By: Ali Simpson, National Field Manager, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: June 13, 2023
About: Environmental Protection Agency Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2023-0072
To: Environmental Protection Agency
Thank you for the opportunity to give testimony today. My name is Ali Simpson. I am a National Field Manager for Moms Clean Air Force, an organization of over 1.5 million parents and caregivers advocating for clean air and a healthy climate on behalf of children nationwide. I live in Bedford, New York, with my wife and young son.
I’m here today to speak in support of the Carbon Rule and am calling on EPA to finalize the strongest possible standards to help protect our families from harmful air pollution that contributes to climate change and impacts health. EPA must strengthen community input and safeguards in the final version of this rule.
The most recent IPCC report has found that we are likely to pass a dangerous temperature threshold within the next 10 years, pushing the planet past the point of catastrophic warming—unless nations drastically transform their economies and immediately transition away from fossil fuels. In 10 years, my son will be 12 years old. I know that I will be able to look him in the eye and say I did everything I could to keep the planet safe. What I don’t know is whether it will have been enough. Did we continue to put corporate profits and politics ahead of safeguarding the place billions of people call home? Or did we do everything in our power to right the ship? The choices we make now will have impacts for not just the next 10 years, but the next thousand years and beyond. What could be more important than this?
Fossil fueled power plants are responsible for almost one-quarter of the climate pollution generated by the US. We know that climate change is here now. We know what to do to stem the tide of this crisis. So let's do it. This rule could make an incredible impact—avoiding up to 617 million metric tons of total carbon dioxide (CO2) through 2042—the same number as reducing the annual emissions of 137 million passenger vehicles—roughly half the cars in the US.
Last week, I woke up to an alert on my phone about poor air quality caused by Canadian wildfires to our north. When the sun rose in the morning it was a fiery, auburn red. For the entire day, the sky was hazy, the air was thick. It was eerie and anxiety-inducing. I texted my wife to make sure our son wasn’t playing outside. Trying to explain to a two-year-old why he can’t play outside is close to impossible. I fear that I will need to have this conversation with him over and over again. I don’t want that future. Climate change has increased the risk of wildfires through warmer temperatures and drier conditions that lengthen wildfire season, increase the chances of a fire starting, and help a burning fire spread. Warmer and drier conditions also contribute to the spread of the mountain pine beetle and other insects that can weaken or kill trees, building up the fuels in a forest. Climate change is here. It’s happening now. We must act.
In order to protect the health of our communities and reduce the greenhouse gas pollution causing dangerous and costly climate change, EPA must enact strong limits on new and existing fossil fuel power plants. Thank you for your work and your time.