The Sierra Club, 350KC, and nearly 30 other organizations united to form the Missouri Clean Energy Coalition this past Earth Day at the Missouri Capitol Building. More than 130 people turned out to meet with their state legislators and to rally for a clean energy future.
The coalition will focus on encouraging state agencies and government to make energy conservation and efficiency a priority, shift from jobs dependent on fossil fuels, and secure a clean energy economy. Specifically, the coalition hopes to push the state to approve the Grain Belt Express, an interstate power line that would distribute electricity from Kansas’ wind turbines across Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.
Dr. John Kissel, a member of the Sierra Club and retired physician, said the rally and the coalition hope to push toward a cleaner Missouri. "This was an effort to organize people so that we can get some action on what is clearly the will of the people of Missouri," Kissel said. "We want to reduce greenhouse gasses and to increase the use of renewable energy."
A focus of the day was Missouri’s reliance on coal as an energy source."Missouri generates 80 percent of its electricity by burning coal," Dr. Kissel said. Several speakers pointed to a Harvard study asserting that if Missouri adopts the EPA’s clean power plan, it could prevent 12,000 premature deaths between 2020 and 2030. "That’s essentially like a pretty fully loaded airplane going down every single year," said John Hickey, director of the Sierra Club’s Missouri chapter. "Imagine at Lambert International Airport, every single year — bam! Airplane goes down, everybody dead. If there weren’t a public outcry to solve that, it’d be shocking."
After the rallying, the coalition marched to the steps of the Missouri Capitol building, concluding the day singing the Woody Guthrie classic “This Land is Your Land.”