September 27 – Appalachia Rising, a mass convergence on Washington D.C. calling for an end to Mountain Top Removal (MTR) culminated with a march of roughly 2,000 people and arrests of over 115 people. There were actions at the White House, PNC Bank, Department of the Interior, and the Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters. These actions come at a time when MTR has been thrust into the national spotlight by Appalachian communities facing poisoned drinking water, increased cancer, and destruction of some of America’s most pristine mountains.

Here are some of the highlights:

Media Hits:

CNN: Protesters arrested outside the White House

The Hill: More than 100 arrested at coal mining protest in front of the White House

Washington Post: About 100 arrested in mountaintop mining protest

NPR: About 100 Arrested in Mountaintop Mining Protest

It’s Getting Hot in Here: Appalachia Rising up in DC

Huffington Post: Mass Arrests in DC: We Shall No Longer Be Crucified Upon the Cross of Coal

Photos/Video:

Rally and March – Friends of the Earth

Sit-in at PNC Bank – Rainforest Action Network

Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters Occupation – DC Rising Tide

Appalachia Rising Flickr Pool

(Protesters sit down at 6:30).

Boulder Activists Unfurl Banner and Erect Wind Turbines on Top of Giant Coal Pile

Boulder, CO – At approximately 12:45 today, four activists climbed onto the massive coal pile in front of the Valmont Power Plant.  An enormous banner was deployed down the front of the coal pile reading “RENEWABLES NOW” and two large mock wind turbines were erected on top of the coal pile.  The activists reclaimed the coal pile to display their message for approximately 1.5 hours, before they were taken into custody.

Meanwhile a rally took place on outside of the Valmont Power Plant.  Bill McKibben, a leading climate change activist and founder of 350.org, who happened to be in Boulder for a speaking event, came out to the rally and expressed his support for those on the coal pile.
“Our leaders have been listening to the coal industry instead of the science and now people need to take the lead and that is what they are doing.  The action today is great and what is so great about it is that the same thing is happening all around the world. Everywhere people are showing the same kind of courage,” said Mr. McKibben.

The protest, which occurred less than one week after the 40thAnniversary of Earth Day, comes as Boulder is considering whether to renew a 20 year franchise agreement with Xcel.  Recently, the Boulder City Council and City Manager suggested that Boulder should delay signing a new franchise agreement to allow more time to negotiate with Xcel about implementing a stronger renewable energy plan.
Approximately 90% of Boulder’s electricity is generated from fossil fuels, with only 10% coming from renewable sources.  Many local environmentalists and community leaders are calling for electricity generated from renewable sources to increase by 10% each year, reaching 30% renewable by 2012 and 100% renewable by 2020.

“Boulder is ready to move forward with 100% renewable electricity. If Xcel is not willing to partner with the city to make this happen, then Boulder officials and citizens needs to take our energy future into our own hands,” said Tom Weis, a Boulder resident that communicated from atop the coal pile.
While the recent ‘Clean Air-Clean Jobs Act’ will require that Xcel modify three Front Range coal plants by 2017, Xcel is simultaneously planning to open the Comanche 3 coal-fired power plant in Pueblo, which will be the largest coal plant in the state.

Beyond that, three Front Range coal plants are likely to be replaced by natural gas, instead of renewable energy sources.  In fact, the legislation may allow Xcel to sign 20 year contracts on natural gas, effectively locking Coloradans to the high cost and environmentally destructive fuel, at a time when renewable energy technology is rapidly advancing.

“There couldn’t be a more important place for these kinds of protests. Boulder has provided more information about the deteriorating climate than any other town and yet there is a mountain of coal behind me. It is pathetic,” said Mr. McKibben.

At the same time, Mr. McKibben believes that Boulder is the right place to change directions:
“There is no better place for 100% renewable electricity. Boulder’s combination of wind, sun and brain power makes it uniquely suited for just that kind of progress.”

