I strongly support the proposed rules to cut the carbon pollution from our 

power plants, and urge a national move to the alternatives of energy efficiency 

and renewable energy. And I want to tell you why. 

With family roots to the east in Duquesne, and to the south in Jefferson, 

my family years ago moved from the mines of southern PA to what was hoped 

a better life, better work, and followed the American dream in Ohio. Still, like 

many of the folks around here, I grew up shoveling coal into the boiler in our 

basement to keep us warm, my family not knowing the neurological damage 

and long-term health effects of coal exposure. 

And though by age 13, we moved to town and left the old coal bin and 

boiler behind, when I lost vision in an eye, this was just the beginning of my 

lifelong fight with Multiple Sclerosis. Eventually seven of nine brothers and 

sisters developed an autoimmune system disease. And that "better work" the 

family had moved for, well for my Dad it was 30 years at a coal fired rubber 

factory, and my father passed just before his 60th birthday. His arteries so 

weakened they just gave out. 

Back here in PA, cancers and black lung have hit every group of our 

extended family. And all this damage to my family, ..... this is only one of the 

real costs we personally pay for fossil fuel use, the illness, the medical bills, 

the lost productivity and family lives forever shortened by pollution exposure. 

These are costs passed on to us by dirty energy production. 

And now with science, we learn that the costs of pollution from fossil 

fuels is more than just a personal hazard, there are ever growing levels of 

pollution in our skies, causing changes that are bigger than anyone of us could 

have imagined. And what we did yesterday will be paid for by all of our kids 

tomorrow. 

Ironically, the oil man, T. Boone Picken's recently announced his" Five 

Principles of Energy." And the first principle listed is: 

a Clear Responsibility and Accountability for energy decisions. I join Mr. 

Pickens and call for responsible energy use, and accountability for harm 

caused in the pursuit of a dollar. 

As the President recently said, A low-carbon, clean energy economy can be an 

engine for growth and jobs for decades to come. Well, I want America to build 

that clean engine. 
What a shame it would be if instead of working to make America the world 

leader in Clean energy, we continue to waste our time arguing how fast should 

we go backwards, hiding from a problem has never been our way. 

As we move forward with clean energy we should also remember my family, 

and all the other families in this area, because we are left as clear examples of 

the past poor energy decisions made without regard for the health effects, and 

those bad decisions hurt us all. And even now, limits on coal dust exposure 

have not been updated in Over 40 years! 

I call on all of our state and national leaders respond positively to the 

proposed carbon rules with investments in greater energy efficiency and 

move to carbon-free, .......... and toxin free, clean energy development. We can 

solve this problem for future families of Americans. 

For Jobs, for the environment we live in, for my kids and your kids, We 

need to move swiftly to approve the Clean Power Plan, to slow carbon 

pollution, and to make sure dirty energy does not cause physical harm to 

more generations of Americans 

Thomas Collins 

8105 South Park 

Garrettsville, Ohio 44231 

tomcollins@neo.rr.com