CLEAN AIR—Florida PIRG Field Director Holly Binns testifies before the Tallahassee City Commission against a proposal to build a new coal-fi red power plant in north Florida. Tallahasseans will vote on the proposal in November.

Faced with some of the highest soot-forming air pollution levels in the state, the City of Tallahassee is considering investing in a new soot producing power plant—a coal- fired power plant in north Florida that would further degrade the Big Bend region’s air quality.

Soot from coal-fired power plants is known to trigger respiratory ailments and has been linked to more than 1,400 premature deaths in Florida each year. In Leon County alone, power plant pollution triggers over 500 asthma attacks annually.

A local referendum on whether the city should become a shareholder in the proposed 800 MW plant is scheduled for early November.

Florida PIRG’s Clean Air Now campaign is mobilizing against the plant’s construction, urging area residents to vote “No To Coal” on the referendum.

“Countless clean energy alternatives, such as energy efficiency, biomass and solar power, already exist,” said Florida PIRG Field Director Holly Binns. “Florida cities should protect public health and boost local economies by investing in clean energy and conservation.”

Citizens have formed the Clean Air Coalition, and over 150 people have turned out at each of the last three city commission meetings to voice their opposition to the proposed plant. The plant would cost at least $300 million to build and would further contaminate Florida’s air and waterways with smog, soot and mercury pollution.

Tallahassee residents have opposed dirty, coal-fired plants in the past—and won. Fifteen years ago, citizens overwhelmingly approved an amendment prohibiting their local utility from using electricity generated by a coal-fired power plant anywhere in the county or adjacent counties. Florida PIRG believes that there is no safe place to site a coal-fired power plant.

Florida PIRG and the Keep Madison Clean Coalition helped convince Madison County commissioners to reject any possibility of the coal plant being sited in their county. Florida PIRG will now work with local citizens to protect Taylor County, the most likely potential location if the project wins approval.