Image: 2011-10-26 23:26:22
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Students rallied yesterday to close the Virginia Tech Power Plant in the name of health.
Protesters such as Anna Bullen, a senior psychology major, claimed that emissions from the plants smoke stack are clogging up the windows in Thomas Hall.
Thomas is a residence hall in the Upper Quad that is located across from the plant, which houses both cadets and civilian students this year.
But Todd Robertson and Ted Acord, employees at the plant, said that it is the coal dust from the road that is causing the problems.
“What they’re seeing at Thomas Hall is not coming from our stack,” Robertson said. “The stack is 180 feet tall, while Thomas Hall is about 50 or 60.”
Wind blows coal dust from the yard onto the street, which in turn gets blown onto the windows of Thomas by both the wind and cars driving back, according to Robertson.
Robertson and Acord also said they were unsure about what is causing the health problems for Thomas residents.
“We’re exposed to it every day,” Robertson said. “And what’s causing their effects, I don’t know. We don’t have the same problems with our workers. I don’t deny that the health problems are there, I just don’t know what’s causing them.”
Students focused on the health effects of coal, highlighting the black dust that builds up on Thomas Hall windows. They dressed in hazmat suits and marched together from the Drillfield to Thomas in order to clean the windows and show the amount of coal dust that accumulates.
When students cleaned the windows, their white cloths were stained black with coal dust after just three or four swipes, said Arielle Kohr, a senior human development major who wiped the windows herself.
“We are here to show that we, the Virginia Tech community, value Hokie health over corporate profit,” said senior psychology and biology major Muriel Vinson.
Students referenced both president Steger’s and the Tech community’s lack of action towards clean energy.
“It all comes down to priorities,” Vinson said. “The administration needs to prioritize the transition from using coal to clean energy over building new buildings every year.”
Vinson cited the new performing arts building, saying that the school does not even have a strong performing arts program.
The Center for the Arts building has a budget of $93,993,000 and will be expected to open in 2013, according to the Tech website.
A version of this article appeared in the Oct 27 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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Yipee, let's call for less funding for constructing new academic buildings so we can build a new power plant that will appease a few (dozen? hundred?) students. Brilliant!
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I think Muriel's quote about the new Performing Arts building makes a good point, though. How many students will that really benefit? Especially when compared to something as major as improving the school's energy, which would affect all students, as well as the image of Virginia Tech as a whole. This isn't just about the residents at Thomas Hall, or the protesters, this is about the school taking students and their health concerns seriously.
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The fact of the matter is that if we do not start to move towards renewable energies we are setting up the entire human race for inevitable disaster. The fact of the matter is that there should be more than a few dozen/hundred agitated students. This plant not only directly effects the health of our hokies, but the health of our planet itself.
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While this is the type of stuff the CT should be reporting on (campus news), there's a concerning lack of actual information here. 1- The central focus of the story is the 'health effects' the plant is having on the students living in Thomas Hall. What are the 'health effects'? Are there (multiple) cases of something coal-related that have been treated by Schiffert? 2- Was this issue prevalent before the recent construction on Main Street started? Could you interview past residents of the dorm to find out more? Otherwise, you (and the protestors) seem to be jeopardizing the livelihoods of the workers at the plant and advocating the university to incur some extreme costs based upon faulty pretenses...
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This article clearly didn't make a great effort to look into why campus organizations -- not just a random student quote -- oppose the coal plant. It's not the smokestack, but it IS definitely the coal. Uncovered coal piles from the plant are the reason that coal dust gets swept from the plant over to Thomas Hall and the Upper Quad. These organizations have asked the administration repeatedly to cover the coal piles, if nothing else. They said it would cost too much to do so.
Here's some evidence to back up claims of coal dust health hazards:
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:AFAzwqo8YhsJ:www.ecan.govt.nz/publications/Consent%2520Notifications/lpc-reclamation-appendix-20-health-effects-coal-dust-literature-review.pdf+coal+dust+health+effects&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjDvHvU8pNfIY3hrQDaM24i2HY2Ixj8-yXWlURtsTq_Zt1F44JEMOuuLrzKU3Rf_b_7ob1Rn6n2cuXsWucFX8EH4O5vR3WWAc-1bzo8dp08N45oDuJdjr50UDmCo3gp7xO1yW_V&sig=AHIEtbQIYs0B8_SIEKz5ROTCDXyX13k2xA
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08093/869656-114.stm
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This article clearly didn't make a great effort to look into why campus organizations -- not just a random student quote -- oppose the coal plant. It's not the smokestack, but it IS definitely the coal. Uncovered coal piles from the plant are the reason that coal dust gets swept from the plant over to Thomas Hall and the Upper Quad. These organizations have asked the administration repeatedly to cover the coal piles, if nothing else. They said it would cost too much to do so.
Here's some evidence to back up claims of coal dust health hazards:
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:AFAzwqo8YhsJ:www.ecan.govt.nz/publications/Consent%2520Notifications/lpc-reclamation-appendix-20-health-effects-coal-dust-literature-review.pdf+coal+dust+health+effects&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjDvHvU8pNfIY3hrQDaM24i2HY2Ixj8-yXWlURtsTq_Zt1F44JEMOuuLrzKU3Rf_b_7ob1Rn6n2cuXsWucFX8EH4O5vR3WWAc-1bzo8dp08N45oDuJdjr50UDmCo3gp7xO1yW_V&sig=AHIEtbQIYs0B8_SIEKz5ROTCDXyX13k2xA
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08093/869656-114.stm
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This article clearly didn't make a great effort to look into why campus organizations -- not just a random student quote -- oppose the coal plant. It's not the smokestack, but it IS definitely the coal. Uncovered coal piles from the plant are the reason that coal dust gets swept from the plant over to Thomas Hall and the Upper Quad. These organizations have asked the administration repeatedly to cover the coal piles, if nothing else. They said it would cost too much to do so.
