It’s Getting Hot In Here

Join the action www.stopcliffside.org

Dear Mr. Rogers,

Next Monday, we and many others will march to Duke Energy headquarters
and seek your written agreement to stop construction of the Cliffside
coal-fired power plant and turn all efforts toward climate protection
through clean, efficient energy. Many of us feel called to conscience
so strongly that we are willing to peacefully risk arrest in order to
prevent the crime against humanity that would result from Cliffside
opening in 2012.

We again urge you to become the leader depicted by your public relations
team, and use your extraordinary influence to stem the health, economic
and environmental damage caused by the use of coal, including an
accelerating climate crisis that is already causing devastation in many
parts of this nation and around the world. We are compelled to act for
several reasons:

* Duke Energy’s use of coal is destroying our Appalachian
mountaintop communities and waters.
* Duke Energy’s coal combustion is poisoning our children with
unnecessarily high emissions of mercury and other pollutants.
* The new Cliffside unit has been proven unnecessary in several
ways, most recently by Dr. John Blackburn, retired chair of the Duke
University Economics Department – using your own data.
* Your Save-a-Watt scheme indicates you are not serious about
energy efficiency. We urge you to stop opposing the NC SAVE$ ENERGY
bill.
* Duke Energy’s corporate influence over elected and regulatory
officials is subverting our democracy – as fully evidenced in the
Cliffside case. We hereby withdraw consent from critical public
decisions being dominated by Duke Energy’s corporate interests.
* Coal combustion is fueling a climate emergency that continues to
accelerate beyond predictions of just two years ago.

We are called by conscience to continue resisting your actions.
Building new coal-fired power plants in the year 2009 collides with
warnings of ecological catastrophe by the worldwide scientific
community, including NASA’s Dr. James Hansen and virtually all eminent
climatologists. Yet Duke and other energy corporations continue to fuel
the extremely dangerous fiction that we have decades to take corrective
actions. NASA’s climate team warns of potentially “explosive” changes
that would far outmatch human attempts to moderate the damage.

In short, climate change is already harming millions of people and will
soon impact all of us. As the rest of the world belatedly moves forward
with climate protection through energy efficiency and clean generation,
we urge Duke Energy to follow suit and abandon plans for the
construction of counter-productive coal-fired and nuclear power plants -
which are unlikely to ever be completed.

Although there remains uncertainty about the rate of further climate
disruption, the United Nations’ climate panel recently warned that we
have only six years at current pollution levels before crossing a point
of no return. If our society were free from confusion sown by energy
corporations such as yours, we would already be deploying full-blown
emergency measures to curb greenhouse gases.

As noted recently by award-winning journalist Eric Pooley, “climate
scientists have no doubt that the impact is already being felt and
little doubt that future consequences will be severe to catastrophic.
It is too late to ‘prevent’ global warming, but it may yet be possible
to avoid cataclysm.”

And as Dr. Hansen recently repeated, “Stopping Cliffside is the best
thing North Carolina can do to help with global warming.”

Other states and utilities have heeded the winds of change and cancelled
projects for new coal-fired power plants. Duke’s choice to revert to
more coal-fired power at Cliffside and in Edwardsport, Indiana is
morally, scientifically and politically indefensible.

You call these coal plants your “bridge” to a green future, but
scientists say we no longer have time for such false solutions. The
only rational and morally sound path forward is one that eliminates
unnecessary harm to our economy, health, and hope for future
generations. The best approach for protecting our climate – energy
efficiency – is also the best for our economy.

We, as responsible citizens, heed these warnings even if Duke Energy
does not. Therefore, we will persist with every available nonviolent
measure to prevent Cliffside from opening in 2012 as planned.

At this unprecedented juncture in history, we urge you in the strongest
possible terms to cancel construction at Cliffside, and help North
Carolina turn all available efforts toward reduction of greenhouse gases
- through energy efficiency and renewable power generation.

Sincerely,

The Canary Coalition <http://www.canarycoalition.org/>
Carolinas Clean Air Coalition <http://www.clean-air-coalition.org/>
Clean Water for North Carolina <http://www.cwfnc.org/>
Coal River Mountain Watch <http://www.crmw.net/>
Cumberland County Progressives (NC)
<http://www.cumberlandcountyprogressives.com/>
Earth Policy Institute <http://www.earth-policy.org/>
Footprints for Peace (Cincinnati)
<http://footprintsforpeace.tripod.com/>
Friends of the Earth USA <http://www.foe.org/>
Greenpeace USA <http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/>
Head On Radio Network (H.O.R.N.) <http://www.headonradionetwork.com/>
<http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/> Indiana Citizen Action Coalition
<http://www.citact.org/newsite/>
Michigan Energy Alternatives Project
Mountain Voices Alliance <http://www.mvalliance.net/>
MoveOn – Charlotte Chapter <http://www.moveon.org/>
North Carolina Green Party <http://www.ncgreenparty.org/>
NC WARN: Waste Awareness and Reduction Network

People Advocating Real Conservancy (PARC)
<http://www.ashevilleparc.org/>
Progressive Democrats of America <http://pdamerica.org/>
Rainforest Action Network <http://www.ran.org/>
Rising Tide – Asheville <http://www.risingtidenorthamerica.org/>
Western North Carolina Alliance <http://www.wnca.org/>

Also endorsing the April 20th event:

Dr. James Hansen

Martin Sheen

Bill McKibben

NC Representative Susan Fisher

Gloria Rueben

Rev. Carrie Bolton

Rev. Nelson Johnson

Father John Rausch