What can you do with three minutes?

Last night, I went to the Surry County Public Hearings on whether to grant local zoning approval for the ODEC - proposed coal plant in Dendron, VA. The meeting began at 7:00pm and did not end until 11:45. I was really impressed with the fact that the council willingly stayed and listened to everyone. Here's what I had to say (which I managed to keep to three minutes or less, the allotted time given): 

Within the last two weeks there have been at least four different articles in the Virginia Pilot regarding mercury in our water and/or fish. One article in particular spoke of a report by Environment America which ranked our state #2 in the nation for the dirtiest waters. Yet another article announced that Lake Gaston walleye fish have been designated inedible due to high levels of mercury. Where does this mercury come from? Coal. 

This proposed coal plant will be built right in the middle of the very same water sheds that supply the Hampton Roads region with water. Why on EARTH would we willingly agree to poison ourselves? 

As the debate rages nationally in regards to healthcare, I have often wondered who will need healthcare if we don't have a land base? Our water is already horribly polluted as is our air & soil. This plant will only make these issues exponentially worse. As a mother of two young children, I want to know that we are working to fix these situations, not continue to dump fuel onto this ever-growing fire of pollution & destruction. We should be investing in renewable energy sources, not these antiquated destructive means of energy. I want to know that we are leaving our children a sustainable land base, not a polluted waste land. 

In closing, I'd like to leave you with the following Cree indian proverb: 

"Only when the last tree is cut

Only when the last river is polluted

Only when the last fish is caught

Only then will men realize that they cannot eat money"

They conducted the two public hearings and then decided to continue the rest of the proceedings until Dec. 14th. I would say that well over 50 people spoke and only about 10 people were for the proposal, if that. You can see those 10 people highlighted on ODEC's website. I must admit I had a really hard time refraining from pitching objects at the ODEC lawyer as he spoke, especially when I heard him refer to the environmental impact as being "passive and benign". It was overall an empowering experience and I am hopeful that the council will, at the very least, insist on an independent study being done before agreeing to the rezoning. 

      

Tonight: Say No To Coal

For those of my readers who are friends with me on Facebook, this will be a repeat. Sorry. You can smack me the next time you see me for making you hear/read the same thing over and over again...
In the meantime, for the rest of you out there in the blogosphere:

Coal is not and cannot be clean. Every week yet another article shows up in the paper reinforcing this reality ( See here , here and here). So can anyone tell me why Old Dominion Electric Cooperative is looking to build Virginia’s largest coal burning power plant to date in Dendron, VA?

Yes, you read that right. A measly fifty miles away from us they are planning to commission the state’s largest coal fired plant dab smack in the middle of the waters that feed our water supplies. You feel helpless you say? So did I, until I received the following message:

    YOUR VOICE IS DESPERATELY NEEDED!

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative wants to build the largest coal plant in Virginia in the Hampton Roads region. On Monday, Nov. 23rd, the Surry County Planning Commission is holding a public hearing on whether to grant local zoning approval for this controversial plant. This is a crucial time to speak out against this monstrosity of a coal plant!

Community members fighting the plant have asked for YOUR support by showing up to this public hearing and voicing your concerns!

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5020/t/3211/signUp.jsp?key=1490

The meeting starts at 7:00. We are going to get there early and stand in line so that we can get seats....ODEC has a nasty habit of showing up and trying to take up the front rows of important meetings.....so we gotta race 'em!

Because this is a zoning issue, neighboring communities are invited to voice their concerns. We are all going to be impacted, we are all neighbors.

The proposed plant, located only a few miles from one of the
Commonwealth's greatest treasures, the Chesapeake Bay, would poison
surrounding waterways with 116 pounds of mercury per year. The plant
would create nearly 60 tons of poisonous coal ash a day, to be stored
in Surry County, and would increase the demand for coal extracted
using mountaintop removal mining. In addition, it would add nearly 15
million tons of global warming pollution to our air every year.

 

I am going to be there at this hearing tonight to ensure that my voice is heard. You should be there too. If enough of us show up, they might just have to listen to us. The address for the event is the Surry County Government Center 45 School St Surry, VA. We must take a stand right now at this critical juncture. If we don’t speak up for the health of our land base, then who will? I don’t know about you, but I want to be able to trust that my water will be clean and that I can eat what I grow without poisoning myself or my kids. "At the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends" ~MLK