Show Student Support for Clean Coal!
- av: Action for Environmental Justice
- mottagare: University of Wisconsin and city of Madison
As a result of the 2007 court-determined violations to the U.S. Clean Air Act, the State of Wisconsin, in conjunction with the UW-Madison, has until July 2008 to complete an ongoing study designed to determine how to improve the Charter Street facility and to establish compliance with the recognized Best Available Control Technology (BACT) guidelines.
Carbon dioxide pollution emitted as a result of fossil fuels burning is the primary cause of global warming. In 2006 alone, the Charter Street facility emitted over 350,000 tons of carbon dioxide and other pollutants. Coal is currently the largest and dirtiest fuel burned to create energy. It emits twice as much carbon dioxide as natural gas and 50 percent more than burning oil. Coal contains mercury, a potent neurotoxin that has contaminated all of Wisconsin%u2019s lakes. Coal burning is also responsible for much of the fine particulate matter that causes asthma attacks and lung cancer and affects the air quality in Madison.
The UW Charter Street heating plant was built in 1955 with second-hand boilers and has never installed modern pollution controls. Implementing a new coal-fired power plant today would ensure reliance on coal for decades to come; we believe that this is far too long to commit to dependence on coal power. We believe the risks of continued coal dependency catalyze the need for the students of UW-Madison to show our support for alternative energy methods to be implemented at the Charter Street plant. Considering the technological advances that have occurred during the last 50 years, we acknowledge the rapidly expanding global trend towards using energy sources that are more renewable and less polluting and urge decision makers to take a progressive and proactive approach towards ending the state of Wisconsin's dependence on coal.
Tell the city of Madison and the University of Wisconsin that the students support an immediate moratorium on the prolongation of coal-fired power plants in order to halt greenhouse gas emissions and to protect the health of the environment, as well as the citizens, of the city of Madison.
As the July decision to determine how to improve the Charter Street facility rapidly approaches, we the undersigned support a progressive and proactive approach towards ending the state of Wisconsin's dependence on coal.
Carbon dioxide pollution emitted as a result of fossil fuels burning is the primary cause of global warming. In 2006 alone, the Charter Street facility emitted over 350,000 tons of carbon dioxide and other pollutants. Coal is currently the largest and dirtiest fuel burned to create energy. It emits twice as much carbon dioxide as natural gas and 50 percent more than burning oil. Coal contains mercury, a potent neurotoxin that has contaminated all of Wisconsin%u2019s lakes. Coal burning is also responsible for much of the fine particulate matter that causes asthma attacks and lung cancer and affects the air quality in Madison.
We believe that this is far too long to commit to dependence on coal power. We believe the risks of continued coal dependency catalyze the need to show our support for alternative energy methods to be implemented at the Charter Street plant.
We support an immediate moratorium on the prolongation of coal-fired power plants in order to halt greenhouse gas emissions and to protect the health of the environment, as well as the citizens, of the city of Madison.
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