By: Laurie Anderson, Colorado Field Organizer, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: July 8, 2025
About: Environmental Protection Agency Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0124-0001
To: Environmental Protection Agency
Thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Laurie Anderson, and I am a Colorado Field Organizer for Moms Clean Air Force. I live in Broomfield, Colorado.
I strongly urge you to protect the EPA Carbon Rule, which establishes essential pollution standards for power plants. Rolling back this rule would allow more harmful greenhouse gas emissions, increasing the impacts of climate change, jeopardizing public health, and endangering our families and communities.
As a mother of five, I am concerned that future generations, including our own children, will be significantly more impacted by the impacts of pollution in their lifetimes than we are today. These impacts will only intensify if we fail to act. Colorado is already experiencing severe consequences of climate change, including rising wildfire risks, more intense extreme weather events, and worsening hazardous ozone pollution.
I live in the Denver Metro/North Front Range ozone nonattainment area, where poor air quality poses serious health risks. Ozone forms when heat & sunlight interact with pollutants like NOx in the atmosphere, and the number of Ozone Action Alert Days—days when ground-level ozone pollution reaches unhealthy levels—increases with hotter days, making summer months especially dangerous. As climate pollution heats up our planet, these hot days become more frequent and intense. On these days, individuals, and particularly those with respiratory conditions, must limit outdoor activities. We are also advised to reduce vehicle use, and avoid activities that contribute to pollution, such as refueling cars or using gas-powered lawn equipment. Given that power plants are a major source of both climate and ozone-forming air pollution, it would be irresponsible to weaken or revoke the Carbon Rule.
Although Colorado has been making progress in the transition to clean energy, background ozone remains a factor contributing to our ozone nonattainment. As long as fossil fuel power plants operate, the Carbon Rule is critical.
In Colorado, we have experienced the devastating effects of climate change firsthand—from air quality impacts to devastating wildfires. Because of climate change, wildfires are burning hotter and lasting much longer. The Marshall Fire, which destroyed more than 1,000 structures, was a tragic reminder that we cannot afford to delay action. While the state has responded by requiring homeowners in the wildland-urban interface to make fire-resistant changes to their properties as wildfire danger intensifies, our primary focus must remain on reducing pollution, including emissions from power plants. Reducing carbon pollution from power plants is essential to protecting our health, our homes, and future generations.
Fossil fuel power plants are a leading source of climate pollution, and climate change is threatening our health and the environment. Protecting the EPA Carbon Rule is a necessary step for safeguarding our communities and ensuring a livable future for generations to come. Therefore, I urge you to protect the Carbon Rule—our health, environment, and future generations depend on it.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.