Ed Markey — Markey: Clean Air Act's Success Comes From Its Use of Science to Protect Public Health & Welfare

Thank You mr. chairman very much the Clean Air Act is one of the most effective public health law's in American history the original 1963 version initiated by President Kennedy and signed into law by President Johnson empowered the United States Public Health Service to address air pollution six years before the creation of the EPA the Clean Air Act's success comes from its requirement to use science to protect public health and welfare the clean power plan in the new ozone standard of both cases of the EPA acting to protect public health and welfare from proven hazards the scientific community has shown the connection between ozone and respiratory health problems for decades and has called for an ozone standard of 60 parts per billion since 2006 ground-level ozone and smog threaten the health of kids and other cardiovascular compromised people it even has negative impacts on healthy adults agriculture and wildlife and each time science advisory boards have been asked to review the latest research on ozone they find a growing body of evidence of its health hazards then we have the clean power plan first big step towards reducing us carbon pollution the plan will help protect the public from the health impacts of climate change and other pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides that will also be reduced as a result earlier this summer the UK's top medical journal The Lancet published a major health study that identified climate change as the most significant global health threat of the 21st century and often up a number of prescriptions of ways to reduce carbon pollution and shift to cleaner sources of energy the clean power plan is one way that we can follow the doctor's orders the science is clear about the ozone and it's clear about carbon pollution these critical clean air act measures we our discussion today will promote health and stimulate our economy before the 2008 ozone standard was finalized we heard that this standard would the economy but this was just not true in Massachusetts both air quality and gdp increased even as the ozone standard tightened I'm expecting that this trend will continue in Massachusetts as we work to meet the new ozone standard do you believe that other states will also experience economic growth while solving their pollution problems senator we've seen nothing to suggest that improving air quality doesn't improve the economy as it improves public health I look forward to the long awaited ozone standard that will improve life and productivity of families impacted by respiratory health problems I am concerned however that the standard will stop short of providing the required protections a 70 parts per billion ozone standard would still lead to hundreds of thousands of asthma attacks and thousands of preventable deaths each year once the ozone rule is finalized do you believe that an adequate margin of safety which is required by the Clean Air Act will be achieved that is our job senator to to recommend and for the administrator to make a decision that protects the public health with an adequate margin of safety and I don't believe she would sign a rule if she didn't feel that that's what she was signing many studies have shown that low-income individuals have the least ability to protect themselves from the effects of climate change including air quality sea-level rise and flooding water scarcity food prices and changing economies the clean air plan does include programs for low-income families do you think the plan will have a net benefit for those poor families we think both the clean power plan and the ozone standard are particularly important to protect vulnerable low-income and other populations that are particularly affected by these issues and doesn't the history of the Clean Air Act and environmental regulation show that it does lead to innovation that new emissions technologies emerge that solve the problem at a much less expensive cost that had ever been anticipated even by the X that's absolutely true senator yeah so we've seen that in the automotive sector we've seen it in other sectors and I think it's highly likely to continue in this sector as well and to those who wonder whether or not a goal which is not established for Nebraska or any other state might be met let's just look at the facts just in America in 20 15 and 16 we're going to double the total amount of solar it's going from 20,000 to 40,000 total installed solar capacity and why is that it's because the price is collapsing the same thing is true on the wind side we're adding 28,000 new megawatts of wind just in this two-year period and between wind and solar by the end of 2016 we're going to have 130 3,000 megawatts of wind and solar installed in the United States largely because of the advancing technology and the collapse in price so I think people should be optimistic that each of the states with the great flexibility you are providing will be able to meet the standard Thank You mr.

chairman