# 396 February 15, 2012 Coal Ash Community Meeting

Posted in Coal Ash Community Meeting, Past Events

 Join Us on Wednesday, February 15 to Stop Toxic Coal Ash Pollution in Asheville

 

One of the biggest dangers to our clean water is coal pollution, including contamination of our groundwater by coal ash, the waste from burning coal for electricity.

In Asheville, for example, Progress Energy’s power plant scrubbers have greatly improved the emissions that leave its stacks – but their toxic ash still has to go somewhere. And that somewhere is the coal ash ponds that are leaching toxic metals into the groundwater, discharging wastewater directly into the French Broad River and blowing coal dust onto area homes, yards and gardens.

The Western North Carolina Alliance and its partners are organizing several events to engage and the community on the issues related to coal ash pollution. The first will be a community meeting at Green Drinks on Wednesday, February 15.

We need your help to send a strong message to our state and federal agencies, asking them to take action to protect our water from toxic coal ash.

Please RSVP for the community meeting; and if you can, sign up to volunteer to make phone calls to let others know about the meeting.

 

MARK TIMES: Socializing begins at 5:30 PM; Programming at 6:00 PM
LOCATION: Posana Cafe, 1 Biltmore Ave, Asheville, NC 28801 (directions)

 

Here’s how you can get involved:

• Feb. 15 at 6 p.m. – Asheville Greendrinks  at Posana Café:

Learn what you can do to help stop toxic coal ash from polluting the groundwater and French Broad River around Progress Energy’s Asheville power plant. Short presentations from the French Broad Riverkeeper and Appalachian Voices will be followed by several ways you can get involved to force a cleanup of this toxic stew. Please RSVP here.

• March 22 – World Water Day Rally:

We’ll gather in Asheville to show solidarity and demand action to clean up toxic coal ash in our community. Details on time and place will follow, but please save the date.

• Sign a Petition:

http://appvoices.org/nc-can-no-longer-wait/

• Write a Letter to the Editor. Consider the following points:

* The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been promising strong federal minimum standards to protect our water from coal ash pollution for almost three years now.

* We appreciate North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ efforts to investigate the issue of coal ash, but we need the department to move swiftly in making Progress Energy stop the leaking of heavy metals into our groundwater, and eventually into the French Broad River.

* This is a problem that not to limited to Asheville; there are several coal ash ponds across the state and country that are contaminating our groundwater, drinking water and our river and streams. We need the state and federal agencies charged with protecting us to do their job.

Thank you for helping to make sure clean water stays a priority for North Carolina and the nation!