By: Hazel Chandler, Arizona State Coordinator, 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 testify. My name is Hazel Chandler, and I am Arizona coordinator with Moms Clean Air Force representing over 1.5 million moms nationwide and 26,000 moms in Arizona.
I ask you—What do we value? What do we want our personal/collective legacy to be? Do we want to be remembered as the generation that destroyed life on earth? The last generation to be able to enjoy the beauty and abundance that nature has to offer.
This is the magnitude of the decisions that you are making today. The clock is ticking—everywhere we look we see the impacts of the previous decisions that have allowed the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels to reach 424 parts per million. These levels are higher than we have seen for millions of years. According to Jason Furtado, a University of Oklahoma meteorology professor, “Humans are running a massive experiment on the Earth Climate Systems via burning carbon and the results are turning out not great for a lot of people on this planet.”
What will life on earth look like for our children and grandchildren? Will humanity survive? What about plants, animals, insects, birds, amphibians? We are already experiencing a mass extinction of our biodiversity.
I am a mom, grandmom, great grandma, and I am joined with millions across the globe pleading with you to make the right decision. These regulations represent an opportunity to cut 25% of the total greenhouse gasses going into the atmosphere every year. While we must approach this existential threat by cutting greenhouse gas emissions from all sources and find ways to sequester the carbon already in the atmosphere, enacting the strongest regulations possible to limit greenhouse gas emission from power plants is a huge step forward. Enacting strong car and truck, petrochemical, efficiency standards, and agricultural changes are critical as well, but this decision alone is a huge down-payment on cutting the level of carbon going into the atmosphere that is critical in preserving life on earth.
Nature has a magical way of restoring balance. The question is, What will the future for our children and grandchildren look like? Will we survive? How many more climate refugees will we see? How will the weather extremes affect our ability to grow food?
I ask you today what do we value? Do we value life or money? Please make the only decision you can make to value life and finalize these regulations without delay. We are 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. We ask for EPA to strengthen community input and safeguards in the final version of this rule, but remember that the clock is ticking, and delay is not an option if we want our children and grandchildren to have a livable world.