Cross posted from The Understory, official blog of Rainforest Action Network.
How often do you get to witness a band of activists deploy a direct action and successfully pressure the CEO of a corporation into agreeing to their demands - before the police even arrive on the scene?
On Friday afternoon, student activists with Ohio Student Environmental Coalition and members of Mountain Justice Spring Break occupied the lobby of American Municipal Power and forced an impromptu meeting with CEO Mark Gerken – who was not a happy camper.
AMP is planning to build a 1000 MW pulverized coal power plant in Meigs County, Ohio – one of the most impoverished counties in the state, with some of the highest lung cancer and premature death rates due industrial pollution in the country. There are already 4 coal power plants within 10 miles of Meigs and the coal barons of the Midwest are planning on building five more – the largest and dirtiest being the AMP project.
Determined to put an end to this economic and social injustice, concerned Meigs residents have been working with student and youth activists to organize and empower communities to break out of the socio-economic slavery of king coal. Mountain Justice Spring Break - an event where many students, rather than spending their holidays in Florida or Cancun, have opted instead for more meaningful pursuits in building solidarity, developing consensus, discovering affinity and exploring nonviolent direct action - showcased this collaboration over this last week.
Today marked a watershed moment in the movement against King Coal in Ohio. The activists’ demands were simple: cancel plans to build the coal plant, fund renewable energy, and schedule a meeting between the AMP Board of Trustees, local students, and frontline community activists to discuss how AMP can best chart a course towards these goals.
So, Friday morning, about fifty student and youth activists – most of whom had never participated in a direct action – marched to AMP headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, at which point a group of four negotiators entered the building and demanded a meeting with Gerken. Even when confronted by irate AMP employees, the youth negotiators kept their cool and stuck to their demands. They not only managed to meet with Gerken, but also got him to commit to a meeting between students, Meigs County activists and the AMP Board – and to agree that AMP wouldn’t begin construction on the plant until after this meeting has taken place.
This action was part of an ongoing campaign by activists – including residents of frontline communities, and student activists from groups like Mountain Justice, Ohio Student Environmental Coalition, Earth First, and Student Environmental Action Coalition – against AMP’s plans to bring further destruction to Southern Ohio. On a Sunday morning in early March, a group of concerned citizens visited the home of CEO Marc Gerken, and demanded that AMP reconsider its plans to move forward with the plant. (At that point, Gerken brushed off their requests for a meeting.) Earlier this week – as part of the Listening Project – several students visited the homes of Meigs County residents, listened to their concerns about the AMP project, and empowered them to take action and join the campaign against the coal plant.
Today’s action was the biggest step to date in this campaign, and has laid the groundwork for even bigger victories against King Coal in Ohio. Stay tuned for updates on what this collaboration will do next!
Adrian & Ananda in Columbus
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“activists’ demands were simple: cancel plans to build the coal plant, fund renewable energy”
I’d put invest in energy efficiency first as the cheapest and fastest way to meet energy needs. Renewables are a far second best.
That detail was absolutely in the demands and the conversations we had with AMP-Ohio. Sorry it got left out in this post. It is important to emphasize the amazing carbon savings and economic opportunities in investing in efficiency.
Our open letter to the candidates was:
“1) Demand that AMP abandon the AMPGS project and invest the capital in renewables and efficiency.
2) Schedule a meeting with the AMP Board of Directors, directly impacted community groups and student groups before the project breaks ground.”
Hope that helps
Great Job! But watch out for pitfalls at this meeting with the board. Here are a couple of facts you should be armed with:
1) Construction won’t begin on this project until fall 2009, at the very earliest - so don’t buy it if they try tell you they’ve waited because of you
2) This project is in trouble for a number of reasons, mostly due to increasing costs and the fact that the company must pre-sell a certain amount of power to go forward, and has not sold enough as of yet. Also, legislation in Michigan and Pennsylvania must be passed to go forward, and the air permit is being challenged. In the unlikely event you hear them say the project will be canceled due to environmental concerns, don’t buy it.
3) AMP will offer a big production and power point presentation, telling you that the because they are closing another plant down while putting this one online, and because they will be purchasing less power on the market, that this plant will represent a net decrease in CO2 emissions. - Be prepared for this one!
First, the plant being shut down is small by comparison, and it will be shut down soon regardless of whether or not the new plant will be built, because it is 60 years old and soon won’t be able to comply with the clean air act.
Second, just because the company will purchase less power on the open market doesn’t mean the plants that create that power will be shut down. This is important - unless all the plants the company currently purchases from are shut down - (and they won’t be) there will be a huge, net CO2 increase.
Finally, this is a plant that will run for 75 years or more.
While the vast majority of the coal fleet is shut down in the next 20 years, and replaced with far cleaner renewables, efficiency, and advanced coal, this dinosaur of a plant will still be running, and will be among the dirtiest in the nation in a decade or less.
4) Amp will talk about “Powerspan” to capture CO2. Know - the company won’t use the CO2 capture technology on this plant, and that this technology for CO2 capture is decades away, if it is even possible to develop. One lab test has been done, and usually technologies take decades to come from the lab to commercial deployment stages, if that is even possible. THIS IS PURE GREENWASHING, WITH NO COMMITMENTS
5) Talk about coal procurement and a mountain top removal ban for this plant - many of the AMP communities have expressed concerns about the coal to be used by the company - you might have some traction if you push for some restriction for the new plant
Good luck and great work!