The HARFORD COUNTY

VOTER

The Newsletter of the League of Women Voters of Harford County, Maryland info@harford.lwvmd.org www.harford.lwvmd.org November, 2013 Eileen Coffee, President Karen Heppen, Editor ________________________________________________________________________________

CALENDAR
Monday, November 18 4:30 pm LWV Harford Board Meeting Slavie Bank, Bel Air

PRESIDENTS MESSAGE
Dear Harford Leaguers and Friends, While Maryland has only a few elections this fall, elsewhere in our nation important changes are afoot as voters select governors and other state legislative officials. As members of the League of Women Voters, we need to be aware of the changing face of political financing as well as the efforts to alter voter ID requirements. The League is working to support alternate ways to draw congressional district boundaries that provide voters equal opportunity to determine who will represent them. The abundant gridlock in our national government and elsewhere is an impediment to progress in our nation's economic future. Please become an active participant in our local League! We need diverse opinions and perspectives expressed among us. You can do that by attending our December 8 gathering at Tudor Hall (see details elsewhere in this newsletter), and by joining us in our free film and discussion series on the Harford Community College campus. I look forward to speaking with you at these events!

All are welcome!

Thursday, December 5 6:00 pm 2013-14 Film Series The Dream is Now Harford Community College Edgewood Hall Room E132 (See page 3 for more information) Sunday, December 8 2:00 pm Meet the LWV Harford! Tudor Hall, Bel Air MD (See page 4 for more information)

LWV-HARFORD BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Eileen Coffee, President Stephanie Hallock, Vice President Elaine Boram, Secretary Karen Heppen, Treasurer Directors Morita Bruce Theresa Freligh Peg Hill Sandy Tracy

Eileen

MEMBERSHIP COUPON LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF HARFORD COUNTY Dues paid now cover membership through June 30, 2014 Name(s)_________________________________________ Telephone_______________________________________ Cell____________________________________________ Principal household member $45.00 Please make check payable to League of WomenVoters of Harford County and mail c/o: LWVHarford, P.O. Box 291, Bel Air, MD 21014-9998 Questions? Email membership@harford.lwvmd.org

Address___________________________________ City, State Zip_______________________________ Email_______________________________________

Additional household members @ $22.50 = $_____ Contribution Total $_____ $_____

LISTENING SESSION ON CARBON POLLUTION

On November 7, LWVUS provided comments to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Listening Session regarding the need to place regulations on carbon pollution from existing power plants. The EPA has been holding Listening Sessions across the country on this important issue and many state and local Leagues around the country have been participating in this important process. November 7, 2013 U.S. EPA Headquarters

Comments for EPA Public Listening Session on Reducing Carbon Pollution from Existing Power Plants
Support. The League of Women Voters of the United States (LWVUS) strongly urges the EPA to limit carbon pollution from existing power plants to achieve at least a 20 percent reduction below 1990 levels by 2020. We believe that taking steps to reduce this dangerous greenhouse gas are essential to protect our children and future generations from the effects of climate change. We commend the EPA for holding this listening session, and others like it across the country, to allow public comment on proposing standards for existing power plants. Importance. Burning coal accounts for about half of the electricity generated in the U.S. and carbon pollution from U.S. power plants accounts for 40 percent of the CO2 emissions that contribute to climate change. Carbon pollution that causes climate change is responsible for increased air pollution that can cause thousands of deaths every year if it continues to remain unchecked. We must protect public health by extending limits like the ones placed on arsenic, lead, mercury and soot, to carbon pollution. We have a moral obligation to our children and future generations to address the cause of climate change beginning with CO2 emissions from existing power plants. Need for extending standards to existing power plants. The EPA has made an important first step by proposing a rule to cut carbon pollution from new sources, but the EPA must now work to extend this standard to existing sources. Reducing emissions from existing power plants is critical to addressing the growing danger that climate change poses to the health and welfare of U.S. citizens and people around the world, as acknowledged by both leading climate scientists and the EPA. Because of the need for immediate action, we believe that the EPA should speed up its consideration of these vitally important rules, and certainly should allow no slippage in the current timetable. Increasingly dangerous CO2 levels. The level of CO2 in the atmosphere now far exceeds the natural range from the previous 800,000 years, according to ice core records. In the pre-industrial world, the atmospheric concentration of CO2 averaged about 285 parts per million (ppm). At the time of the UN Earth Summit in 1992, atmospheric CO2 was about 355 ppm. In April 2012, the level reached 396 ppm. And April saw the 326th straight month with global temperatures above the 20th century average. Economic consequences. Failing to take timely action to curb carbon pollution has serious economic consequences. 1. Extreme weather events, including drought, hurricanes, like superstorm Sandy, and floods, are costing billions of dollars in damages in this country alone. 2. Climate change-related events such as heat waves, high levels of ozone pollution, and outbreaks of vector-borne diseases have already had a significant impact on health care costs. 3. The longer we allow CO2 concentrations to rise, the more drastic the eventual cuts in emissions and the higher the associated costs will be. 4. In the absence of a coherent clean energy policy, the U.S. is falling behind in developing and bringing to market the emerging technologies that sustain economic growth. Urgency. The U.S. must take aggressive action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from all sources, with emissions reduction targets of at least 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80-100 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Reaching these targets will require current power plants to dramatically reduce their carbon emissions, and the League of Women Voters urges the EPA to require those steps as quickly as possible. From the LWV.org website For this articles footnotes and links go to: http://www.lwv.org/content/league-provides-comments-epa-listening-session-carbon-pollution

T HE L EAGUE

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W OMEN V OTERS
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H ARFORD C OUNTY

P OLITICAL AWARENESS A SSOCIATION OF H ARFORD C OMMUNITY C OLLEGE PRESENT THE 2013 - 2014 F ILM S ERIES
Offering thought-provoking documentary films followed by lively discussion.

All are welcome - Admission is free! Join us on Thursday, December 5 at 6:00 pm Edgewood Hall - Room E132 at Harford Community College to view

A new documentary film exploring Americas broken immigration system. The film, produced by Davis Guggenheim (Waiting for Superman and An Inconvenient Truth), tells the stories of undocumented youth and their families who are desperate to earn their citizenship in the only country they've ever called home, the United States of America. From the website of TheDreamIsNow.org

The League of Women Voters of Harford County invites civic minded individuals to join us at Tudor Hall on Sunday, December 8, 2013 from 2 until 4 pm. The League welcomes this opportunity to introduce you to our organization, its purpose and its goals. Join us as we explore options for civic engagement now and in the future.

Tour Tudor Hall, home to the Booth family of well known actors including the infamous John Wilkes Booth.

Learn how Harford County has contributed to the history of our state and how our League has contributed and continues to contribute to the voter education of its citizens.

When: Where:

Sunday, December 8, 2013 Tudor Hall 17 Tudor Lane Bel Air, MD 21015 (Off Rte. 22, Approximately 1 mile west of Harford Community College) 2 pm until 4 pm peghill64@yahoo.com or 410-692-7737

Time: RSVP