The Solution
You’re It
The solution is a simple one.
Starting today, all of us acting together can stop the Turk Plant.
It will not happen without our action.
This solution is not about deciding today what should fuel our future energy and economic development.
It is about deciding what must not. Turk must not.
Other states including our neighboring states have done the same. As I write this, 86 coal-fired power plants have been cancelled or classified as doubtful.
Each was due to opposition from broad-based, citizen-led efforts.
We know too much today to go forward with Turk. The consequences of Turk are real and they are tragic.
They are tragic when weighed against where we should be moving and the options available to us for doing so.
Turk will not take us into the future we desire for Arkansas. It will recklessly and needlessly derail creating that brighter future for our state.
There simply are no facts that proponents of Turk can bring forward that can refute that. Those facts do not exist.
Together we can make the Turk Plant the 87th Coal Plant to be stopped because it is the wrong choice, the reckless choice for Arkansas.
What We Must Do
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.
We have to let them know what our wishes—what our clear, unequivocal expectations are.
That has not happened yet to the degree necessary on this issue. We must do it to the degree necessary.
What we can expect, if we work to make it happen, is for pragmatic political “leadership” to step forward that follows the lead of Arkansas’ citizens.
It is vital that each of us contact Governor Beebe, Attorney General McDaniel, The Arkansas Public Service Commission members, Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality members, Congressman Mike Ross, and Senators Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln.
The “Please Help” page on this website makes it simple and easy to do with their direct contact information and a direct phone number and email link.
Together We Can Do This.
It’s a citizen-led campaign. You’re the citizen. Please do your part!
Stay Plugged In on Turk.
Statewide Message Board Coming Soon.
I initially planned to post past quotes and formally issued statements, many very recent, put forth by our elected and appointed leaders that speak directly to the issue of the Turk Plant.
The quotes are out there. They are easy enough to find.
I prefer to believe instead that previous statements that have been put forward about Turk and the virtues of coal-fired energy for Arkansas were issued before they had the full weight of the real facts available to them and do not reflect what their views on Turk will be going forward.
I will develop an Update Page shortly after the campaign begins. It is intended to serve in a timely and effective way, along with twitter, facebook and the wider statewide media universe to facilitate dialogue between the citizens of Arkansas and our elected and appointed leaders on this issue.
My hope of course is that some of the many great journalists and reporters in our state will look deeper into the facts of the Turk Plant, as some already have and continue to do. I’m confident that they too will find that Turk is the wrong choice for Arkansas.
The Update Page will serve as a useful “public space” to refute the claims that will be put forth and have been put forth by SWEPCO, AEP, The Turk Proponents and the Multi-Million Dollar “Clean Coal” Lobby.
My intention is that it will serve as a statewide community message board on this issue.
If for example, one of our leaders reiterates that he thinks there can be clean coal and Turk is the best way forward for Arkansas, or even a way forward, this will serve as public forum, a place where the public can come to find a fact-based response.
If an advertisement needs to be created quickly or a particular claim or public statement challenged, again, based on the weight of the facts, you can find a response here as well.
We have a unique opportunity to act to ensure that the Turk Plant is stopped.
The stakes are high. It will not happen without our action.
The solution is a simple one. Starting today, all of us, working and acting together can stop the Turk Plant.
