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Miami University of Ohio Agrees to Move Beyond Coal

Case Updates:

April 6, 2011

Miami University of Ohio has announced that it will immediately begin reducing the amount of coal burned on campus and eventually eliminate it altogether, validating the demands of Miami students who have worked for months to pressure the university to improve local health by abandoning coal.

Miami’s decision – the fourth in Ohio this year alone – underlines a strong trend of schools in the state and across the country moving to reduce dangerous pollution and mitigate financial uncertainty by ruling out the future use of coal as an energy source. Just last week, Ohio University announced it would move beyond coal by 2016. Last summer, Case Western Reserve University announced it would also eliminate coal in its district heating system; this was followed in January by Oberlin College, which published a plan that calls for its coal plant to be eliminated in favor of landfill gas.

Despite Miami’s strong commitment to move beyond coal, the deadline of 2025 set by the administration still falls far below commitments made by Miami’s peer institutions. Miami students and allies will continue to engage the administration to lock in additional goals for clean energy and to move up the 2025 sunset date for the coal plant.

The Sierra Student Coalition has been instrumental in moving campuses across the nation off coal. Miami University joins the ranks of Cornell University, Penn State University, Case Western Reserve University, Ohio University, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Clemson University, Oberlin College, University of Louisville, Western Kentucky University, Eastern Illinois University, Western Illinois University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Missouri University of Science & Technology, SUNY-Binghamton, and University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“This victory at Miami University is proof that students are helping to lead the fight for clean energy,” said Mary Anne Hitt, director of Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. “Nationwide young people are working to move their campuses and communities beyond coal to clean energy solutions – and they are winning.”

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