NC Youth Stop Coal Plant Construction: 8 arrested!

BulldozersAt 6:30 this morning, North Carolina residents, including former Energy Action Coalition fellow and organizer, Christine Irvine, locked themselves to bulldozers to stop the construction of Duke Energy’s massive Cliffside coal-fired power plant being built 50 miles west of Charlotte, NC. “In the face of catastrophic climate change, building a new coal plant is tantamount to signing a death sentence for our generation,” said local farmer Matt Wallace, while locked to a bulldozer. The concerned citizens also roped off the construction site with “Global Warming Crime Scene” tape and held banners that read “Coal Fuels Climate Change” and “Social Change, not Climate Change.”

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Shortly after activists locked themselves to construction equipment, police arrived on the scene and used pain compliance holds and tazers to force them to unlock themselves. 8 young people were arrested. We’ve talked to one of them from jail and they seem to be ok.

This act follows on Al Gore’s comment in August that young people needed to get out and chain themselves to bulldozers at construction sites. So Al, when are you going to get arrested? We have to stop all new fossil fuel construction to even have a chance at meeting the needed reductions of emissions. We need everyone to step it up!

The act of civil disobedience is one of over 100 protests taking place around the world on what climate activists are calling Fossil Fools Day, a confrontational day of protest targeting companies responsible for runaway carbon dioxide emissions.

The new Cliffside plant is currently in legal limbo for being in violation of the Clean Air Act. While Duke CEO Jim Rogers publicly paints Duke as a “green” energy company, he has refused to install the best available pollution controls on the new coal plant, as is required by federal law. The plant would pump 6 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually in addition to toxic heavy metals such as mercury.

“The Fossil Fools in government and industry are playing games with our future: the time for lip service and half-measures is over. Direct actions like this one are necessary to stop people like Jim Rogers, who watch the planet burn while counting the money they make from the fire.” said Charlotte resident Jane Calhoun.

Climate change warning signs abound: countless plant and animal species are being pushed to the brink of extinction by warming temperatures; low-lying islands are evacuating due to rising sea levels; droughts, tornados, and floods are on the increase. “Climate change is the greatest threat humans have ever faced. We should be tearing down coal plants, not building new ones,” said Clare Jones of Asheville Rising Tide.

Public opposition to the Cliffside plant, including lawsuits, public protests and acts of civil disobedience, has been growing steadily. “Jim Rogers won’t have to live with the consequences of global warming. Our generation will. We aren’t going anywhere until this plant is canceled!” said Calhoun. A rally this Saturday in Charlotte is expected to draw hundreds of demonstrators.

This action was organized by Asheville Rising Tide and Earth First!

Street Mr Rogers

Contact:
On-site: Liz Veazey, Southeast Climate Convergence (919)619-5964
Off-site: Abigail Singer, Asheville Rising Tide (828)280-3462

11 Responses to “NC Youth Stop Coal Plant Construction: 8 arrested!”


  1. 1 sparkles Apr 1st, 2008 at 10:10 am

    boo yeah!

  2. 2 Aaron Apr 1st, 2008 at 11:56 am

    Awesome! Way to go friends!

  3. 3 Amy Ortiz Apr 1st, 2008 at 1:08 pm

    Yes! Resistance is forming! I am so excited about the upswing of civil disobedience tactics in our movement. I can’t wait to hear about more awesome actions going down across the country!

  4. 4 Matt Apr 1st, 2008 at 1:14 pm

    In solidarity…

  5. 5 Nina Rizzo Apr 1st, 2008 at 2:33 pm

    ditto

  6. 6 summerrayneoakes Apr 1st, 2008 at 4:36 pm

    boo yeah! I’ll through in $50!! Who else is in?

  7. 7 need2no Apr 2nd, 2008 at 1:36 pm

    “pain compliance holds and tazers to force them to unlock themselves.”

    What does this mean exactly?

  8. 8 lizveazey Apr 2nd, 2008 at 4:15 pm

    update: everyone’s out of jail. everyone was out by about 2pm on Tuesday. we still need money for fines, court fees and more, so keep donating. thanks for everyone’s support! Also check out letter from James Hanson, leading climate scientist at NASA, to Jim Rogers to get him to cancel Cliffside.

  9. 9 Robin Koch Apr 3rd, 2008 at 1:26 pm

    Awesome! Is anyone interested in carpooling to the Charlotte rally from Raleigh (or Durham/Chapel Hill)?

  10. 10 Evan Webb Apr 3rd, 2008 at 5:09 pm

    need2no:

    it means the police used tasers to electrocute two of us while we were locked down to construction equipment.

    Evan

  11. 11 kevin Jun 14th, 2009 at 8:07 am

    Evan, I bet next time when a cop gives you a command you will move your azz. You are my nephew, and your grandfather used to be a cop….while I applaud you for doing what you think is right, you must remember, cops, have guns, nightsticks, stun guns, pepper spray, and radios to call for more back-up..just remember dear nephew next time a cop gives you a command, it will always be in your best interest to OBEY the command, cause you have never EVER heard of an incident whereas a cop just ‘gave up’ and let a person get his way.

    You had it coming, and the cops were justified in ‘motivating’ you.

Comments are currently closed.

About Liz


While at the University of North Carolina, Liz led one of the first successful campus renewable energy campaigns in the southeast and won the Morris K. Udall scholarship in both 2002 & 2003. She organized the first Southeast Student Renewable Energy Conference April 2-4, 2004, to engage other Southern schools beyond UNC in energy and climate work. In the summer of 2004 she became a co-founding member of Energy Action Coalition, which she has been actively involved with since then. She co-chaired the Energy Action Coalition Steering Committee for 2 years and is Executive Director of the Southern Energy Network, which works with students in the Southeast on clean energy and climate initiatives as part of Energy Action Coalition's Campus Climate Challenge. In late fall 2005, she attended the UN Climate Negotiations in Montreal and helped start www.itsgettinghotinhere.org . In 2008, she joined the board of the Highlander Research and Education Center (www.highlandercenter.org).

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