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4 <br />PETITION TO ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COADUSSIONERS <br />Submitted by Citizens for a Coal -Free Community <br />April 20, 2010 <br />WHEREAS, medical research has yielded compelling evidence that toxic chemicals, including <br />mercury, arsenic, lead and particulate matter, emitted by coal-fired plants can adversely affect <br />human health: <br />1) by increasing the rate of hospitalization of children with respiratory disease by up to <br />300% (American Journal of Public Health, 79: 623, 1989); and <br />2) by causing an increase in the risk of death by heart attacks and strokes of up to 12 <br />times, particularly in women of an age to be mothers and grandmothers (New England <br />Journal of Medicine, 356:447, 2007); and <br />3) by causing conditions that can result in infertility, premature birth and miscarriage <br />(Human Reproduction, 20:2776, 2005), .and . <br />4) by causing mental deficits and learning disabilities in children exposed to mercury <br />in utero (Environment, 44:25, 2002); and <br />WHEREAS, through their coal - burning co- generation plant on Cameron Avenue, the University <br />of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is polluting the air and threatening the health of its neighbors <br />and the wider community; and <br />WHEREAS, the UNC cogeneration plant is responsible for more than 320,000 metric tons of <br />greenhouse gas emissions every year, and thus is a major contributor to global warming; and <br />WHEREAS, coal mining is socially and environmentally destructive, and UNC's coal may be <br />extracted using mountain top removal, a method that causes egregious damage to the <br />environment and communities of Appalachia; and <br />WHEREAS, the UNC -CH cogeneration plant boilers can bum at least a 50 % -50% mixture of <br />natural gas and a solid fuel, such as coal or solid biofuel; and <br />WHEREAS, the energy cost savings from burning coal are actually shifted to increased public <br />health and environmental costs; <br />THEREFORE, the Citizens for a Coal-Free Community hereby petitions the Orange County <br />Board of Commissioners in the interest of public health to endorse and join the request by <br />citizens of Chapel Hill and the Carrboro Board of Aldermen that the Chancellor of the University <br />of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the UNC Energy Task Force make a commitment to <br />immediately reduce coal use and completely eliminate the use of coal as soon as possible, by <br />2015 at the latest, to be replaced by energy conservation, energy efficiency, and clean renewable <br />