Good Afternoon. My name is Laura Michelle Kaplan. 

I would like to start by saying that I am an attorney licensed in 

Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia. I am a resident of 

Delaware, and, a member of the Executive Committee of the Sierra 

Club-Delaware Chapter and I am here today in that capacity. I am 

speaking in favor of the proposed rule. 

I have focused my attention on environmental law and climate 

change, and was an intern at the Environmental and Natural 

Resources Law Clinic .. I had the opportunity to study the Clean Air Act 

and Federal Energy laws and cases dealing with air pollution among 

other issues. 

Prior to 2007, only emissions which were included in the list of 

qualified air pollutants, as defined in the Clean Air Act, could be 

regulated by the EPA. The EPA claimed it lacked authority to regulate 

carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act, because C02 was not 

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The EPA was then required to show that human health is endangered 

by carbon dioxide. In 2009 the EPA issued the required 

"endangerment finding", showing that C02 emissions pose a hazard to 

human health, which opened the way for the EPA to propose emission 

standards to regulate power plant emissions of carbon dioxide. 

The proposed rule, to promulgated by the EPA is important 

because it targets power plants which create the largest single source 

of C02 emissions, over 30%, of our nation's carbon emissions. Section 

111 of the Clean Air Act gives the EPA the responsibility to set 

maximum emission standards or an "emission guideline of 

performance" for categories of stationary sources that contribute to 

dangerous air pollution; today we are discussing existing sources; 

there are many old and inefficient power plants, 63% of which are 40 

years old or older. 

? 
One way of reducing emissions is by increasing the efficiency of power 

plants which will not only reduce emissions but will also decrease 

electricity consumption, and encourage wind farms and solar panels. 

The economics indicate that the benefits outweigh the costs by far, 

according to a report by the Natural Resources Defense Council 

(NRDC). In 2013. The model analysis shown by the NRDC study 

would reduce emissions by 26 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 and 

by 34% by 2025. 

Additionally, health benefits will be achieved as an extended result 

of emissions reduction. Not only will carbon dioxide emissions be 

lowered but also sulfur dioxide will be reduced. Mercury will be 

reduced by up to 27%, a 22% reduction of nitrogen oxides and a 

reduction of soot by 25%, by 2020. These pollutants have been found 

to contribute to high rates of asthma, other lung disease, and heart 
In Delaware, Attorney General Beau Biden said, 

the health of all 

Delawareans is threatened by harmful pollution produced in other 

states and carried here by wind currents". News Journal, April29, 2014. 

Delaware Governor Jack Markell 

noted that" ... more than 90 % of [Delaware's] dirty pollution comes 

from out-of-state sources, and the impact often results in air that does 

not meet healthy standards. " This would include the formation of 

ozone. 

Not surprisingly, the American Lung Association has given 

Delaware an F for its levels of Ozone, and aD in Particle Pollution. 

American Lung Association 2014 report. I personally know that a 

disproportionate percentage of children and adults in Delaware suffer 

from Asthma and related health problems. 
state line, but rather spreads out. Similarly, the effects of global 

warming affect everyone, not just residents of a certain state or 

country. These proliferating effects are called "externalities". For 

this reason it is imperative to have a nationwide and world wide 

sustained effort to reduce carbon emissions. Climate change is real,- It 

is caused by human beings, and only human beings can reverse it. We 

can do so by seizing this pivotal moment in the history of 

environmental regulations, and by having a united vision .. New signs 

New signs of cooperation among emerging nations and progress is 

being made. The United States must move forward quickly on this 

charge, must be a role model to the world, not a laggard, and must not 

delay the proposed action any longer. I urge the EPA to promulgate 

the emissions standards that President Obama has called for and to 

follow the guidelines proposed by the NRDC 

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

HEARING ON PROPOSED RULE 

CLEAN POWER PLAN 

PUBLIC COMMENTS BY 

LAURA M. KAPLAN, ESQ. 

3:50P.M. 

JULY 29,2014 

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