By Melissa Hope, Development Director
Sierra Club assembled a broad coalition of citizen, health, religious, labor, energy and environmental groups from throughout Missouri on November 13, 2007 to announce their opposition to Associated Electric Cooperative Inc’s (AECI) planned coal-burning power plant in Norborne, MO and their support for clean and renewable energy sources for Missouri’s future. The announcement preceded a public hearing being held by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) in which many participants testified. COALITION: •Concerned Citizens of Carroll County •United Steel Workers •Blue Green Alliance •Columbia Climate Change Coalition •Burroughs Audubon •Citizens for Environmental Action •Concerned Citizens of Platte County •Sustainable Sanctuary Coalition of Kansas City •True Blue Women •Sierra Club •Missourians for Safe Energy •Missouri Coalition for the Environment •The American Lung Association •Physicians for Social Responsibility.
If you know of a group that would like to join the coalition, please contact Melissa Hope, 816.806.6965, melissa.hope@sierraclub. org.
The groups joined forces to demonstrate their support for Missouri’s Clean Energy Future and explain why a massive coal plant proposed for Missouri is not in the long-term best interests of the health of the state’s citizens, the state’s economy, and its environment. In addition to thousands of tons of toxic ozone and smog pollution, the plant would emit 6.8 million tons of global warming causing carbon dioxide (CO2 ) per year. That’s over 340 million tons over the next 50 years, the likely lifespan of the facility. The CO2 emitted by the plant each year is the equivalent of adding nearly 1.2 million new cars onto the state’s highways.
“Coal-fired power plants emit very high volumes of pollutants that are leading causes of respiratory and cardiovascular disease,” said Dr. Michael McCally, executive director for Physicians for Social Responsibility. “Not only do these pollutants cause significant harm to the lungs and heart during prolonged exposure, they have an immediate effect on children, the elderly and those with respiratory disease. Residents of Missouri would not be immune to these pollutants.” After the landmark United States Supreme Court decision in April declaring global warming pollution is harmful to our health and the environment the state has an obligation to reject the Norborne coal plant. “We are asking the state to follow the lead of states like Oklahoma, Florida and most recently Kansas and reject the permit for this new coal plant because of the serious health, economic and environmental threats it poses,” said Henry Robertson, Energy Chair for Missouri Sierra Club. “Missouri should invest in clean alternatives instead of new coal.”
To reduce the worst impacts of global warming, including severe droughts, scientists tell us that we need to reduce our global warming emissions 80% by 2050—an achievable 2% a year. But we have no hope of meeting this challenge if we continue to build coal-burning power plants.