Since I posted a diary here a few days ago about this event I thought I should cross-post my post-event report. I have another post about press coverage that I'm not re-posting here.
On Saturday about 100 people participated in a rally across the street from Peabody Coal's corporate headquarters in downtown St. Louis to oppose plans for a new coal fire power plant. The Prairie State plant proposed for rural Washington County Illinois would be the largest source of global warming emissions built in the U.S. in 20 years.
Much of the power from the plant will go to other states while Illinois residents will be stuck with increased asthma rates among children and mercury poisoning the lakes and rivers that drive the Southern Illinois tourist economy. And we'll all be stuck with the consequences of global climate change.
The permitting process for this facility has gone through several years of appeals in the EPA and court system. One purpose of Saturday's rally was to bring to the attention of potential power purchasers that this plant is a step backward environmentally and could be a bad investment once the federal government regulates carbon emissions. It won't be profitable for Peabody to build the plant if potential investors and buyers back out.
I was excited to see so many young people come from several colleges including Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, University of Illinois at Springfield, Iowa State, and Washington University in St. Louis. Don't believe the rumors you hear about college students being apathetic.
Among the list of speakers was a leading national coal activist, Verena Owen, who was also involved in negotiations with CWLP to reach Springfield's clean energy agreement. She and several others spoke about realistic alternatives to coal fire power plants. Later, a folk singer from Carbondale lead everyone in a round of John Prine's Paradise.
Two of the less polished but most interesting speakers were Washington county residents who live very close to the proposed site. One talked about the health effects it will have on her children and another named some of the deceptive tactics used by Peabody as they attempted to gather local support.
Any project that promises to create a few jobs will typically have the support of local politicians and the enthusiastic backing of the Chamber. Southern Illinois needs new jobs badly but there are ways of growing the economy that don't harm the community. The children of union workers can get asthma from coal power plants just like anyone else's can.
If we had forward thinking leaders they would be doing everything possible to attract facilities that build wind turbines so that we don't have to keep shipping them here from Europe. Why not create new jobs with technologies of the future instead of clinging to a dying industry?
The coal industry will never employ the number of miners it once did in Illinois even if there were no environmental regulations on the books because new mining techniques don't require as much manpower. Many politicians pander to Southern Illinois voters by promising to revive the coal economy but those claims are a cruel joke on a region that needs real economic development instead of nostalgia.
Anyway, I spoke last at the rally about the Springfield clean energy agreement to explain that there are more responsible ways for utilities to do things than the unhealthy path Peabody chooses over and over again. Yes, it is possible to reduce pollution while meeting our energy needs. And yes it is possible for people to make an impact by organizing in their community. Rallies can serve an important purpose and I think everyone left ready to follow up with the more difficult organizing work its going to take in our own communities.