On October 2nd at Iowa State University, members of a campus environmental group ActivUs asked the administration to phase out the use of its coal power plant in the next 10 years and become 50 percent sustainable in the next five years. The meeting came after a recent victory for ActivUs where the three public universities in Iowa agreed to monitor their coal ash dumping grounds.

Three members of the group delivered petitions and discussed sustainability with ISU President Geoffroy, the Vice President for Business and Finance, and the executive assistant to the President.

Graham Jordison, senior in political science and president of the group ActivUs, said, "Our main focus was to create a relationship with the president and his advisers."

ActivUs delivered a petition with more than 400 signatures from students advocating for cleaner energy and a petition with more than 100 signatures from people concerned about ash from the university's coal plant.

Iowa State's coal plant is ActivUs’s biggest concern, Jordison said, because ash from the University is dumped into an unlined quarry in Waterloo.

"Its a huge concern to Iowans and their health," he said.

He said Geoffroy promised to look into the issue, but was concerned about the cost of a phase out. 
“Building a new power plant would be prohibitively expensive at this time,” said Jordison, “but there may be opportunities for increasing our use of natural gas rather than coal while we evaluate the increased use of wind energy and energy from other renewable resources.”

Though the University still uses the plant, Jordison said steps have been taken in the right direction.


More from the Iowa State Daily