Jamie Trowbridge writes a message - in coal - to Pepco
LISTEN TO VOICES FROM THE PEPCO PROTEST:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
“Pepco(al) sources a fair amount of coal from mountaintop removal coal mining sites,” said Jamie Trowbridge, an activist with DC Rising Tide. Trowbridge took part in a May 20 protest outside Pepco’s headquarters while the region’s main utility company conducted its annual shareholder meeting.
Midway through writing a polite note in coal in front of the Pepco building – “Stop blowing up mountains. (Please. Thanks.)” – he said, “We in the D.C. area are getting our electricity by blowing up mountains in West Virginia. There have been a number of scientific reports that have spoken directly to how devastating to the environment and to communities mountaintop removal coal mining is.”
“A lot of companies are making money with solar right now. Why not Pepco?” asked John Capozzi, a 20-year Pepco shareholder and member of DC Solar United Neighborhoods (SUN).
“The electric industry accounts for more carbon dioxide emissions than any other sector, including the transportation and industrial sectors,” stated Capozzi’s shareholder resolution. “U.S. power plants are responsible for nearly 40 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions.”
The resolution – which calls for “reducing total greenhouse gas emissions from the Company’s products and operations” – has not been adopted by Pepco. Yet.
The company may want to rethink the issue, particularly at a time when it has come under so much scrutiny. “They’ve had a huge consumer confidence breakdown,” said Capozzi. “People are concerned about high rates, about the reliability, about the fact that when their power goes out it takes days to fix it.”
“If they were making more money through solar then maybe they would have had more capacity to do a better job with reliability. They could take a lit bit of load off the grid during those peak days so there wouldn’t be brownouts or even potentially blackouts.”
Related Sites:
Related Stories: