Center for Biological Diversity

Media Advisory, February 26, 2018

Contact:  Candice Kim, (213) 220-0591, ckim@biologicaldiversity.org
Vera Pardee, (858) 717-1488, vpardee@biologicaldiversity.org

San Francisco Polar Bear Funeral to Oppose Clean Power Plan Repeal

SAN FRANCISCO— Public-health, environmental and youth activists will hold a symbolic polar bear funeral and rally Wednesday to oppose the Trump administration’s proposed Clean Power Plan repeal. The event will take place in front of the San Francisco Main Public Library, where the Environmental Protection Agency will hold a listening session on the proposed repeal later that morning.

“Implementing the Clean Power Plan would finally cut the dirty power-plant pollution that drives climate change and makes people sick,” said Vera Pardee, senior counsel at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. “Killing this crucial protection would be the Trump EPA’s most destructive environmental assault yet.”

What: Funeral service for Frostpaw the polar bear (a person in a realistic polar bear costume) and rally against the EPA’s proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan

When: Wednesday, Feb. 28. Funeral begins at 8 a.m., EPA’s listening session scheduled from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Where: Steps of San Francisco Main Public Library, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102

Who: Participants available for media interviews include young climate leaders, public-health advocates and representatives from the Center for Biological Diversity.

Background
The nation’s fleet of fossil-fuel power plants is the largest stationary source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The Clean Power Plan imposed the first-ever nationwide limits on carbon pollution from power plants.

Power plants also emit pollutants that cause asthma and other health problems. According to the Trump EPA’s own analysis, the Clean Power Plan would prevent up to 4,500 premature deaths per year by 2030 due to reductions in these pollutants. This is particularly important for low-income communities and communities of color who are disproportionately saddled with power-plant emissions.

The Clean Power Plan was finalized by the Obama administration in 2015. In October 2017 EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced a proposal to repeal the rule without committing to any replacement.

“The EPA’s listening session is a sham. Scott Pruitt is hell-bent on scrapping the Clean Power Plan for his friends in the fossil fuel industry,” Pardee said. “It’s a stunning abdication of the EPA’s central duty to protect our health and environment, and we must fight it.”

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.6 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

www.biologicaldiversity.org

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