Member Center

The Main Stream

Tucson activists gather to stop the burning of coal

Posted: May 3, 2012 6:08 PM

Bookmark and Share
Rating:

0.0 (0 votes)

TUCSON - A number of environmental and health groups rallied Thursday to demand Tucson Electric Power stop burning coal.


TEP currently has four turbines at the H. Wilson Sundt Generating Station on the south side of Tucson one of which is capable of burning coal. Although, the turbine is currently using natural gas, a report issued by the Clean Air Task Force claims that when coal is burned it kills. The report included that the Sundt plant causes four deaths a year in Pima County at the cost of $26 million and six heart attacks a year at the tune of $600,000.


350.org, one of the organizations present at today's rally, is willing to work with TEP to come up with a solution.


Vincent Pawlowski, a volunteer with 350.org, says, "I have had several attempts to reach TEP by e-mail and telephone and we've gotten the run around."


We were able to catch up with TEP's spokesman Joseph Barrios who explains, "We always follow the environmental requirements that are placed on our facilities."


Barrios says, "We are taking great strides to expand our use of renewable energy... We also think it's important to have some diversity in how we generate power and that speaks to reliability for our customers."


However many sources TEP uses to generate power, groups like 350.org won't be happy until TEP permanently stops burning coal.

Comments

KVOA.com is Social!

Most Popular

DON'T MISS THESE!

Thumbnail
FC TUCSON

Check out the latest events FC Tucson has scheduled.

Thumbnail
SEASON 4 HOPE

Help those in need this holiday season

Thumbnail
SUBMIT NEWS TIP

Click here to submit a news tip to us!

Thumbnail
NEWS 4 TUCSON ON FACEBOOK

Become a Facebook Fan!

Thumbnail
@KVOA ON TWITTER

Follow us!

Thumbnail
BECOME A MEMBER

Sign up on KVOA.com for newsletters, exclusive deals, and more!

Thumbnail
KVOA.COM LATEST CONTESTS

Win! Win! Win!

Thumbnail
KVOA MOBILE APPS

Get news, weather and more on your smartphone and tablet!

Thumbnail
TEXT ALERTS

Get texts for news, traffic, deals and more!

Thumbnail
KRISTI'S KIDS

Stories and videos with Kristi's Kids

Thumbnail
NEWS 4 TUCSON @ 4

What's happening on News 4 @ 4

Thumbnail
ADVERTISE WITH KVOA.COM

Let us help grow your business

Thumbnail
COMMUNITY CALENDAR

What's happening?

Thumbnail
KVOA PROGRAM SCHEDULE

What's on KVOA and when!

Thumbnail
CONTACT US

Contact info for our department heads

Thumbnail
FCC ONLINE PUBLIC FILE

FCC Public File of Records, Reports, and More

Thumbnail
MEET US!

KVOA's on air personalities!

Thumbnail
KVOA CAREERS

Work at News 4 Tucson

Thumbnail
RSS FEEDS

Complete feeds of all KVOA.com stories