UNC shouldn’t buy coal from mountaintop removal

TO THE EDITOR:

The state of North Carolina continues to be a large purchaser of mountaintop-removal coal in the U.S. This destructive practice has destroyed or severely damaged more than a million acres of forest and buried nearly 2,000 miles of streams.

The last energy task force meeting informed the general public that UNC is part of this problem despite public commitments that UNC would not purchase coal that is mined from mountaintops.

Last year, the Red River Coal Company was UNC’s largest coal supplier. According to the Independent Weekly, Red River Mine has sold UNC more than 100,000 tons of coal, worth roughly $8.4 million. But the Red River Mine, which is labeled as using “ridge top” and “contour” mining methods, has been clearly identified as a site that uses mountaintop-removal.

According to the Independent Weekly, UNC’s Energy Services now claims that eliminating mountaintop-removal coal by restricting the number of suppliers that could bid on contracts would cost the University more than $1 million. This is a dramatic shift in policy toward mountaintop-removal for UNC, after years of public opposition to the practice due to its destructive impacts on Appalachian communities.

With current coal contracts expiring in June, it is essential that UNC use more critical oversight with its coal suppliers. If using coal that is mined responsibly will cost UNC more money, the University should start advancing the timetable for replacing coal with cleaner alternative fuels.

The bottom line is that the first step in moving Carolina beyond coal must be ending the University’s use of mountaintop-removal coal.



Ann Green
Sophomore
International Studies, French