FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA ADVISORY
August 31st, 2009

Contact: Charles Suggs
304-854-7372

One tree-sitter to descend after week defending people from blasting

From a Twin Cities activist in Pettry Bottom, W. Va.—Think twice the next time you turn on your computer. The source of most of our energy in the Twin Cities is under attack.

Two people have occupied treetops in the small West Virginian communities of Pettry Bottom and Peach Tree within the blasting zone of a Massey Energy mountaintop removal coal-mining site.

Elk River Municipal Utilities yesterday rejected a proposal to become a partial owner in Big Stone II. Elk River’s rejection was the same day as a decision by Basin Electric Power in South Dakota to pull plans for a new coal-fired power plant.

At a June 29, special meeting of the Elk River Municipal Utility (ERMU) and the City Council to discuss alternatives for their energy supply in 2018, the Council moved to table discussion of investment the Big Stone II coal project until  July 13. 

One of the options presented was investing in 30 megawatts of the Big Stone II coal plant expansion for $90 million.  

The Elk River Municipal Utility is considering buying into the Big Stone II coal-fired power plant proposed to be built near Milbank, South Dakota. While other utilities and other states across the Midwest and the nation are abandoning plans for building new coal plants, the Big Stone II proposers continue down this path, which critics call "uneconomic and environmentally irresponsible."