Illegal or wrong?
This morning, Mark and I followed coal trucks
up the highway to go to court in Wise. We weren't in trouble, but
some friends of ours were --- young people who had chained themselves
to barrels last month to protest the construction of a coal-fired power
plant which is being built about ten miles from our farm, and about two
miles from another coal-fired power plant. (The picture to the
left is the power company's idea of what the plant will look like, with
a little smoke photoshopped in by me to make it more realistic.)
Unfortunately, prevailing public sentiment in our region runs
pro-plant. We passed a massive yard sign a few miles up the road
from the power plant site which proclaimed "Elect McCain-Palin --- they
support coal!" Although our region (in my biased opinion) is one
of the most beautiful spots in the world, Wise County is also the most
economically depressed county in Virginia and its residents are quick
to believe the full page ads Dominion has taken out in the local
newspapers proclaiming the riches which will flow into our region once
their power plant is built.
Those of us who submitted comments to the DEQ, spoke up at public
hearings, begged our elected leaders, and pummeled the local papers
with letters to the editor made no headway in preventing the plant from
receiving its permits (though we did reduce the permitted mercury
emissions from 72 to 4 ppm.) Eventually, hot, young heads cooked
up an act of civil disobedience. And even though I don't really
approve of civil disobedience in non life-or-death situations, I ended
up driving to the courthouse to show my opposition --- again --- for
the power plant.
In the end, the judge agreed to give the young people fines, community
service, and probation instead of the threatened jail time. Most
of them were taking time off college to come to the hearing, and they
had travelled from across the U.S. both to chain themselves to barrels
and, now, to pay for their "crime." The county ended up taking in
over $4,000 in fines and fees --- I always did say that tourism would
be our region's saving grace. 
"I know what I did was illegal, but I do not think it was wrong," said
one of the young women in her prepared statement. Personally, I
know that building a dirty power plant in a region with the highest
asthma rates in the state and some of the lowest levels of healthcare
infrastructure is wrong --- I just wish it was illegal.
If you want to read more, or help out, check out some of the major
players in the battle:
- Sierra
Club
- Chesapeake Climate Action Network
- Wise Energy Alliance
- Southern Environmental Law Center
- Appalachian Voices
- Rainforest Action Network
Or explore more posts by date or by subject.
About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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