Please STOP the EPA's War on Coal in Northern Arizona: Sen. Sylvia Allen

Posted: 2015-12-10

Gilbert Watch 10-2-15

Please submit your comments to the EPA expressing your opposition to the jobs-killing "Clean Power Plan."   The environmentalist groups--who don't live anywhere near Northern Arizona--are writing in favor of the plan four to one.  We need your comments!  The letter Arizona Senator Sylvia Allen used to submit a comment is below.  You are welcome to use all or part of it, but please write how this plan will affect you and your family. 

Here are the instructions to submit your comments:

Submit on or before January 21, 2016

Submitting comments online.  (EPA prefers this method) -http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=EPA-HQ-OAR-2015-0199-0001

(If the link above does not work, go to http://www.regulations.gov and put in the docket ID number. EPA–HQ–OAR–2015–0199 and it will take you to the correct proposed rule.) 

Once you see the proposed rule, click on the link on the upper-right of the screen that says “Comment Now!”

You need to fill out the “Comment” section.  (you have 2 options here) 1) You can place your comments directly into this box; or 2) You can use this box as a summary paragraph, and attach your word or PDF document by clicking on the “Upload files” box below.

Mailed comments -  for those who wish to send the comments by mail,

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
EPA Docket CenterDocket ID No. EPA–HQ–OAR–2015–0199
Mail Code 2821T
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460

To Whom It May Concern:

As a resident of northern Arizona who lives within close proximity to the Cholla, Coronado, and Springerville Generating Stations, I would like to submit these comments in opposition to the EPA’s so-called ‘Clean Power Plan’ (CPP).

In spite of the EPA’s insincere and disingenuous claims to the contrary, the CPP is unquestionably a deliberate attempt by the EPA to illegally and perhaps unconstitutionally circumvent Congress to establish a national energy policy that will result in the closure of our nation’s coal-burning electricity plants. This effort has the potential to threaten the viability of Cholla, Coronado and Springerville, with corresponding negative impacts for my community.

For nearly four decades, these power plants have provided Arizona with a consistent supply of affordable, reliable power, making possible a long period of tremendous economic growth and development in the state. It’s no exaggeration to say that these plants have played a major role in Arizona’s growth for the last three decades.

Perhaps more importantly, however, these plants have provided my region with nearly incalculable economic and social benefits that the EPA has chosen to ignore. Consider, for example, the economic benefits that the Cholla Generating Station has provided:

The employment of nearly 300 local residents with secure, high-paying jobs

$29 million in annual payroll
$30 million in products and services
$15 million in state, local, and federal taxes

Significantly, these power plants are also major contributors to local public services and constitute the largest sources of tax revenue for their local counties and school districts. The tax revenue generated by these plants helps pay for K-12 education, roads, public safety, and criminal justice services.

In light of this, how can the EPA justify its implementation of a rule that has the potential to prematurely close these plants? If the public health impact of so-called pollutants like carbon is the primary driver of the CPP, I would like the EPA to know that I have not suffered any health effects as a result of my proximity to either of these plants. No one in my family suffers from asthma, or any other lung or respiratory diseases that environmentalists claim are caused by coal-burning power plants.

It’s clear to me and my neighbors that the CPP is nothing less than an attack on coal and on rural America. Closure of coal plants across the country will primarily impact rural communities like mine that have relied on coal plants for employment and tax revenue.

With all of this in mind, I implore the EPA to reconsider its hazardous and destructive CPP. Revise the rule to allow existing coal plants to remain operational for the remainder of their useful lives. Even better, reverse the rule entirely and stop the attacks on rural America.

Sincerely,

[Allen Signature]

Senator Sylvia Allen
President Pro Tempore
Legislative District 6

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