About
A few months ago my 14-year-old asked me a simple question about how the building of The John W. Turk Plant—a coal-fired power plant—was able to happen in 2009 given all that we know today.
I had no good answer, no acceptable answer.
At that time I began to learn in greater detail about the range of issues and facts surrounding the development of the plant.
And that has made all the difference.
This campaign is a result of what I came to learn and, some months later, is at least a start in answering my son’s question.
I believe it is the same question that will be asked by families in every community of our state as the facts become known.
This campaign represents the interests of every Arkansan. It is not about what should fuel our future energy and economic development. It is about what must not.
I’ve written a background paper that has been distributed in advance of the campaign to Governor Beebe, Attorney General McDaniel, Senators Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln, Congressman Mike Ross, Arkansas Public Service Commission members, Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality members, as well as local and national media. At 50 or so pages it is a record of the facts and the context surrounding the facts of the Turk Plant. It is available on this website for viewing or download.
As I write this on May 27, 2009, I firmly believe that once enough Arkansans know the true story and the facts of the Turk Plant they will make their voices known to stop it.
This is a Citizen-Led Effort. You’re a Citizen.
That Makes You a Leader.
We must let our responsible elected and appointed leaders know, armed with the facts, that the Turk Plant is not acceptable and must be stopped.
If we do this right, together—all of us—our elected and appointed leaders will have to make the choice between openly moving Arkansas forward or tying themselves to decisions that we now know will be responsible for unacceptably holding our state back now and for generations to come.
Given what we know about the Turk Plant, we need to come together and reject as false and reckless that coal power—even so-called “clean coal”—remains a critical or even necessary underpinning of our future.
The stakes really are that high, the facts that compelling.
We must also reject as false the pro-Turk argument that claims that to stop this coal plant is to stifle economic growth for this region.
That is simply not true. It should be dismissed as part of the reasoning for accepting the rationale for this plant. You will hear it often from pro-Turk advocates. Remember, when you hear it, it is a lie. It is a dangerous lie that will lead our state down the wrong path to our future. It has no basis in fact.
I believe had the facts been more widely known in 2007, when this plant was first approved, it would have been stopped by the pressures brought to bear upon it by citizens and organizations statewide, from all corners of our state.
Each of us who cares deeply about the quality of life in our wonderful state today and the quality of life we leave behind for our children still has a unique window of opportunity to stop the construction of this plant from going forward.
We must, I believe you will agree, seize this opportunity.
No Funding From Any Source.
No funding or in-kind contributions have been accepted from any source. This was not done for any other competing or alternative agenda of any kind.
I have no “silent” backing or involvement from any natural gas, wind, solar or bio-diesel companies, lobbyists or trade groups. I have received no money from any environmental or conservation organizations including Audubon, The Sierra Club and The Nature Conservancy.
Al Gore has not sent me a check. Nor has T. Boone Pickens. I have not received funding from any of the parties now or previously engaged with litigation about the Turk Plant. I have not received money from any private landowners that may be perceived as having a vested interest in this issue.
I have received no money period. I have personally paid for the media costs and created the ads and website content to jump-start this. I simply want to stop The Turk plant because stopping it is right for Arkansas. I feel that this stance gives the campaign the best chance of doing so.
I’m All In.
I promise to do whatever I can to create additional ads and content where needed, to refute the misinformation that may come your way from the multi-million dollar energy and “clean-coal” machine and other Turk proponents. I will do my best to share updates via twitter, facebook and the website.
But in the end, I’m one person. And I have a full-time job, one that I love, I need and I intend to keep. So please, get the facts, visit the Please Help page and get involved. I’ve made it easy for you.
Together we can do this. It will be wonderful in so many ways for our state and our families, in ways that matter to all of us, now and far into the future.
The overwhelming weight of-the-facts are with us. Other states are rejecting the false promise and lure of coal-fired power plants.
We can too.
I promised my kids, it’s our turn Arkansas. It’s our time.
Tom Ricciardone
May 27, 2009
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact
501-370-4520
tom@thincmarketing.com
