CHAPEL HILL — Nearly 40 students rallied in front of UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp’s office Wednesday, calling coal-fired energy “dangerous and dirty” and urging the university to adopt clean energy solutions.
Thorp has said the university plans to eventually wean itself from coal, but that its coal-burning technology has been recognized for its emission-reduction qualities.
“We are proud to be Tar Heels, and proud that UNC has historically taken the lead when it comes to some of the most critical issues we face,” said Sara Mishamandani, one of the rally speakers, said in a Sierra Club news release. “We want to continue that legacy by addressing our dependence on coal. We can’t fully realize a clean energy future without moving beyond coal. Duke University already has plans to reduce coal consumption 70 percent by the end of the year. We beat Duke at the homecoming game, but they are beating us in getting off of coal.”
Coal causes “significant health problems,” and destroys mountain communities and is “the leading contributor to global warming, a flagship environmental issue for college students in the U.S., including those at UNC-Chapel Hill,” the news release stated.
Chapel Hill Mayor-elect Mark Kleinschmidt, a UNC alumnus, has endorsed the Sierra Club’s campaign. Kleinschmidt has said he would like to see the Town Council work with the university to stop burning coal.
“As an alumnus of Carolina, it is important to me to see my alma mater step up to the plate,” said Nation Hahn, a 2008 graduate of UNC and state development coordinator for the N.C. Sierra Club, said at the rally. “Under the current plans of the university, Carolina will still be burning coal when my children or grandchildren attend here; and that is simply unacceptable to me.”
Wednesday’s rally was part of an ongoing campaign by the Sierra Club and the Sierra Student Coalition.
“Some individuals and environmental groups have expressed concern that the [UNC] cogeneration facility uses coal. In the future, we do plan to move beyond coal. Meanwhile, we have taken steps to reduce the environmental impact of our coal usage as much as possible,” Thorp said in his September column in The Chapel Hill Herald.
“The coal that we purchase is not mined from mountaintops, according to our suppliers. (Most of the coal is deep mined, but a small portion is from surface mines.) Also, 100 percent of our coal ash is used as structural fill or as an agricultural and horticultural soil supplement,” he said in his column.
Thorp also wrote that the cogeneration plant has won multiple awards for cleanliness and efficiency from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star Combined Heat and Power program.
“The EPA recognized the university’s system for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in 2008 equivalent to taking 9,011 passenger vehicles off the road. We also use special technology within the plant to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides,” he wrote.
