Activist and Mom: January 2012

Monday, January 30, 2012

"Psst . . . Your pants are on fire"

The other night I was at a public meeting where ODEC was explaining why they are back again--why they are back trying to get more public hearings for their stupid coal plant that no one wants.

Of course, they're back because they got sued.

And they lost.

Despite, if you remember, being "delighted" about the whole thing HERE

The crux of the that lawsuit was that the advertisement in our local newspaper for the last public hearing did not say that a vote would be taken that night. The advertisement said public comments would be received and nothing more. You can read a local news article HERE.

Adding to the "confusion" {ahem} were statements repeatedly made by the Mayor at the previous month's meeting saying that the public hearing would be "information only...no vote."

So, yeah, they broke the law and they got caught. Pretty cut and dry, right?

Ha!

To hear the ODEC employee tell it the other night, it was practically nothing.

His description?

"The court found the advertisement

to be insufficient."

Insufficient. Illegal.

Tomato. Tomahto.

Hoo boy....are these guys are the best or what? Ethically insufficient.

Come to think of it, why don't we just call the whole thing off!

Monday, January 23, 2012

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.