Testimony of 

Peter M. lwanowicz, Assistant Vice President 

American Lung Association 

on the 

Proposed Power Plant Carbon Pollution Standard 

May 24,2012 

Chicago, IL 

Good morning. My name is Peter lwanowicz; I am Assistant Vice President with the 

American Lung Association. I am pleased to provide testimony in support of the U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposed Power Plant Carbon Pollution 

Standard. 

The standard is historic in that it sets the first national standards for power plant carbon 

pollution. The standard is equally important because it represents the next step in what 

is needed to address pollution from power plants. 

Power plant pollution kills and makes people sick. 

Enforcing clean air protections, such as the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule and the 

Power Plant Mercury and Air Toxic Standards, will dramatically improve public health. 

By proposing standards for carbon pollution from new facilities, the EPA is setting the 

stage for the next generation of America's power plants to be the least toxic and most 

modern in the world. Doing anything less shortchanges our children's health and future 

generations. 

Today, you will hear the tremendous support that this rule has with the public. More 

than 1 million comments in support of the rule have come in since early April. 

I am told that this is the most comments that EPA has ever received on a rule and there 

is still a month left before the comment period closes. 

This affirms the support that we found in a recent poll of voters. According to a bipartisan survey conducted for the American Lung Association, voters strongly support 

EPA's efforts to update clean air protections. An astounding 72 percent of voters 

surveyed specifically want EPA to set limits on power plant carbon pollution. 

Also, people don't buy into industry's "false choice" that we must choose between public 

health and a strong economy. 

According to the same poll conducted for the American Lung Association, nearly three 

quarters (73 percent) of voters say that we do not have to choose between air quality 

and a strong economy- we can achieve both. 
And a 2-to-1 majority (60 to 31 percent) believes that strengthening safeguards against 

pollution will create, not destroy, jobs by encouraging innovation. 

But numbers and polling information cannot speak for the people who we have met 

during the past year who are getting more involved in the fight for air. 

I am a Dad, I live in upstate New York with my wife and two children. And I work out of 

the national ALA office in Washington, DC. They know that when I leave home each 

week that I am fighting to make the air healthy, to make their generation's future 

brighter. 

And they know that when I return home each week, I will have met another person that 

is in need of clean air and has joined the fight as well. 

This week, it is Judy. I met her here in Chicago yesterday. She had a double lung 

transplant 3 years ago. She understands the value of every breath she takes and wants 

each one to be with air that is cleaner than it is now. Let's stand up for Judy. 

Jake is a boy I met in Maine last year. His Dad calls him the canary in the coal mine, 

because Jake's asthma gets worse even before a bad air day is declared by the State. 

He knows what cleaner air will mean for his son and all the other kids with asthma. 

Remember, there are NO coal fired power plants in Maine. The breathe in a lot of what 

we call "Secondhand Smog" .Let's stand up for Jake. 

Pam from Philadelphia: lost her son to an asthma attack and knows that polluted air 

made it tougher for him to manage his disease. She does not want others to have to go 

through the pain of losing a child to asthma. It is not the total solution, but clean air will 

make it a heck of a lot easier for children with asthma and their parents manage their 

disease. Let's stand up for Pam. 

Former football great lckey Woods and Chandra Woods lost their son Jovante Woods in 

August 2010. His fatal asthma attack occurred during a time when air in Cincinnati was 

particularly dirty. They wished they knew then what they know now about dirty air and 

asthma. They are fighting for clean air. Let's stand up for the Woods Family. 

There are 6.4 million children with asthma in this country. 2.5 million of them live in a 

county that fails the American Lung Association State of the Air 2012 for ozone. This is 

unacceptable. We all need cleaner air to breathe. 

We are pleased that EPA is moving forward on carbon pollution from power plants. We 

urge you to finalize this rule before the end of the year and to propose one for existing 

sources as well. 

Thank you.