Photos available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/49717025@N06/

Initial media reports:
Video and Article: http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_14968436#axzz0mLAxuWwK
Article: http://cbs4denver.com/wireapbusinessco/5.arrested.at.2.1660009.html

Group Erects Purple Mountain Majesty At EPA; Say “If Administrator Lisa Jackson Won’t Visit the Appalachian Mountains, They Will Bring The Mountains to Her”

In an attempt to further pressure EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to enforce the Clean Water Act and halt mountaintop removal coal mining (MTR), activists early this morning erected two 20-foot-tall, purple tripod structures in front of the agency’s headquarters. A pair of activists perched at the top of the tripods have strung a 25-foot sign in front of the EPA’s door that reads, “EPA: pledge to end mountaintop removal in 2010.” Six people are locked to the tripods and say they won’t leave unless Administrator Jackson commits to a flyover visit of the Appalachian Mountains and MTR sites, which she has never done before.

This is the latest in a series of actions and activities aimed at pressuring the EPA to take more decisive action on mountaintop removal coal mining. Today’s tactic is modeled on the multi-day tree-sits that have been happening in West Virginia to protect mountains from coal companies’ imminent blasting. Called the worst of the worst strip mining, the practice blows the tops off of whole mountains to scoop out the small seams of coal that lie beneath.

“We’re losing our way of life and our culture,” said Chuck Nelson, who worked as a coal miner in West Virginia for three decades and came to DC to support today’s protest. “Mountaintop removal should be banned today. The practice means total devastation for communities, the hardwood forests, the ecosystems, and the headwaters. Why should our communities sacrifice everything we have?”

Despite the Obama administration’s big announcement last year that it was going to take “unprecedented steps” to reduce the environmental damage from mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia, the EPA has been slow moving. Two weeks ago, the EPA delayed action on a set of broad-ranging and specific measures to reduce the environmental impacts of mountaintop removal, after details of the plan were leaked to coal-state mining regulators. The EPA has for months been close to finalizing these permit guidelines, which many hope will mandate tougher protections to limit damage to water quality and be a step in the right direction toward abolishing the practice.

The delay in EPA’s announcement of more detailed permit guidelines came just as the agency also asked U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers for more time to decide if it will veto the largest mountaintop removal mining permit in West Virginia history, the nearly 2,300-acre Spruce No. 1 Mine in Logan County.

“The science has become clear that mountaintop removal is harming water resources in real and measurable ways,” said Kate Rooth of the Rainforest Action Network, which organized the protest. “The EPA definitely can and must do much more on mountaintop mining and that includes exercising its full regulatory authority to block every single mining permit application that seeks to remove America’s oldest mountaintops and dump the waste into waterways.”

Based on EPA Administrator Jackson’s statements on March 8th at the National Press Club, it appears that the EPA is seeking ways to “minimize” the ecological damage of mountaintop mining rather than halt the most extreme strip mining practice. A paper released in January by a dozen leading scientists in the journal Science, however, concluded that mountaintop coal mining is so destructive that the government should stop giving out new permits all together. “The science is so overwhelming that the only conclusion that one can reach is that mountaintop mining needs to be stopped,” said Margaret Palmer, a professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences and the study’s lead author.

“Ultimately, what is clear is that mountaintop removal cannot be regulated. It must be abolished. Otherwise, we will continue to jeopardize our historic mountains, precious drinking water and especially the lives of the people who call Appalachia home. All of this for a tiny percent of dirty coal, the tradeoff doesn’t add up,” said Kate Finneran, one of the two main climbers in today’s protest.

