DEP – Page 2 – Pennsylvania Interfaith Power & Light

DEP hearings: Joy Bergey

Joy Bergey is a former PA IPL board member. She testified at the PA DEP listening session in Marcus Hook, Philadelphia County on September 30, 2015.

My name is Joy Bergey, and I speak as director of the Environmental Justice Center of Chestnut Hill United Church. Based in Philadelphia, the Center is a multi-religious program working with congregations to address issues of environmental injustice.

We thank Secretary Quigley and DEP for holding these listening sessions. We you to create a strong plan to meet EPA’s emissions reductions targets under the Clean Power Plan. In fact, we urge DEP to exceed these targets.

In light of DEP’s own startling new report, Pennsylvania’s temperatures are predicted to rise 5 to 6 degrees in mere decades.

Given the deeply inspiring messages delivered by His Holiness Pope Francis just a few miles from here last weekend, we must take strong action to limit carbon pollution. It’s a moral imperative.

We at the Center have recently become aware of a significant source of carbon dioxide that EPA has included as a potential compliance option under the Clean Power Plan: wood-burning Continue reading DEP hearings: Joy Bergey

DEP hearings: Rev. Bill Thwing, Pittburgh

Rev. Thwing is a past president of the PA IPL board. He testified at the PA DEP listening session in Pittsburgh on September 21, 2015.

Good evening. My name is William Thwing. I am a Pastor in Johnstown, PA; the father of 4 children, grandfather of 5 and a geneaologist – which means that I can trace my family tree back many generations. My ancestors who worked so hard and sacrificed so much enable the emergence of my generation today, would be appalled if they realized that all their prayers and hopes and efforts could be wiped out within a couple of generations by the chaos of the climate changes detailed in part in the most recent “Pennsylvania Climate Change Assessment”. I fear for my grandchildren and the generations to come, that we, in our shortsighted self-serving generation, will leave them nothing more than an ‘immense pile of filth” as Pope Francis puts it in his Encyclical, Laudato Si. Now is the time to act decisively. Now is the time to make the sacrifices necessary to insure our grandchildren’s survival and the survival of our nation.

I thank the DEP for holding these hearings and giving Pennsylvania citizens an opportunity to envision together a plan to insure our common welfare and survival. I Continue reading DEP hearings: Rev. Bill Thwing, Pittburgh

DEP hearings: Peter Winslow

Peter Winslow is a PA IPL board member. He testified at the PA DEP listening session in Philadelphia County on September 30, 2015. His oral remarks are followed by a longer written submission.

My name is Peter Winslow. I wish to express our appreciation to Gov. Wolf, Sec. Quigley, and the DEP staff for:

Embracing the Clean Power Plan rather than resisting the EPA’s rulemaking authority,
Working to develop a Pennsylvania Plan instead of waiting for imposition of a federal plan,
Endeavoring to submit our PA plan by September 9, 2016 without requesting an extension of time in which to comply with the Rule, and
Holding these listening sessions for the public to provide input on a timely basis.

Continue reading DEP hearings: Peter Winslow

DEP hearings: Rev. Paul Metzloff

Rev. Metzloff delivered these comments at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Clean Power Plan Listening Session, September 28th, 2015 in Wilkes-Barre, PA

Good evening, and thanks for the opportunity to say something tonight. My name is Paul Metzloff, and I’m a Lutheran pastor serving a congregation just across the river in Kingston. I’m not a native Pennsylvanian, but I have lived here for a little over six years, and I am a husband, a father, and a person of faith.

I’m speaking tonight not as a formal representative of any organization (although I am a member of several faith-based environmental groups), but as someone who has been paying attention to issues of climate, and energy, and the environment for many years. I particularly want to emphasize that I approach these issues from the standpoint of the Christian faith, where God not only calls humans to serve and protect creation, but Christ also calls me to love and serve my neighbor. Continue reading DEP hearings: Rev. Paul Metzloff