Freedom of Speech . . . But Is Anyone Listening?

I spent this weekend doing something I've been putting off for years--I watched video footage of the coal plant hearings from two years ago.

Oy.

I didn't even watch all of them, and, man....I just feel dirty.

Actually, I feel angry.

The public hearings had very little to do with the public.

At all these hearings the majority of the public spoke against the coal plant...and its various rail lines, water intake pump houses, coal ash landfills, etc. etc. etc.

Local citizens overwhelmingly opposed the project.

As did folks from neighboring areas and those concerned with the global implications.

One hearing had unanimous opposition. Not one person spoke in favor of the project.

Didn't matter.

At every hearing the boards who are supposed to represent the public did not do that.

It was all just a sham. A way to fulfill the letter of the law. And super unfair and just plain crappy.

Now we're getting ready to re-do some of the public hearings (because of the lawsuit win I told you about HERE), and I really hope things are going to go down differently this time around.

At a minimum, I hope they'll hold these hearings in larger venues so that people don't have to stand for 6 hours and wait in line in the cold (so they can get a chair...you know, so they don't have to stand for 6 hours).

We still need to attend. Now more than ever.

And we need you to attend, too.

We can send a message to ODEC that we will not go down quietly.

We can send a message to their CEO and Board of Directors that they will meet more and more resistance as time goes on.

We can send a message to our neighbors that there are many of us who do not wish to sell them down the river for money.

And we can send a message that poor rural communities have just plain had enough of being on the front lines fighting coal.