Called the worst of the worst coal mining, mountaintop removal coal mining results in the clear-cutting of thousands of acres of some of the world’s most biologically diverse forests, the burying of crucial headwaters streams and the contamination of groundwater with toxic levels of heavy lead and mercury. According to the EPA, this destructive practice has damaged or destroyed nearly 2,000 miles of streams and threatens to destroy 1.4 million acres of forest by 2020.

for hi resolution pictures click here

Follow @RANactions on Twitter for updates

February 26, 2010

Contacts:

Brian Bernhardt; ‘Power Past Coal’ Organizer; 703-439-0725; brian.bernhardt@colorado.edu

Amy Guinan, ‘Power Past Coal’ Organizer; 303-999-6374; amyguinan@yahoo.com

Tom Weis, President of Wind Power Solutions; 303-499-9648; tom@windpowersolutions.com

Denver, CO – At 11:45am on Friday, February 26th, local citizens demonstrated at the Denver headquarters of Xcel Energy – located at the corner of 17th St. and Lawrence St. – in protest of the utility’s impending plan to bring a new coal-fired power plant online in Pueblo, CO. The lunch hour protest called on Xcel executives to move Colorado in the right direction by keeping the Comanche 3 coal-fired power plant closed. Protestors demonstrated in a ‘die-in’ in front of the building’s main entrance to highlight the grim consequences that coal has on our lives and those of future generations. Simultaneously, two activists clad in hazmat suits dropped a banner off an adjoining bridge on Lawrence St. Police arrived on scene but no arrests were made.

The 750-megawatt Comanche Unit 3 would be the largest coal-fired power plant in the state, surpassing even the mammoth Cherokee coal plant in North Denver. “At a time when the costs of coal are becoming increasingly clear and the benefits of clean energy are ever more apparent, building the largest coal-fired power plant in the state is taking us 180 degrees in the wrong direction,” said Amy Guinan, an activist with Power Past Coal.

According to Xcel’s own data, the Comanche 3 plant would emit over 20 million pounds of CO2 a day, 2 pounds of mercury a week and thousands of tons of particulates and haze forming pollutants every year. The plant would also consume over 4 million gallons of water a day.

“Xcel has already wasted nearly $1 billion on this planet-destroying boondoggle. Operating it could cost ratepayers billions more. For the sake of Colorado’s children, and future generations, it is time for Xcel to pull the plug on this ill-conceived coal plant and redirect their investments towards making Colorado 100% renewable,” said Tom Weis, President of Wind Power Solutions.

Xcel has had ongoing problems bringing the plant online. While Xcel originally hoped to bring the plant into operation last fall, a variety of technical problems – currently involving a boiler pump – continue to push back its scheduled opening.

“There are a lot more than just technical problems with this new coal-fired power plant. There are serious social, economic and environmental problems. Rather than talking about a delayed opening, we should be talking about a permanent closure. Instead of building a new coal-fired plant, Xcel should be investing heavily in Colorado’s abundant solar and wind resources,” said Brian Bernhardt, an activist with Power Past Coal.

Today’s protest is part of an ongoing series of actions to move Colorado beyond coal. Sparked by the failure of elected and appointed officials to take meaningful action to move rapidly to renewable energy, the Power Past Coal campaign is building a grassroots protest effort. With the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment approving the permit-to-pollute for both the Valmont and Cherokee stations despite overwhelming public opposition, citizens are prepared to ramp up the pressure on Xcel executives, as well as Colorado politicians and regulatory agencies.

“Our leaders are failing to lead and Xcel is failing to take their responsibility seriously. Xcel should expect more protests and actions unless they start closing down coal plants and moving Colorado to 100% renewable electricity,” Kate Clark, a Power Past Coal activist.

Xcel has been challenged on multiple fronts this week. On Tuesday evening, Pueblo residents – where the new coal-fired power plant is built – raised serious concerns about high-pitched noises from the plant which are affecting people as far as nine miles away. Meanwhile, WildEarth Guardians petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to protect clean air and the climate and overturn an air pollution permit allowing Xcel Energy to illegally pollute while operating the Pawnee coal-fired power plant.

