Asheville Hearings/Stop The Cliffside Coal-Burning Plant

asheville | environment | feature Monday October 22, 2007 23:31 by Chrystine

Hearing Held Oct. 18 in Asheville Protesting Cliffside Coal-Burning Energy Plant

Speakers submitting comments

FROM THE NEWSWIRE: Here is your chance to get right up in the faces of the powers that be at Duke Energy and their buddies in the Dept. of Air Quality in North Carolina with a challenge they will find hard to ignore. DAQ is the agency that was formed to protect the citizens of North Carolina, but in fact has a long history of complicity with the energy industry and has allowed actions that have sickened our people, particularly the elderly and children, and poisoned our air and water.

Duke seems to feel their proposal for a coal-fired plant at Cliffside is a done deal. We need your voice to prove they are wrong.

A Personal Account

Thursday night, Oct. 18, a citizen’s hearing was held on the A-B tech campus in Asheville. Anyone who wished to speak against the coal plant was given a chance. A video was made to be sent to the DAQ demanding a stop to the issuing of a permit for the proposed plant at Cliffside. A similar meeting was held in Charlotte where over 200 people packed the hall.

I attended the hearing In Asheville and would like to relate some of what I heard. To me, this was watching democracy in action. Educators, moms and dads, the young and our elders,performers,experts with facts and those speaking spontaneously from their hearts said , not just no to the Cliffside Plant, but no to coal.

I would like to make it very clear that I include very few quotes. The following is my interpretation of what I heard from sketchy notes. Comments are paraphrased.

The first to speak was Avram Friedman of the Canary Coalition, one of the organizers of this event. His main point was the assertion that for years a sold out DAQ has allowed for permits and loopholes resulting in disastrous consequences to the health of the citizens and environment of North Carolina because the people of the state have been unaware of what was going on, and unaware, have not protested and stopped this financial stupidity and morally reprehensible activity perpetuated for the profit of a few. Till now. Now we are saying NO MORE COAL!

Next speaker was a math teacher from UNCA. She spoke of just one alternative, wind power. She got her facts from a respected peer-reviewed study that states 166 wind turbines placed along the Atlantic coast could provide for the total energy needs of at least 7 states and could be implemented quickly.

The next man urged working with the current energy industry in a change over to alternative energy as they are in the best position to implement these changes efficiently. As coal-fired plants become an increasing liability image wise, and their legality questioned, he believed the energy folks could be persuaded the alternative could also be very profitable. He said like “crack dealers”, and “the tobacco industry” and others of this type whose only motivation is profit, they could be made to see how rejecting their former risky business for something equally profitable and with far more public approval just might be the way to go. He stated later when the change over has been accomplished we could address what they have stolen from us.

Another man who lives only 15 miles from the location of the proposed plant in Rutherford County stated that only 200-300 people in the whole county wanted the plant built. He stated that over time 6 ½ billion tons of carbon dioxide would eventually be pumped into their air and that no one was addressing the issue of the great amounts of water that would be necessary to run this plant in this time of global warming and draught. And this is for a plant that is only generating about 30 new jobs and will be obsolete in 5 years.

One of the most moving testimonies was by Amy Carson, president of Moms against Mercury, (momsagainstmercury.org). Wearing a large button with a picture of her son who has been disabled by mercury poisoning, she expressed her frustration in how few people seem to understand how dangerous the mercury that is released into the water by coal-fired plants is to the health of the people, particularly our children. Our children that she called our greatest asset and our future. She pointed out, in contrast, how much publicity lead poisoning has gotten. She said if it was lead being spewed out by these plants people would be far more concerned. But despite the fact that over 200,000 children have been disabled in North Carolina from mercury poisoning, people are still sadly unaware of its dangers. She closed with a message of hope. Though she said her group was formed of moms with kids who were limited in the amount of time and travel they could expend in getting their message out, they have still been able to push for 5 new bills that have been passed the North Carolina reducing mercury exposure in places like the classroom and hospitals. There can be successes, but so far there has still been too little interest in the mercury released by coal-fired plants.

A nurse practitioner and later a nursing student assured us that it is an undeniable fact that the increase in respiratory illnesses here in Western North Carolina is directly related to the pollution coming down from coal-burning plants in Tennessee. Several people spoke on the particular suffering of family members who have died of emphysema, and the heartbreak of children with severe asthma. Children whose numbers are increasing yearly, especially in the Asheville area where we live in a bowl shaped depression of land where the toxins settle and stay.

Two participants choose to express themselves in song. The first, who was a member of one of the first women’s liberation bands in the country, sang a song her band performed in the 70’s in support of the coal miners. Another women and her friend wrote a song called “A Healthy Earth for All to Share” specifically for the hearing. Copies were passed out and we sang along about putting your dream in action so our children’s children will know we care.

People related hopeful things. The Institute of Health has recently made its first statement ever on global warming saying that the number one thing that could be done to slow down global warming was to stop burning fossil fuel.

A man who identified himself as a builder by profession pointed out we can have hope. We have victories in our pocket. He said he himself and many people his age worked with the “No Nukes” movement and successfully stopped all construction of any new nuclear power plants from being built for the 25 years since Seabrook. People together have the power to succeed.

Another man spoke about a very recent Supreme Court decision over-turning a state approved permit for a coal burning plant in Kansas as a precedent.

There were many more comments I could have related. I had to leave after 21/2 hours with speakers still arriving. It seems the total video will be at least 21/2 to 3 hours long of solid protest, 3minutes at a time. I wish to thanks all the organizations, (The Canary Coalition, Mt.Voices Alliance, W.N.C. Alliance, Interfaith Power and Light, ‘Appalachian Voices, Clean Water for N.C., Wenoca Sierra Group, Environment and Conservation Organization of Hendersonville, and the Sustainable Energy Council of W.North Carolina) for organizing these hearings and giving us a chance to tell the DAQ what’s on our minds.

The lone DAQ hearing was held the night of Sept.18 in remote Forest City, hours from densely populated regions that would bear the brunt of emissions from the plant. The only notice of the hearing was an article in a small local paper with limited distribution.

It’s not too late to add your voice. Please go to canarycoalition.org to find out what you can do and to download stickers saying “NO MORE COAL” to place on utility bills, letters to legislators and other appropriate locations. Stay tuned for developments.

Power to the People
Chrystine