This message has been cross posted to the following eGroups: Global Warming Solutions and Carbon Pollution Rule Campaign .
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Good Afternoon-

So far we have 107 sign ons. Please take a minute to review them and make any changes in the google doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uFRP_lSg4CoLeE6d2-MnTj2A9i5J-nalgXKQT5GgxIg/edit?usp=docslist_api

107 is good, but we still have plenty of signatures to gather. The deadline has been extended to COB on Monday, July 29th.

While we have concentrated our efforts on gathering non-environmental signatories we should by no means forget about our environmental organizations. We should ask them to sign on. If they do sign on, then ask them if they can acquire 2 or 3 non-environmental signatories. It will this boost our numbers and continue to strengthen relationships between states groups.

Best,
Sarah

Dear Mr. President,
 
The undersigned Midwest businesses, health professionals, faith organizations, youth groups, community groups and environmental organizations thank you for laying out a comprehensive yet practical plan to address climate change.  All of the elements of your plan will be helpful, but most importantly, we appreciate your directive to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reissue and finalize the carbon pollution rule for new power plants as soon as possible and to issue a strong draft rule for reducing carbon pollution from existing power plants and finalize it by June 2015.  As you pointed out, with every passing day the urgency of climate change intensifies; we agree, and we greatly appreciate your leadership.   
 
Like Americans around the country, our greatest concern is with the quality of life in our communities and the ability for our families to have the best opportunities to work and live their lives together in safe, vibrant and fulfilling communities.  We recognize that climate change threatens our quality of life, and even more so that of our children, and we want it addressed in the most timely and cost-effective way possible.  We greatly appreciate that you have laid out a plan with practical ways to address carbon pollution, and we agree that regulating carbon pollution from existing power plants will create economic development opportunities, especially here in the Midwest.
 
As you know, just months ago, the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii reported observing carbon dioxide levels over 400 ppm in the earth’s atmosphere for the first time.  This precipitous increase in carbon pollution has coincided with increasingly frequent extreme weather that regularly reminds us that climate change is upon us.  Here in the Midwest, last year’s devastating drought has been replaced with heavy rains that in many areas have washed out crops or prevented farmers from planting them.  This was the wettest spring ever recorded for the state of Iowa, and many areas of Iowa and Minnesota received over 20 inches of rain in the month of May alone.  Michigan’s Grand River reached a record high height of 17.8 feet, and in Ohio, the increased rainfall is leading to harmful nutrient runoff and increased algal blooms in the Maumee River and Lake Erie.  The Midwest has more than its share of extreme weather.  In 2012 alone, Ohioans experienced 55 broken heat records, 10 broken snow records, 10 broken precipitation records, and one large wildfire.
 
Public health officials and practitioners recognize that climate change is threatening the health and well-being of citizens across Midwest states.  Heat waves, storms and floods will cause increasing numbers of injuries and claim increasing numbers of lives. If left unchecked, climate changed fueled by carbon pollution is likely to increase the smog levels we all breathe. Snog triggers asthma attacks, makes managing lung disease especially difficult, and is harmful for the very young and old. In the Midwest we are also seeing an increase in vector, water and foodborne diseases.  The number of reported cases of Lyme disease has climbed steadily to highs of 3,649 and 2,124 in 2011 in Wisconsin and Minnesota respectively. 
 
In addition to the extreme weather and health impacts of climate change, there are equally compelling social justice and equality reasons to regulate carbon pollution from power plants.  Low-income people of the Midwest’s urban centers and farm communities, and many communities of color, contribute much less to this problem than the rest of us and yet are now -, and will be – hit the hardest.  This is true not only because many power plants have been sited near low-income neighborhoods and communities of color, but also because many of these citizens have preexisting health conditions and other disadvantages that are compounded and exacerbated by climate change impacts.  These populations also have fewer options and resources to adapt to climate change, and therefore, mitigation efforts are critical. 