***

*Photographs available throughout the day at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/powerpastcoalcolorado/sets/72157623370635897/

UPDATE – legal support needed! click here

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: 304-854-7372, news@climategroundzero.org
Note: For more info, see : www.climategroundzero.org, www.mountainjustice.org

PETTUS, WVa—After blocking Massey Energy’s operations on the Bee Tree Permit for nine days, Amber Nitchman, 19, and Eric Blevins, 28 descended from their respective trees. They had occupied the two oak trees—originally accompanied by a third tree sitter, David Aaron Smith, 23—to protest mountaintop removal and the blasting of Coal River Mountain. Upon descent, they were immediately arrested by West Virginia State Troopers. The sitters’ decision to leave the trees was made in light of the recent drop in temperature.

After a week of Massey security harassing the sitters with deafening sirens and air horns, a call-in pressure campaign was launched by Climate Ground Zero, Mountain Justice and other anti-mountaintop removal groups. The receipt of hundreds of calls from around the country led to an emergency meeting with Climate Ground Zero volunteers, the Raleigh County prosecutor and Governor Manchin. The meeting resulted in the moratorium and a call for an investigation of the abuse.

The tree sit represents Climate Ground Zero’s most sustained intervention in mountaintop removal mining operations since its campaign of nonviolent direct action began last February. Volunteers know that the fight is far from over and expect work to commence on the Bee Tree site immediately. However, they see this tree sit as a victory. “It halted blasting for nine days. I think they’ve wildly succeeded with their goals,” said Climate Ground Zero volunteer Mike Bowersox. In a final communication from her perch, Nitchman captured the group’s resolve. “Its not over until the blasting is stopped,” she said.

photos and more available at www.climategroundzero.net

Today, on November 30, one week before the UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen open, and on the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Organization (WTO) protest in Seattle in 1999, major demonstrations, teach-ins and civil disobedience are taking actions place in cities around the U.S

Reports are now starting to come in from:

• Chicago, Illinois: Activists target Carbon Trading @ Chicago Climate Exchange – 12 arrested
• Denver, Colorado: Citizens ‘Die-in’ at Department of Public Health and Environment in Coal Protest
• Greensville, SC: Blockade of shipment of generator to Cliffside Coal Plant, 4 arrested
• New York City, NY: Occupation of the Natural Resource Defense Council Office with James Hansen exposing their ties to industry
• San Francisco, CA: San Francisco Climate Justice Action at Bank of America; 200 Rally with at least 23 Arrested
• Whitby, Ontatio: Sit-in for Climate Justice at Finance Minister’s Office
• Washington, DC: Downtown march targets major polluters and lobbyists

Many more updates are coming in from Boston, Palm Beach, Bangor, Burlington, Seattle and other locales – you can read all the details at the Mobilization for Climate Justice (MCJ) website - www.actforclimatejustice.org.

Donations are needed for arrestees! Your support is needed:

Your Support is Needed!

Donation Amount

five $5.00 ten $10.00 fifteen $15.00 twenty $20.00 twenty-five $25.00 thirty $30.00 fifty $50.00 one hundred $100.00 two hundred fifty $250.00 five hundred! $500.00

Donate to which action group?

Any! (where most needed) Chicago New York Maine Ontario San Francisco Denver Greenville, SC

Anything you’d like to say?

Also, check out an interview interview with MCJ’s Ananda Tan and David Solnit on today’s broadcast on Democracy Now!

With the corporate media unlikely to give major coverage to such actions, we need you to spread the word! You can see the combined and growing photo gallery here and follow updates on facebook or twitter.

The Mobilization for Climate Justice is a broad and diverse coalition of organizations working for social, environmental, economic and racial justice is calling for urgent action on the global climate crisis, based on equitable, democratic and science-based solutions.

As world leaders gather in Copenhagen, the people hit hardest by this crisis and the least responsible for its cause—working class, Indigenous and people of color communities around the world—have been systematically excluded and are demanding a voice at the table.

