By Walter Brooks
The clash between clean energy and dirty power took physical form on Tuesday at the Massachusetts State House when a student dressed as a wind turbine boxed a student in a smoke stack costume.
Other students watched and cheered on the wind turbine in order to show their support for clean energy in Massachusetts and to support efforts to curb global warming.
Students from Boston and the Northeast converged at the State House to demand a Clean Energy Revolution. The students, along with EnviroCitizen and Clean Power Now, want the revolution to begin here in Massachusetts, with the approval of the Cape Wind Project by the Army Corps of Engineers.
The young wind turbine leans down over the defeated coal smokestack at the State House today
Hundreds of letters and postcards gathered by students were presented to various offices and politicians. The press conference which followed the fight allowed students like Kelly Muellman of Northeastern University to have her voice heard. â??It is imperative to my health. It concerns me that with every deep breath, I am taking in toxic chemicals that do not need to be in the air.â?
Esmeralda Stuk of Boston University has other reasons for supporting the wind farm, which she talks about in her letter to the Army Corps. â??I would like to express my strong support for the Cape Wind Project because of the contribution it will make to CO2 reductions. Iâ??d like to thank the Army Corps of Engineers once again for the opportunity to give my input into a decision that will affect my future.â?
The event took place shortly before the end of the Army Corps of Engineers public comment period on its Draft Environmental Impact Statement next week.
After the donnybrook EnviroCitizenâ??s campus organizer Riley Neugebauer attempted to give copies of her Declaration of Independence from Dirty Energy to the stateâ??s political heavies. â??We invited legislators and policymakers, and itâ??s not acceptable for them to not listen to what the youth want,â? Neugebauer said before she hand-delivered the stacks of petitions to Romney, Reilly, Kennedy and Kerry. â??We hope our comments are not taken lightly, because we are the next generation of air breathers.â?
The student organizers addressed a supportive crowd at the State House in Boston today
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gives the public has until Feb. 24 to comment on the Cape Wind draft environmental impact report. Comments can be sent to [email protected] or mailed to Cape Wind Energy Project EIS Manager Karen K. Adams, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District, Regulatory Division, 696 Virginia Road, Concord, MA 07142-2751.
The new Boston alternative newspaper, the Weekly Dig, ran another report on the "fight".
For further information visit the Clean Power Now web site or the EnviroCitizen site.
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