At Energy Justice Georgia Summer Retreat last weekend in Sandersville, youth from around the state came together to discuss and strategize how to approach dirty energy issues. In addition to the 850 MW coal-fired power plant proposed for Sandersville and the fight against Dynegy’s Plant Long Leaf in Blackley, youth also discussed EMC involvement with coal, the continued disregard of customer rights as members, and the false solution of nuclear as the discussion of the future of Georgia’s energy continues.
Youth also took a tour of Plant Branch, Milledgeville’s coal-fired power plant, to discuss with Ga Power representatives the affect of coal burning on communities and issues that youth are concerned with as the proposal of Plant Washington still lies on the table. Discussing issues such as Mercury, CO2 emissions, the amount of coal used by this facility and it’s source being Mountain Top Removal sites, youth engaged Ga Power for two and a half hours on the need to move toward renewable energy solutions as the movement gains victories to push for a clean energy future. The Fulton County Superior Court Ruling last week against the EPD (Georgia’s branch of the Environmental Protection Agency) for failing to regulate CO2 emissions from plants such as Dynegy’s Long Leaf proposal is one such victory that illustrates how our collective efforts for energy justice are on the right track! Youth also engaged in listening projects within the community to identify concerns and connect with community members.
As the movement continues on all fronts to get big industry to seriously consider and implement renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar instead of proposing obsolete forms of energy production such as coal and nuclear, youth in the south recognize the uphill fight that we are all engaged in and are still pushing strong!
No New Coal, No Nuclear, NO KIDDING!!
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July 14, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Kathleen Morel
NO COAL? NO NUCLEAR? NO GAS? Windmills kill birds. Most places don’t get enough sun to use solar. The new light bulbs are full of mercury. I can’t wait til these kids realize their cell phones won’t work on just solar and they’ll be riding a jackass. Let’s be realistic–nuclear power is as clean as it comes and coal can be made cleaner. Take a look at Europe’s nuclear power–France gets about 75% of their power from nuclear. And we can’t switch our cars over night! Something has to be done while new energy sources are being developed. Let’s do some drilling now to ease the transition–and for heaven’s sake be reasonable!