Here's some evidence to back up claims of coal dust health hazards:
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:AFAzwqo8YhsJ:www.ecan.govt.nz/publications/Consent%2520Notifications/lpc-reclamation-appendix-20-health-effects-coal-dust-literature-review.pdf+coal+dust+health+effects&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjDvHvU8pNfIY3hrQDaM24i2HY2Ixj8-yXWlURtsTq_Zt1F44JEMOuuLrzKU3Rf_b_7ob1Rn6n2cuXsWucFX8EH4O5vR3WWAc-1bzo8dp08N45oDuJdjr50UDmCo3gp7xO1yW_V&sig=AHIEtbQIYs0B8_SIEKz5ROTCDXyX13k2xA
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08093/869656-114.stm
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This is an important article which highlights grassroots student activism. If the coal people want to keep the plant, they should look to the enthusiasm, organization and gusto the clean energy students demonstrate (but that won't happen). Keep up the good work at putting pressure on the Administration to clean up the coal plant. It's an eyesore, a health hazard, and a symbol of years past. If Tech wants to Invent the Future, it will need to demonstrate it can lead in areas like clean energy. All the best schools are leading in this way, Tech can too!
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I have a great idea...lets all do our homework by candle light and charge our laptops using hamster wheels. I'm sure after a week of this coal wouldn't seem like such a bad thing. Do these protesters ever stop and think about the thousands of people that would lose their jobs in Virginia alone if we ceased to use coal? I'm sure if shutting down this plant meant that their daddy was going to lose his job and they would actually have to pay their own tuition, bills, etc... they would think twice about protesting.
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I have a great idea...lets all do our homework by candle light and charge our laptops using hamster wheels. I'm sure after a week of this coal wouldn't seem like such a bad thing. Do these protesters ever stop and think about the thousands of people that would lose their jobs in Virginia alone if we ceased to use coal? I'm sure if shutting down this plant meant that their daddy was going to lose his job and they would actually have to pay their own tuition, bills, etc... they would think twice about protesting.
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Hey coal_supporter,
Switching from coal would not mean that the plant would be shut down. We want them to convert the plant to renewable energy by first cofiring the coal with biomass, and eventually becoming more and more reliant on biomass until we use that exclusively. Jobs don't need to be lost! Actually, the coal industry continues to lose jobs because their technology has replaced a lot of human labor, and practices opposed by a lot of environmentalists like mountaintop removal have not only made a devastating environmental impact to these communities, they've actually contributed to job loss as well!
We get our coal at the coal plant from Eastern Kentucky. Look at these employment trends in the Kentucky mining industry:
http://www.coaleducation.org/ky_coal_facts/employment/ky_employment.htm
I feel that renewable energy=renewable jobs. A surface mining operation may be in a community for 20 years as they extract the coal from that area, but then they'll be gone. A plant that sources renewables won't have to be shut down, because the energy harnessed from them will be there forever!
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You know that some forms of biomass are worse polluters than coal, right?
http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2010/06/10/mass_study_wood_power_worse_polluter_than_coal/
Just saying...
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RE: "You know that some forms of biomass are worse polluters than coal, right?"
In the article you supplemented I would like to point out this highlighted text...
"every megawatt of power produced by wood-burning plants replaces a megawatt from a coal plant. But unlike coal, they argue, trees left standing can absorb the carbon dioxide released when wood is burned."
The writer goes on to cite another expert who found loopholes in the study mentioned, such as the absence of "waste wood" as a source for biomass plants in the report. The article definitely makes you think twice, however after reading the whole page the matter seems speculative towards either side, at best. It seems that much attention should be paid to the source of the wood for biomass and further R&D is necessary for quality assurance purposes.
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Isn't coal a form of biomass since it is carbon, the basic building block of all living organisms?
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I lived on the 4th floor of Thomas for 5 years (4 years in the corner room closest to the plant). I did NOT experience any ill affects from the plant. The only complaint I heard from anyone on upper quad during those five years was from the occasional loud steam release which always seemed to take place in the the middle of the night.
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If you spend your free time cleaning coal dust off dorm room windows, will you clean the coal dust off my jeeps windows this weekend when I’m back in Blacksburg? I will even spoil you and let you clean the coal off my fenders flares and wheels. I would greatly appreciate it.
I don't agree with beyond coals actions but if they save me $3.00 every weekend by cleaning the coal off my vehicle, I guess I could give them minimal credit.
Hopefully they wouldn't ever support a union because they just took the janitors job.
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The article focuses basically on health issues, which is a true controversy but lacks magnitude and analysis. Health is a valid issue under an anthropocentric view worth to defend. But dear all: the Earth never needed us and even if some cynics persists on searching water on Mars, no human can live elsewhere but this planet. Maybe it comes with education, with drastic environmental disasters or with expressions of democracy such as this protest to demand an active concern on the current state of our environment. People prefer to ignore climate change and the impact of the coal industry in this topic because doing so alleviates the challenge of changing our comfort zone. But there are questions that cannot stay silent: What it takes for Virginia Tech to migrate to renewable energy sources? Don’t we have the best engineering students, the state-of-the-art infrastructure, top rankings on college charts? Wouldn’t a physical pilot of alternative energy technologies make private entrepreneurs invest and generate the jobs that this economy is starving? How alien we are to the situation of Appalachian communities just miles apart, suffering the lost of their health and their right to live on a clean environment? Finally, what is the conflict of interests of the Administration or for example the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research -which is sponsored by Massey- that had made the existence of this coal plant until today a blatant demonstration that our slogan: “Invent The Future” never grew its seeds?
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