Press Mention Smoky Mountain News April 19, 2005
SACE Quoted
Environmentalists to protest Bush's Earth Day visit
In this mention
Environmental groups in Western North Carolina and East Tennessee, including the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, are organizing protests against President Bush's Earth Day visit to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. SACE Executive Director Stephen Smith called for hundreds of people to demonstrate opposition to coal plants and support for clean energy. The protests aim to counter the administration's environmental agenda, particularly its Clear Skies Initiative, which environmentalists argue would weaken air quality protections.
We hope to get hundreds of people out to show President Bush and the nation that we in Western North Carolina and East Tennessee want clean, safe energy, rather than the dirty coal plants currently plaguing our region
Stephen A. Smith
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Full transcript
Environmentalists to protest Bush's Earth Day visit
By Becky Johnson • Staff Writer
Environmental groups in the region are franticly ditching or scaling back their plans for Earth Day this Friday for what they consider a greater cause: protesting President George Bush's environmental agenda during a visit to the region by the President himself.
The administration announced Monday that President Bush would be visiting the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Earth Day, creating a dizzying level of e-mail exchanges by more than half a dozen environmental groups orchestrating protests — a number that is certain to grow throughout the week.
Environmentalists hope to find a stage among the media coverage surrounding the President's visit to promote their own messages, with air pollution at the forefront.
"We hope to get hundreds of people out to show President Bush and the nation that we in Western North Carolina and East Tennessee want clean, safe energy, rather than the dirty coal plants currently plaguing our region," Stephen Smith, Executive Director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy sent out to members via email.
Citing recent improvements in air quality in the Smokies documented by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, Bush is expected to use the visit as a platform to tout his air quality agenda.
Environmentalists say any improvements to air quality are no thanks to Bush.
"This administration is attempting to weaken or dismantle these very successful programs, bowing to industrial pressure, and threatening to undo the considerable progress that has been made," Avram Friedman, director of the Sylva-based Canary Coalition, wrote in a rallying cry to his members.
Supporters claim Bush's Clear Skies would spur emissions reductions through free-market forces. Opponents, who call it Clear Lies, claim it would give coal-fired plants a license to pollute more.
Anyone who wants to join the protests can contact the Sylva-based Canary Coalition at 828.631.3447 or email canarycoalition@earthlink.net.