Why Gainesville should not build another coal power plant

Why Gainesville should not build another coal power plant
Submitted by Rob Brinkman
October 2005

All fossil fuels will continue to increase in cost, the only way to keep energy affordable is to use it more efficiently!

All fossil fuels add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere increasing the rate of global warming, imposing additional costs on our children.

Coal emits many dangerous pollutants such as mercury, which is known to impair fetal neurological development and cause cardiac problems in adults.

Particulate matter from coal causes respiratory diseases and also contributes to strokes and heart attacks.

Building more generation capacity than we need in the near term means we will not invest adequately in energy efficiency and conservation programs.

If we build a coal plant that cannot capture and store the carbon dioxide it releases it will become too expensive to operate when carbon taxes are imposed in the future, yet we'll still have to pay for it.

The Province of Ontario, Canada recently calculated that when the health costs of its' citizens were taken into account coal power costs $4.4 Billion dollars a year. Ontario has decided to close all coal generation plants by 2009, replacing them with conservation, renewable energy sources such as wind power and retrofitting some plants to burn natural gas.

The solution to our future energy needs is to invest in energy efficiency, conservation and renewable energy, together this is known as Clean Energy.

All fossil fuels are limited and finite in their supply, we must at some point invest in Clean Energy, for our families and our future, now is that time. We can no longer ignore the rising costs of fossil fuel pollution.

Contact the Gainesville City Commission at 334-5015 or e-mail the Commission at CityComm@cityofgainesville.org and tell them we need Clean Energy, not coal.