Meanwhile, the world’s major corporations have been dominating international and domestic climate policy – as they did in the international trade policy arena. Carbon-trading and carbon offset projects have already allowed these polluters to avoid cutting emissions and expand their markets into poor countries, accelerating corporate take-over of the world’s resources at the expense of local and Indigenous communities.

“We cannot allow the world’s largest corporate polluters to continue robbing our children’s future,” stated Carla Perez of Movement Generation Justice and Ecology Project, who will be marching with her daughter in a parade of children and the Raging Grannies. “US corporations have been holding real climate solutions hostage, while burdening our communities with ongoing attacks on our health and livelihoods.”

Today on the Global Day of Climate Justice Action, a rowdy march in San Francisco made it’s way to Bank of America’s skyscraper (the tallest building in San Francisco), where dozens of activists blockaded the doors all around the building. Over 200 marched and rallied with at least 22 being arrested in the blockade.

Some locked themselves within the revolving doors to disrupt Bank of America’s business for the day. Bank of America is one of the largest funders of coal plants, oil and gas in the country. They also play a leading role within trade associations pushing for cap and trade.“The world’s largest corporations are blocking an agreement to address the climate crisis that is endangering our common future,” stated organizer David Solnit. “Meanwhile, Bank of America profits from financing dirty energy and carbon trading schemes that subsidize pollution and poverty.” According to Bloomberg, Bank of America is the third largest financier of oil, gas, and coal in the world, and is heavily involved in financing mountaintop removal coal mining.The activists, organized as The Mobilization for Climate Justice, also targeted carbon traders, and five of the largest contributors to climate pollution: JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Chevron, BP, and American Electric Power.The Mobilization blames these corporations for contributing to the climate crisis and promoting false solutions such as carbon trading, “clean coal”, nuclear energy and bio-fuels. Through direct lobbying, and support of lobbying institutions like the Chambers of Commerce and the US Climate Action Partnership, these corporations have prevented democratic domestic and international climate negotiations. Moreover, companies like Chevron, whose Richmond oil refinery is the single largest emitter of climate pollution in California , continue to dump toxic pollution in poor communities with impunity.This protest marks the 10th anniversary of the massive mobilization in Seattle that effectively derailed the corporate agenda driving the World Trade Organization’s trade liberalization policies. “We cannot allow the world’s largest corporate polluters to continue robbing our children’s future,” stated Carla Perez of Movement Generation, marching with a parade of children and the Raging Grannies carrying clean up equipment. “US corporations have been holding climate solutions hostage, while burdening our communities with ongoing attacks on our health and livelihoods.”Protestors demand that Bank of America and the other corporations stop polluting the climate and promoting false solutions at the UN and in the halls of Congress.

Today on the Global Day of Climate Justice Action, a rowdy march in San Francisco made it’s way to Bank of America’s skyscraper (the tallest building in San Francisco), where dozens of activists blockaded the doors all around the building. Over 200 marched and rallied with at least 22 being arrested in the blockade.

Some locked themselves within the revolving doors to disrupt Bank of America’s business for the day. Bank of America is one of the largest funders of coal plants, oil and gas in the country. They also play a leading role within trade associations pushing for cap and trade.

“The world’s largest corporations are blocking an agreement to address the climate crisis that is endangering our common future,” stated organizer David Solnit. “Meanwhile, Bank of America profits from financing dirty energy and carbon trading schemes that subsidize pollution and poverty.” According to Bloomberg, Bank of America is the third largest financier of oil, gas, and coal in the world, and is heavily involved in financing mountaintop removal coal mining.

The activists, organized as The Mobilization for Climate Justice, also targeted carbon traders, and five of the largest contributors to climate pollution: JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Chevron, BP, and American Electric Power.

