There will be a panel discussion on “Ending Coal Burning in Western
New York” at 7:30 p.m., Monday, November 12th, Daemen College, 4380
Main Street, Amherst, Room 336, Duns Scotus Hall.  It is free and open
to the public.  The panelist include: Penny Messinger, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor, History and Government Department, Daemen
College; Rebecca Newberry, Program Coordinator, Clean Air Coalition of
WNY (www.cacwny.org); Kenzie Reynen, Global and Local Sustainability
Major, Daemen College; Jennifer Tuttle, Organizer, Sierra Club New
York Beyond Coal Campaign (www.beyondcoal.org).

The moderator is Walter Simpson (www.energyreallymatters.com) who will
begin the session with a presentation on how activists helped prevent
the construction of a new coal plant in Jamestown, NY.  The discussion
will then turn to the fate of Western New York’s four existing coal
plants.

Mining coal destroys mountain tops in Appalachia and burning coal
releases acid rain and lung cancer and asthma-causing emissions.  In
addition, burning coal produces more greenhouse gas emissions per unit
of energy than any other fossil fuel.  While only 10% of New York’s
electricity generation is the result of burning coal, this is
responsible for 41% of our state’s greenhouse emissions from power
generation.  Most of New York’s coal-burning power plant capacity is
located right here in Western New York and all four of these plants
are on the brink of closing.  Should we hasten their closure?  Are
there clean energy sources that could replace the power these plants
produce?  Can we transition away from coal in a manner that respects
the communities and employees dependent on these plants?

This panel discussion is presented as part of the Alternative &
Renewable Energy Issues course in Daemen’s Global & Sustainability
program.  For information on this exciting new major and minor, visit
www.daemen.edu/sustainability.  For more information about the panel
discussion, wsimpson@daemen.edu or 839-0062.

NOTE: The last panel discussion in this series will be “Accelerating
the Implementation of Renewable Energy” at 7:30 p.m., Monday, November
26th at Daemen College, Room 336 Duns Scotus Hall, featuring a
presentation by Bill Nowak on the Feed-in Tariff/CLEAN Energy
Proposal.