By: Laurie Anderson, Colorado 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 Laurie Anderson, and I am a Colorado field organizer with Moms Clean Air Force. I live in Broomfield, Colorado.
I strongly support EPA’s proposal to limit carbon emissions from fossil fuel power plants and ask that EPA finalize these standards as quickly as possible to help protect our families.
Fossil fuel power plants are responsible for about 25% of the climate pollution generated in the US, and along with this pollution, millions of tons of other air pollutants including soot and ozone-forming nitrogen oxides are also released into our air.
I live in the Denver Metro/North Front Range ozone nonattainment zone, which has been downgraded to “severe” nonattainment. We continue to face high ozone days—days where our air is unhealthy to breathe—all summer long. Ozone causes health impacts such as throat irritation, difficulty breathing, and increased asthma attacks. Colorado must reduce ozone precursors, and therefore, our state has set lofty goals to reduce pollution from all sources and is working on early closure of all coal-fired power plants. However, our state also must deal with background ozone that comes from states, including California, Utah, and Wyoming, as indicated by EPA’s national air pattern modeling. Therefore, EPA proposed limits on carbon emissions are crucial for the health of families in Colorado to reduce interstate transport of pollution, which the Good Neighbor Rule also seeks to address.
Greenhouse gas emissions are driving climate change, and we need to reduce climate pollution from all sources—including power plants—in order to have a stable climate and protect the health of our families. Here in Colorado climate change is fueling wildfires, which have seriously impacted our communities’ health in recent years.
2020 was the second-hottest year on record, and the future will likely be even hotter. Across the nation, we are also seeing increasingly powerful hurricanes, more destructive droughts, and severe flooding. We know far too well that addressing the climate crisis can’t wait.
Climate change also worsens air quality. Heat waves and wildfires, exacerbated by climate change, worsen air pollution. Ground-level ozone pollution, which is so concerning for Colorado, also forms more easily in hotter temperatures and stagnant air, and wildfire smoke also contributes to particle pollution. Smog and particle pollution can have serious health effects—including asthma attacks, heart attacks, and even early death. By addressing climate change, this rule will help address air pollution indirectly as well.
As a mom of five, I am concerned that our future generations, including our own children, will be significantly more impacted by climate change-fueled extreme weather events in their lifetimes than we are today.
Once again, I support 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. Thank you for the incredible amount of work that has been done to date and this opportunity to testify today.