Clean Energy for Georgia

- Discharging an unacceptable amount of greenhouse gases into our already stressed global environment

- Releasing health-threatening pollutants into Georgia's skies and waterways

- Destroying our Appalachian mountains due to the devastating process of extracting coal through mountaintop removal

Despite this, we have hope. We ask all clergy and religious leaders to sign on to our clean energy letter to power providers. We call on our local utilities to be leaders in creating a clean energy economy, resisting the building of new coal-fired power plants, and insuring the health and prosperity of Georgia's citizens.

Please take a moment to review the letter to power providers below (or download it here) and email us if you would like to add your name.

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Dear [Name]

We write to you today as pastors, religious teachers, and spiritual leaders from throughout the state of Georgia who are committed to justice for all our citizens.  We invite you to join with us in opposing any new coal fired power plants in our state and in examining Georgia’s energy future to insure equitable access to energy and long-term protection of all of God’s creation through energy conservation, efficiency, and renewable energy technologies. 

Our rich religious traditions tell us that “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,” (Psalm 24:1) and call us to live out our moral responsibility to protect the earth for our children and future generations.  We also are called to serve and protect the poor and the helpless and to “love our neighbor as we love ourselves” (Leviticus 19:18).  It is the children, the poor, and the vulnerable who are the most sensitive to the repercussions of decisions about our energy future.  We confess that we as individuals and communities of faith have often failed in honoring the Creator’s earth and loving our neighbor.  And so we repent.  However, slowly and by God’s grace, we are seeking ways to care for rather than harm the world that sustains us all.  We seek to model energy efficiency and clean energy in our own lives and in our congregations.  We seek to consider the voice of those so often unheard in political deliberations and corporate decisions.  We urge you to join with us in doing the same.

Any source of energy that pollutes our air and water, requires that we use more than our fair share of valuable natural resources, creates hazardous waste and passes on a heavy financial burden is death-dealing rather than life-giving.  As people of hope, we look instead towards creation and renewal in our energy supply.  That means looking to energy conservation and efficiency as a first source of “new” power and then to renewable sources of energy that do not take more from God’s earth than they return. 

We understand and appreciate that our state has grown strong from our use of natural resources such as coal.  We use these resources to power our homes, congregations and communities.  We appreciate the contribution (power provider) has made to Georgia’s success.  Now, however, we are facing unintended but grave consequences from past decisions.  If individually, communally and corporately we do not change our ways and address the serious threats posed by global warming, we are going to face an ever more desperate situation here in Georgia and throughout the world. 

(power provider)’s decisions on how to power Georgia are directly connected to our faith communities.  As institutions concerned with justice and health for the earth and its inhabitants, we often find ourselves on the front lines helping people cope with high energy prices.  As strategies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions are put into place, coal will not come as cheaply as it has in the past and these new costs will be passed on to the consumer.  Instead of having rate-payers absorb the cost of maintaining the status quo, (power provider) can also choose to reward conservation, fund efficiency efforts and invest in renewable energy technologies.  In the long run, it will be conservation, efficiency and renewable energy that will make power affordable for Georgians.

We are also deeply concerned about the negative impact coal powered plants have on the health and welfare of our state—both our citizens and the land, air and water.  If we continue to build dirty coal power plants, the health of all Georgians will be put at risk.  Coal fired power plants emit smog-forming nitrogen oxides, toxic mercury and soot-forming sulfur dioxide, all of which have a negative effect on Georgia’s air and water quality. Coal power is also a drain on Georgia’s already strained water supply.  New plants will use between 13 and 16 million gallons of water per day for operation. In addition, coal fired power plants release many tons of global warming pollution, specifically carbon dioxide (CO₂), into the atmosphere every year.  This contribution to global warming will have a disastrous effect not only in Georgia, but also means that the effects of this plant will be felt around the world.

As people of faith called to care for our neighbors, we are also concerned for those who live in the areas where coal is mined.  The mountaintop removal mining processes that supply coal for Georgia’s power plants  irrevocably scars the landscape that many people call home.  Waste from mountaintop removal pollutes the air, water, and land.  To date, the Appalachian Mountain region has lost over 400 mountains due to mountaintop removal coal mining. We should not rely on immoral and destructive practices to supply our state with energy. 

There is a better way forward.  (power provider) and other energy suppliers can first take advantage of the most inexpensive supply of new energy: Conservation.  Once customers are encouraged to and rewarded for conserving power, (power provider) can make cost-effective investments in efficiency to help Georgia meet our growing energy needs.  We ask that (power provider), as a member of its community, would take seriously Georgia’s potential for renewable power and vigorously pursue and invest in solar, wind and biomass opportunities in Georgia, which are abundant.[1]  As people of faith, our aim is to make moral decisions that consider the best interest of all our neighbors, not simply the easiest ones.  While utilizing energy efficiency and renewable energy has been a less traveled path, it is one more and more power suppliers are traveling across the country.  

Our faith calls us to work with God to protect all of God’s children and creation. We are enlisting your help in making this happen.  Alone, we can only help guide our communities, educate them about this issue, and support them in their desire to use energy efficiently. We call upon you (as the power provider for ______) to make and implement the most efficient energy decisions for Georgia.  Specifically, we invite you to:

·       Lead Georgia into a clean energy future by opposing the building of new coal powered plants.

·       Implement programs to reward customers for conserving energy, vigorously work to set energy efficiency programs into action and substantially invest in renewable energy technology.

·       Maintain a dialogue with the faith community and concerned citizens and rate-payers about these issues which are extremely important to Georgia’s future.

(power provider) is in a position to be a pioneering leader that moves Georgia ahead into a new energy landscape. We hope this opportunity is not lost, but is eagerly and robustly pursued.

Want to know more about climate change? Click here.

Want to learn more about what your faith community can do to be good stewards of God's creation? Try these links:

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