The Mobilization blames these corporations for contributing to the climate crisis and promoting false solutions such as carbon trading, “clean coal”, nuclear energy and bio-fuels. Through direct lobbying, and support of lobbying institutions like the Chambers of Commerce and the US Climate Action Partnership, these

corporations have prevented democratic domestic and international climate negotiations. Moreover, companies like Chevron, whose Richmond oil refinery is the single largest emitter of climate pollution in California , continue to dump toxic pollution in poor communities with impunity.

This protest marks the 10th anniversary of the massive mobilization in Seattle that effectively derailed the corporate agenda driving the World Trade Organization’s trade liberalization policies. “We cannot allow the world’s largest corporate polluters to continue robbing our children’s future,” stated Carla Perez of Movement Generation, marching with a parade of children and the Raging Grannies carrying clean up equipment. “US corporations have been holding climate solutions hostage, while burdening our communities with ongoing attacks on our health and livelihoods.”

Protestors demand that Bank of America and the other corporations stop polluting the climate and promoting false solutions at the UN and in the halls of Congress.

]]> http://www.beyondtalk.net/2009/11/san-francisco-climate-justice-action-at-bank-of-america-200-rally-with-at-least-22-arrested/feed/ 0 http://www.beyondtalk.net/2009/11/citizens-die-in-at-department-of-public-health-and-environment-in-coal-protest/ http://www.beyondtalk.net/2009/11/citizens-die-in-at-department-of-public-health-and-environment-in-coal-protest/#comments Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:02:48 +0000 deadlyvine http://www.beyondtalk.net/?p=293 Group calls on the Air Quality Control Commission to deny the Cherokee coal plant’s ‘permit to pollute’

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 30, 2009

Contacts:
Brian Bernhardt; CU Graduate Student; 703-439-0725; brian.bernhardt@colorado.edu
Amy Guinan, CU-INVST; 303-999-6374; amyguinan@yahoo.com

Denver, CO – This morning, approximately fifteen local citizens, representing a diverse coalition of groups, demonstrated at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (DPHE) to demand the denial of the Cherokee coal plant’s permit to pollute. The early morning protest greeted DPHE employees as they arrived for work and called on the department to close down Cherokee. Protestors did a ‘die-in’ in front of the building’s main entrance to highlight the grim consequences that coal has on our lives and those of future generations. At the same time, other activists in hazmat suits roped off the area with “Global Warming Crime Scene’ tape and chanted against coal plants.

“The Department of Public Health and Environment needs to stand up for public health and the environment. They can do this by beginning to phase out coal-fired power plants,” said Kate Clark, a graduate student in Environmental Studies at CU-Boulder.

The DPHE’s Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC) recently held a public hearing on the Cherokee coal plant, in which citizens overwhelming called for denial of the plant’s air pollution permit. In addition, over 200 citizens turned out to express their opposition to the Valmont coal plant in Boulder this past July and over 300 participated in a protest of the plant on October 24th. Beyond that, activists, dressed in Gov. Ritter masks and clown suits, demonstrated in Denver calling on the governor to not be a ‘climate clown.’ Today’s action was meant to amplify public opposition to the Cherokee coal plant as the AQCC prepares to make a decision on the future of Cherokee in the coming weeks or months.

“The Air Quality Control Commission has an opportunity to put Colorado on the path for a clean energy future. We hope they have the courage to do the right thing,” said Amy Guinan, a student in the CU-INVST program.

Today’s protest is part of a national day of action called for by the Mobilization for Climate Justice, a coalition of some 50 environmental and human rights groups. The day of action – called N30, referring to Nov. 30 – hopes to build grassroots momentum for climate justice in the lead-up to the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen this December. Climate justice refers to the effort to repower our world in ways that fairly distribute the burdens and benefits of energy production by promoting local solutions, sustainable technologies and democratic communities.

“For our health, our plant and our future, it is clear that we need to begin the process of decarbonizing Colorado. To do that we have to start closing down coal plants and Cherokee is the right place to start,” said Brian Bernhardt, a graduate student in Political Science at CU-Boulder.

