and former local union officer; and I was at one time a union shop steward. I was laid offin the 1982 economic downturn, and eventually found other work. My husband, a highly skilled machinist who could trim metal parts 

### to within a few ten thousandths ofan inch, saw the machines on which he earned a livelihood sold to companies overseas. He had to switch toassembly work, a huge change in his life. So I appreciate the wrenching thatwill come with shifting from dirtyto clean energy production and leaving fossil fuels in the ground. I hope that underthe Clean Power Plan, states will emphasize increasing renewable energy sources and increasing energy efficiency, both ofwhich create morethan 3 times the number ofjobs per dollarspentthan any ofthe fossil fuels. And salaries for clean jobs are nearly $8,000 higherthan otherwages.; I support a strong 

### and just Clean Power Plan. So I commit to using my energies to advocate as strongly as I know how for ajusttransition to good-paying union leveljobs in the new energy economy. And disadvantaged communities must receive fair access to clean energyrelated economic opportunities, so they must be atthetableas plans are made. Thank you for listening to mytestimony.

Source:

1 AdamJames, Fact Sheet: 6 ThingsYou ShouldKnowAbouttheValue ofRenewableEnergy, ClimateProgress (2012). Available online athttp://thinkprogress.org/climate/20 12/03.i28/-t53 122/fact-sheet-6-things-you-should-know-about-thc- \-alue-of-rencwab!c-ener'-'vI.