It is also important to understand the moral responsibility we face in light of the global disparity between the amount of carbon pollution released by developed countries compared to the magnitude of the impact that will be felt by less developed countries.  Using these carbon pollution standards to leverage and encourage carbon pollution reductions by other developed and growing economies is another practical aspect of your plan.  But it is equally important to draw attention to the relationship and impact the United States has with and on other countries which do not enjoy our standard of living, but which will feel much greater impacts (e.g. island countries) and which have far less ability to adapt to climate change.

The good news, from our perspective, is that with our vast manufacturing base and talent, the Midwest can be the world’s leader in manufacturing the clean energy technologies that meet our energy needs and protect the environment for future generations. Across five states (Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa), the Midwest is already employing close to 20,000 people in the wind and solar industries, and over 600 wind and solar companies are part of the wind and solar industry supply chain (ELPC 2011). With Illinois, Iowa and Michigan landing in the top ten of wind capacity built in 2012, we can only expect this market to continue to grow. If done correctly, energy efficiency programs, which are much more labor intensive than any other way of meeting our energy demands, can be brought to scale in ways that employ many of the urban poor who are most impacted by climate change. 

According to the Department of Energy, $268 billion was invested globally in clean energy in 2012, a 500 percent increase since 2004. Trillions of dollars will be invested in the coming decades.  Clean energy represents one of the most important economic development races of the 21st century.  We face a stark choice:  the clean energy technologies of tomorrow can be invented and manufactured here in the Midwest and across our nation for domestic use and export around the world, or we can cede global leadership and import those technologies from China, India, Germany and elsewhere.  A strong carbon standard for existing power plants will go a long way towards spurring investment in this sector in the Midwest.

The cost of the impacts of climate change and our need to adapt to those impacts becomes more obvious every day.  Regulation of carbon pollution from point sources is long overdue, and we applaud your decisive action.  The longer we delay, the more expensive mitigating climate change becomes.  The carbon pollution rules are critical to protect public health and our natural resources here in the Midwest, but they can also play a key role in our economic recovery by driving markets for the clean energy technologies that could be and should be manufactured right here in America’s heartland.
 
We respect, and are grateful for, your leadership, Mr. President.  We look forward to working with you, EPA, and Midwestern electric utilities to meet this challenge.  Please let us know if there are specific ways in which we can help. 