Climate justice advocates points out that our current system of energy production places a disproportionate impact on poor people of color. Globally, those nations who have done the least to contribute to climate change bear the greatest risks from rising sea levels and droughts. Locally, the Cherokee coal plant pumps mercury and other pollutants into neighborhoods in North Denver that are 90 percent people of color.

The coalition of groups organizing N30, along with those who are organizing historic protests in Copenhagen to coincide with the conference, are demanding real action on climate change that address the root causes of the crisis and promote solutions that are far-reaching, effective and fair.

November 30th is also significant because it is the 10th anniversary of the shutdown of the World Trade Organization’s meeting in Seattle in 1999.

***

Additional Information:
*Photographs available throughout the day at:
www.flickr.com/photos/powerpastcoalcolorado/
*Information on the National Day of Action for Climate Justice:
http://www.actforclimatejustice.org/
*Key facts on the Cherokee coal plant and renewable alternatives:

• Cherokee coal plant is the second largest greenhouse gas contributor in Colorado and releases over 160 pounds of mercury and 10,000 tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxide (equivalent to 550,000 cars) every year.
• Cherokee coal plant has violated clean air laws 10,000 times in the last five years
• Approximately 63,000 people live within three miles of the coal plant; the neighborhoods closest to the coal plant are 90 percent people of color.
• Xcel has already received solar and wind energy bids which would total twice the company’s peak generating capacity – more than enough to offset Cherokee.

*** Statistics provided by Jeremy Nichols at WildEarth Guardians***
#####

Update: Four have been arrested: 2 who were locked down and 2 others. About 20 others are still at the site with banners. Pictures coming soon.

For Immediate Release

November 30, 2009

Press Contact: Liz Veazey 919-627-7324 ashevillerisingtide@gmail.com
Onsite Contact: Attila Nemecz 919-889-1261www.asheville.risingtidenorthamerica.org

Concerned citizens block shipment of generator to Cliffside Coal Plant.

Greenville, SC Two protestors have locked themselves to the 1.5 million pound generator destined for Duke Energy’s Cliffside coal plant in Rutherford County, North Carolina. Protestors are vowing to prevent the generator, which has been traveling across South Carolina on a 300 foot trailer, from reaching the coal plant. “Our nation has no choice, we must stop burning coal. The only choice that we can make is whether we do that in time to still have breathable air, drinkable water, a livable climate, and standing mountains,” said, Catherine Anne. Protestors also draped a large banner from the top of the generator reading, “Stop Cliffside.”

The controversial Cliffside coal plant would emit over 6 million tons of carbon dioxide ever year in addition to toxic levels of heavy metals such as mercury, greatly exacerbating global warming and our abysmal air quality. Duke Energy is seeking to raise electricity rates in order to pay for the construction of Cliffside at a time when record numbers of families are struggling to put food on the table due to the recession.

This act of civil disobedience comes a week before world leaders meet in Copenhagen to hash out a global climate agreement. “Any agreement made in Copenhagen will be meaningless if the US continues to build coal plants such as Cliffside. It is time to tear down coal plants, not construct new ones,” said Rachel Scarano. There are currently 43 coal plants proposed or under construction in the US, though over 100 others have been canceled due to widespread protests.

Since it was first proposed, there has been massive opposition to Cliffside. In the past year and a half over 60 people have been arrested protesting the plant, and they vow to continue the fight. “Since politicians and corporations refuse to take serious action to stop climate change, citizens must step in to shut down coal plants,” said Attila Nemecz. The protest was organized by Asheville Rising Tide and Croatan Earth First! and is part of a national day of action with dozens of protests around the country including Chicago, New York City, Washington DC, and San Francisco.

Directions to site: From I-85 in Greenville, exit onto US 25/ White Horse Rd. Go South on 25 for 2 miles. Left at Augusta Rd. Protest is .5 miles down the road on right.

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