A campaign to end Ohio University's reliance on coal is gaining steam, but student senators are not keen on the idea.
Student Senate has moved not to endorse efforts by the Sierra Coalition to close Lausche Heating Plant, OU's primary source of heat and energy.
Christina Liakos, organizer for the coalition's Beyond Coal Campaign, visited the senate last week. The campaign wants to convert Lausche to operate entirely on alternative sources of energy. Currently, three coal-fired boilers and one natural gas-fired boiler power Lausche, which used more than 31,000 tons of coal in 2007, according to OU's Office of Sustainability Web site.
The campaign, which has been endorsed by 11 student groups, now has more than 600 signatures on a petition to shutter the plant, Liakos said.
We want to get (OU President Roderick McDavis) to commit that we need to transition off of coal
Liakos said.
Liakos said McDavis' commitment to the program is the first step and the current focus of the campaign. Other deadlines are dependent on that goal. She also said clear cost figures are dependent on which alternative form of energy OU agrees to use. Different clean energy sources have different costs and timelines.
We're focusing on getting the president to commit to saying 'Yes we will commit to beyond coal ' Liakos said, Then we can look at a timetable of feasible analysis.
She said that smaller, more immediate commitments to sustainability would not get to the root of the problem.
But senators remain skeptical of the campaign, saying it lacks structure.
Their plan seems flawed from the core that they don't seem to have a plan other than getting rid of the heating plant
said Andy Burnette, East Green senator.
OU's Sustainability Council should have a plan to transition the plant away from coal, or close Lausche completely, by 2011, said Emily Bacha, Senate vice president. She said any plan requires budget scenarios and transition plans, which take time to develop.
Erin Dame, Senate's environmental director and a member of OU's Sustainability Council, said her opinion of the campaign has not changed since the idea was broached in September. She said the campaign still does not have clear goals, and it might collapse when its spearhead, Liakos, leaves OU at the end of this quarter.
We should wait until next quarter to see if the campaign is still going. We need to regroup over break
and they need to regroup over break
Dame said. Then we need to come back and have this conversation again.
Senate President Robert Leary said, for the time being, he does not expect Senate to endorse the campaign.
For now
until there's a more concrete plan
we wouldn't be apt to endorse it
he said.
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