cc:
EPA Administrator McCarthy
Midwest Members of Congress

Jonathon Hladik- Center for Rural Affairs
Linda Meschke- Rural Advantage
John Blair- Valley Watch
Nicole Rom- Will Steger Foundation
Brian Urbaszewski-Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago
Margaret Krome- Michael Fields Agricultural Institute
Janet Veum- Wisconsin Jobs Now
Bruce Speight- WISPIRG
Samantha Chadwick- Environment Minnesota
Jan Wright- Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice
Julie Lyons Bricker- Michigan Interfaith Power & Light
Kiril Lozanov-Capital City Renewables LLC
Randal Rake- Trout Unlimited, Green Bay Chapter
Randal Rake- SEEDs for De Pere
Robert Kraig-Citizen Action of Wisconsin Education Fund
Brian Beauchamp-Michigan Land Use Institute
Howard Learner- Environmental Law and Policy Center
Raki Giannakouros- Blue Sky Solar
Jessica Brackett- Clean Air Muscatine
Raki Giannakouros- Green Dubuque Inc.
Mark NeuCollins- Green Sanctuary Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Iowa City
Anita Christensen- Indianola Green Team
Ralph Rosenberg- Iowa Environmental Council
Susan Guy- Iowa Interfaith Power & Light
Maureen McCue- Iowa Physicians for Social Responsibility
Kimberly Dickey- Iowa Renewable Energy Association
Harold Prior- Iowa Wind Energy Association
Eloise Cranke- Methodist Federation for Social Action, Iowa Chapter
Wes Slaymaker- WES Engineering
Mike Bull- Center for Energy and Environment
Bob Gough- Intertribal COUP
Jim Funk, Energize, LLC
Brad Johnson, GreenSky Energetics, Inc.
Ray Davy, Agri-Waste Energy, Inc.
Randy Fenske, Wausau Supply
Jeffrey Knutson, A-A Exteriors
Steve Ostrenga, Helios Solar Works
Steve Johnson, Convergence Energy, LLC
Ron Welsch, Heritage Builders
Wes Slaymaker, WES Engineering Inc.
Gary Rockweiler, Rockweiler Insulation, Inc.
Jeff Ehlers, Renewegy, LLC
Kirk M. Heston, Heston Wind & Renewable Energy
Rich Urban, E3 Home Performance Services, LLC
Rich Bannen, Prairie Solar Power & Light
Rob Vogel, Edgeline LLC
Dmitri Martin, GreenStar Home Performance
Tim Johnson, Lakeside Advanced Builders
Bob Jones, Wisconsin Community Action Program Association
Juan Carlos Ruiz, League of United Latin American Citizens, Council 332 Wisconsin
Huda Alkaff, Islamic Environmental Group of Wisconsin
Cheryl Nenn, Milwaukee Riverkeeper
Truesillia Ruth Shank, Cleaner Milwaukee Coalition, formerly known as the Cleaner Valley Coalition
Rev. Scott D. Anderson, WI Council of Churches
Peter W. Bakken, WI Interfaith Power & Light
Rev. Tina S. Lang, The Green Team of First United Methodist Church
Rabbi Bonnie Margulis, WI Faith Voices for Justice
Amanda Stein, Methodist Federation for Social Action-WI Chapter
Rev. Dr. Clare Butterfield, Faith in Place
Keith Dimoff, Ohio Environmental Council 
Raenell Nagel, Nagel, Maki, & Dougherty, LLC
Ray Stewart,  Ohio Wetlands Association
William W. Ellis Ohio Environmental Law Center
Bob Kyle, Friends of Big Walnut Creek & Tributaries
Shanelle Smith, Emerald Cities Collaborative – Cleveland
Dr. Pat McManus, Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin
Barry Cik, Naturepedic, Inc.
Cindy Mullins, City of Ravenna, Public Utilities
Sharon Hanrahan, Sustainable Solutions LLC
Dianne Dagelen, Great Waters Group of the John Muir Chapter, Sierra Club
Pam Kleiss, Physicians for Social Responsibility Wisconsin
Roy Neuner- MI Air MI Health
John Sarver- Great Lakes Renewable Energy Assc.
Joyce Stein- Southeastern Michigan Association of Neonatal Nurses
Shoshana DeMaria-NAACP Ypsilanti-Willow Run
Steve Morse- Minnesota Environmental Partnership
Sean Gosewsk- Alliance for Sustainability
Jerry Bahls- Audubon Chapter of Minneapolis
Michael Nobel- Fresh Energy
Paul Danicic- Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness
Barry Drazkowski- Izaak Walton League of America- MN Division
Scott Strand- Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy
Gary Botzek- Minnesota Conseration Federation 
Deb Ryun- Saint Croix River Assc.
Dustin Dennison- Applied Energy Innovations
Ken Bradley- Minnesota Community Solar, Inc.
John Kearney- Minnesota Solar Energy Industry Assc
Beth Soholt-Wind on the Wires
Joel Cannon- tenKsolar
John Kramer- Sundial Solar
Marty Morud- TruNorth SolarS 
Ken Smith- District Energy LLC and Ever-green Energy LLC
Craig Neal- Heartland Circle
Kevin Flynn- EcoDEEP
John Dunlop, P.E.- Renewable Energy Services, LLC
Joy Throm- Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light
Paul White- Project Resources Corporation
Adam Statton- Power Panel Inc
Mike Carberry- Green State Solutions
Sarah Ward- Ohio Interfaith Power & Light
Robert Downs and Bill Casto- Creation Care Task Force, West Ohio Conference
Crystal Moore- Greater Dayton Christian Connection
Rachel Belz- Ohio Citizen Action
FairShare CSA Coalition
Wendy Van DeWalle- Sustainable Independence
Andy Johnson,-Winneshiek Energy District
Robert L. Caldwell, Jr., AnswerPoverty.org

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Sarah Ann Shanahan
Midwest Clean Energy Coordinator
Clean Wisconsin
634 W. Main St. Suite 300
Madison, WI 53703
sshanahan@cleanwisconsin.org
608.251.7020 x26
http://www.cleanwisconsin.org
reamp.org

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