From the ubiquitous sights and sounds of construction across Grounds to the appointment of the our first female president, there are numerous signs of progress at the University. Yet in at least one conspicuous way, the University has remained stagnant by continuing to power many of its facilities with energy from an on-Grounds, coal-fired power plant. The University's continued reliance on coal suggests a crass disregard for the overwhelming scientific evidence that suggests coal power generation has severe and adverse effects on both human health and the environment. In response, Beyond Coal - a campus offshoot of the Sierra Club - is organizing to petition the University administration to close its coal-fired power plant and instead embrace cleaner energy technology. Although these are ambitious goals, the University's longstanding principles of constant renewal and improvement should compel both the student body and the administration to embrace Beyond Coal's initiative.
Environmental activism is hardly a new phenomenon on Grounds, but Beyond Coal seeks to become the first group to draw attention effectively to the University's intimate connection to "dirty" energy. In particular, it has highlighted the irony of a coal-fired power at the University's state-of-the-art health system. While the health system spends a countless amount of time and money every year treating patients with ailments such as lung cancer and asthma, coal burning directly undermines that effort by producing air pollution that increases the risk of contracting these conditions.
Beyond Coal also aims to bring attention to the fact that much of the coal at the University's power plant comes from areas of Appalachia that have been ravaged by mountaintop removal mining. The process involves dynamiting entire mountaintops to reach the coal reserves buried deep underground, which destroys plant and animal life. It also creates vast amounts of loose dirt and sediment typically dumped by coal companies into nearby streams, which are used as sources for drinking water in many poor, rural communities in southwest Virginia. According to Appalachian Voices, an environmental advocacy group, mountaintop removal mining destroyed over 500 mountains there, and its associated sediment dumping has polluted nearly 2,000 miles of headwater streams.
Such environmental and social exploitation is clearly antithetical to the University's values. Thus, Beyond Coal hopes to urge the University administration to shut down its coal-fired plant by raising awareness within the University community. Now is an opportune time for such a goal. After all, our new University president, Teresa A. Sullivan, would likely be more open to challenge the status quo than her predecessor was during his 20-year tenure. Closing the power plant in favor of cleaner energy will undoubtedly be expensive for the University, but this would send a clear message to donors, students and the state government that environmental protection initiatives are as much of a priority as athletic programs, tuition assistance and new classroom buildings.
To succeed Beyond Coal needs to work with the administration to find a feasible alternative to coal. Currently, the group is considering the use of natural gas as a transition fuel, but even that has environmental complications. For example, a recent expos
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