September 30, 2009

National coal day of action in Springfield

Tuesday was the "Coal is Dirty Business" day of action and the Sierra Club held a lunch forum in Springfield.

The first speaker, Dennis Ruez, Jr., gave an interesting perspective on global warming, coal, and carbon sequestration efforts from a geological perspective that I hadn't heard before. If you aren't in one of his classes at UIS I strongly recommend taking any chance to hear him speak.

Dr. Stuart Frank gave an excellent presentation for Physicians for Social Responsibility focusing on the health impacts of coal plants and global warming.

I had to find new camera batteries so I didn't get pictures of their talks. Catherine was nice enough to snap a couple during my comments on the State Capitol coal plant and efforts by the coal industry to weaken EPA's regulatory authority.

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We didn't have a huge crowd but hopefully everyone enjoyed the other two speakers as much as I did.


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Most people who came had their picture taken for the national photo-petition asking the EPA for strong regulations of global warming emissions. If you weren't there Tuesday you can still add your photo here.