Tell Governor Easley: No More Dirty Coal; Invest in Renewables Instead

[Triana]

Global warming is here, and North Carolinians are starting to feel the heat. Between hurricanes, heat waves, floods, droughts, and other extreme weather events, climate change is going to seriously affect us all. So what can we do?

Many state governments are rising to the challenge with plans to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases -- but reducing our emissions is only the first step. We're currently standing at an major energy crossroads, and the need to develop and utilize clean and renewable energy sources has never been clearer.

Unfortunately, many of our leaders in Washington want to make the problem a lot worse by promoting coal as a future energy source. Coal is the absolute wrong answer to our energy challenges. Burning coal is about the dirtiest way to make electricity you can think of. Coal-fired power plants currently account for 40% of our nation's carbon dioxide emissions, the leading cause of global warming. Coal-fired power plants also spew out millions of tons of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, as well as close to 100,000 pounds of mercury (a very dangerous neurotoxin), every year.

Duke Energy has proposed to build two 800-megawatt coal-fired plants at its current cliffside plant west of Charlotte. The North Carolina Division of Air Quality will have a hearing on this proposed plant in mid-September. The proposed Cliffside facility would emit the same amount of CO2 annually as a million automobiles -- 11.5 million tons.

Tell Governor Easley to take a courageous stand and publicly oppose any new coal plants in North Carolina. Governor Easley should call for investments in solar and other forms of alternative energy to power our state and create good jobs, instead of allowing construction of new coal-fired power plants that will continue polluting our atmosphere for the next sixty years.

Click below to send Mike Easely and your NC representatives an email encouraging them to be responsible about NC's environment and energy future!

http://actforchange.workingassets.com/campaign/NC_coal?rk=jpMwrJ91BNfIE