Melissa Williams, melissa.williams@sierraclub.org
DURHAM, NC—A plan to build a gas plant on the Duke University campus will not move forward for approval in May by the university’s board of trustees.
A special subcommittee of Duke University’s Campus Sustainability Committee, which had been charged with studying the feasibility of building a 21-megawatt combined heat and power plant on a 1-acre site on campus, today said it will not seek a board vote on the plant.
Duke University Executive Vice President Tallman Trask said the university “will continue to engage stakeholders in the process in a meaningful way, and that any decision will be, first and foremost, consistent with our longstanding commitment to leadership in sustainability and responsible stewardship of the environment.”
In response, Dave Rogers, campaign representative for Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign in North Carolina, released the following statement:
“We fully support the subcommittee’s recommendation to delay a decision on this plant, which would lock the university and the surrounding community into a long-term dependence on toxic, environmentally destructive, fracked gas.
“Duke University’s leadership can build on the school’s admirable sustainability goals by fully investing in clean, low-cost solar and wind power and battery storage technologies—and we stand ready to partner with them to achieve those goals.”
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The Sierra Club is the country’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 2.4 million members and supporters nationwide. In addition to creating opportunities for people of all ages, levels and locations to have meaningful outdoor experiences, the Sierra Club works to safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and litigation. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.