On September 24th, WCAN (Williamsburg Climate Action Network) hosted the first in a series of CCAN events supporting the message of – No New Coal in Virginia! Invest in clean energy! The event was held on the campus of William and Mary and was attended by students, professors, and people in the community interested in learning how coal impacts their local environment.

Eric Blevins from Mountain Justice Summer presented a shocking slide show on mountaintop removal of coal and how it is devastating communities in Southwestern Virginia, particularly Wise County, Virginia.

Mike Tidwell talked about how coal is affecting climate change and the need for tougher legislative action NOW to shift to renewable energy sources.

Mike Town of the Sierra club presented the Citizen’s energy plan. The plan explains the impacts of the state’s current energy use, presents alternatives with the most potential for Virginia, and details what to include in a sustainable energy plan.

Everyone at the event walked away with several messages – Virginia’s plan to build more coal-fired power plants will accelerate global warming, mountain top removal mining is an ecologically ruinous process, and the construction of the Dominion transmission line is just an extension cord to cheap, dirty coal!

This was a great start to a campaign to end our dependence on fossil fuels and switch to a more sustainable environment for the generations to come!

Randie Trestrail

Williamsburg Climate Action Network