Sunday, January 27, 2008
Anyone and everyone in the Waco area (and anyone who would like to avoid a life polluted by lignite-burning plants) needs to know that DYNERGY and TXU are in the early stages of constructing TWO COAL PLANTS that will have a major effect on all living things within its wide-spreading reach.
Aside from the infinite environmental damage that follows the construction of coal plants, (i.e. water depletion, SMOG, mercury pollution, ACID RAIN, CLIMATE CHANGE, ecosystem destruction), they also have severe implications for the health and quality of life for anyone living in the path of the emissions. Particle pollution, or soot, “can trigger heart attacks and strokes, WORSEN ASTHMA, cause irregular heart-beat, and lead to PREMATURE DEATH”—as in if these plants are built, you and definitely your children are not going to be spending very much time outdoors; not to mention permanent lung damage and heightened risk of mercury poisoning for expecting mothers, which leads to “brain damage, mental retardation, and other developmental problems in unborn children and infants” (Sierra Club 2007). (There is a reason pregnant mothers are cautioned against drinking Waco water.)
Texas, the dirtiest state of the nation, has no need of more coal plants. Texas ranks number one in the nation for renewable energy potential (State Energy Conservation Office 2008). It is time for energy companies to be replacing outdated technology of coal plants, not building new ones.
And they will back down, as seen with TXU last fall. Although construction has already begun on the Riesel and Oak Grove plant sites, there is time for concerned citizens to dissent; it merely requires the united voice of the would-be victims of the coal plants — THIS MEANS YOU. Every great movement has had universities at its impetus. We can prove to Dynergy that their plants are unwanted and that Texans are willing to fight for clean air.
