When? November 7
Where? Randolph 216, on the Virginia Tech campus
Dominion Power is attempting to build what would
become the 9th largest polluter in Virginia in
Wise County. This will spew thousands of tons of
pollutants like mercury and C02 into the air increasing
premature deaths and contributing to Global Warming.
It will also contribute to the continued destruction
of the Appalachians where over 470 mountains have been
destroyed and 1200 miles of streams have been buried due
to Mountaintop Removal. 25% of Wise County has already
been strip mined. Of course, the plant is not necessary
to meet Virginia's energy needs, nor will it do do
anything positive for the economy or jobs, outside of
lining Dominion's pockets. Unfortunately for us, all
the regulated government incentives for power
production are geared in the favor of coal companies.
No wonder Virginia is LAST in the nation for per-capita
spending on energy efficiency by utilities.
It was a very informative show. Not a strong showing,
though. Mountaintop removal is going to be a tough
battle due to the connivance between politicians and
almighty coal companies. In recent time, one hears more
and more the term 'clean coal'. You don't need a Ph.D.
in Chemistry to realize that 'clean coal' is an oxymoron.
What politicians really mean is 'marginally cleaner coal',
which is not a solution to the coal problem. Keep this
in your mind every time you turn on the lights.
I will post more on this issue once the ilovemountains.org
collective brings up to speed an initiative to use
GoogleEarth to track where the coal used to power
your house is coming from, and what mountains were
annihilated for that.
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