On August 4th, the Ohio Beyond Coal Campaign hosted a virtual screening of Cheshire, Ohio. This documentary film is about a town devastated by pollution from the Gavin Power Plant (owned by AEP), which at the time of the film was Ohio’s largest coal-fired power plant. Cheshire, Ohio provides a cautionary tale of the power of dirty energy companies and the impact of coal on our air and water. We had 40 participants who learned about this environmental injustice and had an opportunity to interact with the Film Director, Eve Morgenstern, in a question and answer session. View this film’s trailer here!
Below is a blog written by a Beyond Coal Volunteer, Brian Campbell, with his thoughts on the event:
I was impressed that the documentary included videos of people living next to and some working with the power plant in Cheshire over many years. I think the long timeline of the video highlighted the determined resistance faced by those affected by the plant’s polluting emissions and the resolve of Cheshire-area residents for fair treatment of their property and health concerns.
The documentary included statements by state employees (possibly from the PUCO) made in a public meeting with Cheshire-area residents about expanding the plant’s coal ash pit by hundreds of acres. Some Cheshire-area residents stated after the meeting that the state employees were not very helpful and gave local residents only a day to provide written comments about the pit.
There were numerous statements about the safety of the plant employees operating the coal ash pits. Coal ash from the plant traveled to the pit on a conveyor and was dumped on a pile at the end of the overhead conveyor. Heavy equipment moved the coal ash from the pile onto huge trucks which carried the ash to areas of the pit where huge earth moving machines such as bulldozers spread the coal ash. The documentary showed interviews of many heavy equipment operators whose reports included cancer diagnoses, their memory of company statements that work in the pits was safe, or reports of their personal exposure to the coal ash while in their machines. An operator listed co-workers who died of cancer over a short time period and described his frustration that the company did not protect its workers from cancer causing compounds in the coal ash and/or its dust.
Most of the facts presented were included in statements made by people in the video including Cheshire-area residents, their professional representatives (e.g., lawyers, technical experts), state employees, and representatives of the plant. This style of presentation held my attention better than a slideshow due to witnessing the emotions of those giving facts from their perspective. On the other hand, many statements left me with feelings of frustration over the plight of the plant’s employees and residents. My observation was the documentary was well done, and I encourage everyone to take the opportunity to view it.