SC students protest coal plant proposal

Students at the College of Charleston today protested licensing and construction of a proposed new coal-burning power plant by Santee Cooper, a state-backed utility.

Protesters noted that coal was the dirtiest way to make electricity because it would shorten people's lives due to soot, increase asthma attacks, contaminate the Great Pee Dee River with more mercury and emit tons of greenhouse gases. Protesters urged increasing energy efficiency in the state and more renewable alternatives, both of which are a key to last year's book by the Center for a Better South.

To read more about ways the South can get better power, check out: Getting Greener: Progressive Environmental Ideas for the American South.