This week, the Coal Free Future Tour finally arrived at its last stop, Boston. Eastern Massachusetts couldn’t be a better place to meet with community activists and work with them to shut down old dirty coal plants.
Just north of Boston, in the town of Salem, Salem Harbor Station emits two million tons of climate-changing carbon dioxide per year. It also emits enough pollutants to cause 53 premature deaths, 570 emergency room visits and 14,400 asthma attacks each year if it is operating at full capacity. Additionally, 100,000 people live with three miles of the plant.
Massachusetts can do better than coal. Starting this year, Massachusetts will build the nation’s first offshore wind farm, Cape Wind. The Cape Wind project will provide enough clean electricity to power 75 percent of Massachusetts’ Cape and Islands.
If you live in the Boston area, please join us this week to help declare liberty from coal for Massachusetts. Most importantly, we’ll be gathering at the State House on Friday to demand Governor Patrick shut down Salem Harbor Station coal plant. The community has been fighting to shut down this plant for years, and now they need Governor Patrick to be a champion and do everything in his power to make sure the plant closes by 2012.
Join us at 12 p.m. Friday at the State House, across from Boston Common (at the corner of Beacon St. and Park St.) to shut down Salem Harbor Station and get closer to a Coal Free Massachussetts.
Please be sure to RSVP so we can be in touch with any updates.
Also, we’ll be hosting free open boat tours of the Arctic Sunrise in order to meet and learn from the community. Please come on out to see the ship on Wednesday, from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., as well as Saturday, Sunday or Monday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Rowes Wharf off Atlantic Ave., just South of the Aquarium T stop.
