Representatives from various environmental groups said that Ohio University administrators committed to closing the Lausche Heating Plant by 2016, but officials from OU declined comment.
“In a nutshell, they agreed … to move forward with some of our demands,” said Badger Johnson, a senior and member of the environmental group Beyond Coal.
“They also didn’t really promise anything,” he later said. “In that sense, it was frustrating.”
OU said it would hire an independent consultant to help with the closure of Lausche Heating Plant but would not commit to stop using coal, Johnson said.
During fiscal year 2007, OU received 31,164 tons of coal, according to the university website.
Johnson, Nachy Kanfer and Shannon Fisk, an attorney for the National Resource Defense Council, were among those who met with OU administrators for two hours Monday.
“We came into the meeting hoping that the university was finally willing to put all of this behind it — all of the dangerous emissions it outputs,” said Kanfer, a representative for the environmental organization Sierra Club.
The activists scheduled the meeting to discuss accusations that the university’s coal plant violates the Clean Air Act.
OU administrators in attendance at the meeting included Vice President for Finance and Administration Stephen Golding, Associate Vice President for Facilities Harry Wyatt and Associate Director of Legal Affairs Nicolette DioGuardi, Johnson said.
OU’s primary source of energy is coal because it’s considerably cheaper than other options, according to the university website.
However, Kanfer said coal is much more costly than other energy sources.
“Both environmentally and financially, it would be insane to continue using coal,” Kanfer said.
While there are no plans for a future meeting, OU also promised to seek input from student environmental activists as it creates a proposal for the plant’s closure during the next four to eight months, Johnson said. OU would then present the proposal to the Board of Trustees next school year, he said.
Despite OU’s promises to close the plant and ask for more student input, Johnson described the administration as “unusually obstinate” and “uncooperative.”
“So we are not having avictory party tonight,” Johnson said.
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