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 the 
trees 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