Campuses Unite for Clean Energy

Sierra Student Coalition just concluded their tremendously successful “100 Actions for Clean Energy” on campuses all over the United States. Highlights included:

• On Thursday, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson met with SSC leaders from across the country (see photo) at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Students talked with Jackson about their local campaigns to retire coal-fired power plants on their campuses. Jackson agreed that the outdated U.S. fleet of coal plants must be cleaned up. She also explained her agency’s recent regulations of pollution from coal-fueled power plants and other dirty energy sources: "We’re not going to use the current economic crisis to roll back the health and safety people have come to rely on for a decade." The meeting with Jackson received great attention from Bloomberg News, Reuters, The Hill, McClatchy, IWP, EENews, and Politico.

• On Wednesday, our SSC group at the University of Kentucky delivered to the Board of Trustees over 500 signatures calling for the university board and president to phase out the two on-campus coal plants and replace them with efficient and renewable sources of energy. SSC leader Patrick Johnson addressed the board’s finance committee, and about half of the committee members joined Beyond Coal activists in applauding Johnson’s speech. Lexington’s Herald Leader devoted a story to the students’ efforts here.

• In other Wednesday news, Sierra Student Coalition members at the University of Virginia camped out in the amphitheater to protest coal burning on their campus. Joined by Sierra Club’s Virginia Chapter, they also screened the Dr. Seuss movie "The Lorax." This great event appeared in the campus newspaper.

• Students at Michigan State University held a flash mob dance and delivered a petition to university president Lou Anna Simon, asking her to retire the on-campus coal plant.