FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 23, 2010
CONTACT
Melissa Legge
(802) 274-9537, melissa.legge@gmail.com
David Graham-Caso
(213) 387-6528 x 214, david.grahamcaso@sierraclub.org
"The Great Coal Debate"
Sierra Club Faces Off Against Peabody in Debate Hosted by Washington University, St. Louis
(ST. LOUIS, MO) – A leader from the country’s oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization, the Sierra Club, will face off against a representative from the largest private-sector coal company in the world, Peabody Energy, in a debate about the future of coal in our country. “The Great Coal Debate,” which is being hosted by the Washington University Student Union, is sure to be a lively discussion about what place, if any, coal has in the rapidly changing clean energy economy of the future.
WHAT: “The Great Coal Debate” -- A moderated discussion between two influential participants in the development of our future energy economy.
WHO: Fred Palmer, Senior Vice President of Government Relations at Peabody Energy
Bruce Nilles, Deputy Conservation Director for the Sierra Club
Moderator: Bryan Walsh, Environmental Correspondent for TIME Magazine
WHERE: Graham Chapel, Washington University in St. Louis, Danforth Campus
WHEN: Tuesday, April 27, 5 pm CDT (Doors open at 4:30 pm CDT)
COVERAGE OPPORTUNITIES AND DETAILS
The discussion will be will be streamed live via http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-great-coal-debate. At the event, student activists will be available for comment about their school's unique position in the national debate about coal.
A media check-in table will be located at the front of Graham Chapel, starting at 3:30 pm CDT. Reserved seating will be available for the media on a first come, first serve basis. Parking will be available in the Danforth University Center garage, at Forsyth Blvd and Wallace Drive, and will be validated at the check-in table. A mult box will be available for audio coverage. News organizations sending a reporter or photographer to the event, should call Sue McGinn in the university's News Service at 314-935-5254 or 314-603-6008.
There will be additional media availability with debate participants at a reception immediately following the debate. Please contact Melissa Legge at Melissa.legge@gmail.com if you are interested in attending the reception.
BACKGROUND
Peabody Energy, the largest private-sector coal company in the world, fuels 10 percent of all U.S. electricity generation, 2 percent of worldwide electricity production. In 2008, Peabody Energy donated $5 million toward the formation of the Consortium for Clean Coal Utilization, a research initiative at Washington University in St. Louis, and Fred Palmer is on the Advisory Board of the consortium. Gregory Boyce, Peabody's CEO, was also appointed to the university's Board of Trustees in August of 2009.
The Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign aims to move our economy toward a clean energy future by stopping new polluting coal-fired plants, phasing out existing plants, and keeping U.S. coal reserves in the ground and out of international markets. Thanks in part to the work of the Beyond Coal Campaign, plans for 125 new coal plants have been shelved since the beginning of the coal rush, keeping more than 335 million tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Washington University students have worked with the student branch of this campaign, Campuses Beyond Coal, over the past year, as they have urged the Consortium to remove the words "clean coal" from its name.
- # # # -