Duckworth to Trump’s EPA: Clean Power Plan Essential for Job Creation and Public Health in Illinois
[CHICAGO, IL] – In advance of tomorrow’s EPA Field Hearing in Chicago regarding the Trump Administration’s efforts to repeal the Clean Power Plan, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) released the public comments she intends to submit for the hearing outlining the harmful health, environmental and economic impacts Illinoisans, including the 120,000 who work in the clean energy sector, would experience if the Clean Power Plan is thrown out. Duckworth’s comments also discuss how the elimination of the Clean Power Plan is estimated to lead to as many as 1,400 premature deaths, 15,000 new cases of upper respiratory problems and significant increases in missed school and work days by 2030.
“Internationally, this proposal will leave the United States further behind our allies who are taking aggressive action on climate change,” wrote Duckworth. “Now is not the time to be moving backwards. Our Nation should be focused on building a clean energy economy that promotes the development of technologies that reduce pollution and preserve our environment for generations.”
Senator Duckworth serves on the Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) Committee and the Environment and Public Works (EPW).
A copy of the Senator Duckworth’s public comments can be found online here and below.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC)
Mail Code 28221T
Attention Docket ID NO. EPA-HQ-OAR-2017-0355
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460
Subject: Proposed Repeal of the Clean Power Plan, Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2017-0355
Dear Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler:
I write to express my strong opposition to the Trump Administration’s repeal of the Clean Power Plan.
Climate change is a significant threat to our Nation's environment, economy and national security. My home state of Illinois is already experiencing the consequences of inaction. Growing seasons are lengthening, heat waves are increasing, and extreme floods are becoming more frequent and severe. Mitigating these effects will require sensible policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and that invest in clean energy.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is legally required under the Clean Air Act (CAA) to limit carbon pollution from power plants. That is why EPA established the Clean Power Plan to provide States flexibility to meet a national goal of 32 percent reductions in carbon pollution by 2030. This plan was the culmination of robust and rigorous public participation and EPA received millions of comments supporting the program from States, utilities, communities of color, tribes, environmental groups, labor unions and the public at large.
The Clean Power Plan has not only been good for the environment, it has also been good for the economy. In Illinois, residents expect to save an average of up to 4 percent on electricity bills in 2030. Illinois energy efficiency investments alone are estimated to grow our economy by $2 billion in 2030 and the State leads the Midwest in clean energy jobs, with approximately 120,000 people employed and growing.
The Trump Administration’s effort to eliminate the Clean Power Plan is contrary to the clean energy vision we have set in Illinois. This proposal will adversely impact public health and lead to as many as 1,400 premature deaths from increased soot (as well as 230 deaths from increased smog), up to 15,000 new cases of upper respiratory problems, a rise in bronchitis and over one hundred thousand missed school and work days annually by 2030.
Internationally, this proposal will leave the United States further behind our allies who are taking aggressive action on climate change.
The proposal also fails low income communities and communities of color, who have borne the brunt of our environmental and public health burdens. Unlike the Clean Power Plan this new plan lacks requirements that States engage environmental justice and community groups in their plan development process. It also fails to encourage States to conduct environmental justice analyses of their own as they develop their State implementation plans. These are the types of policies that EPA should be working to strengthen, yet the Trump Administration seeks to repeal them entirely.
Now is not the time to be moving backwards. Our Nation should be focused on building a clean energy economy that promotes the development of technologies that reduce pollution and preserve our environment for generations.
Sincerely,
-30-
Next Article Previous Article
