Local activists to testify at EPA’s historic hearings on power plant emissions

[Charlotte Sierra Club]

Some 1,600 expected to speak at hearings across the country

ASHEVILLE—On June 2, President Obama and the EPA announced the first-ever carbon pollution limits on all existing power plants. It’s the most important climate action of his presidency, because power plants are America’s single largest source of extreme-weather intensifying, public-health threatening carbon pollution.

The EPA has scheduled four public hearings across the country—in Pittsburgh, Denver, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta—to give people the opportunity to give oral testimony on the new carbon standards.

On July 29, concerned citizens from Western North Carolina will travel to Atlanta to give formal comments supporting the EPA’s proposed carbon pollution limits at the hearing in the Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center.

A busload of area activists will leave Asheville at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday from Earth Fare in the Westgate Shopping Center. A press conference, rally and a march will be held in Atlanta outside the hearings. The bus will return to Asheville by midnight.

“We need to tell the EPA that limiting carbon from power plants is the fastest way to tackle climate disruption,” said Anna Jane Joyner, campaign coordinator with Western North Carolina Alliance. “The coal-fired power plant in Asheville is the largest single contributor to climate disruption in our mountains, releasing carbon dioxide into the air every year equivalent to 500,000 cars on the road. This is not just an environmental problem, it’s a public health issue and it’s an economic issue.”

The EPA says it anticipates hearing oral comments from about 1,600 people.

Anyone interested in getting a seat on the bus from Asheville to Atlanta should go to:

http://www.eventbrite.com/e/bus-to-the-epa-carbon-protections-hearing-tickets-12239930963.

The cost is $10, plus a small processing fee.

People also can comment on the EPA’s proposal online or by email, fax or letter. EPA says it considers all comments equally, no matter how they are submitted.

The comment period on the proposed carbon pollution limits rule is open until Oct. 16.

Complete information on the various ways to comment can be found at:

http://www2.epa.gov/carbon-pollution-standards/how-comment-clean-power-plan-proposed-rule