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Mine Over Matter
COAL MINING PROJECTS are the latest target
in the war on air pollution. Around the world,
protesters are lashing out—putting the fate of
projects to launch or upgrade coal mining and
processing operations at risk.
Abundant and less expensive than oil, coal does
have its advocates who cite advances in technology
and CO monitoring to make their case. Still, it’s
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not an easy sell. Project managers working on the
projects face fierce pressure from skeptical communities and environmental activists.
In late 2008, protesters were arrested after
forming a human shield outside a new coal plant
in Wise County, Virginia, USA. And in
Rotterdam, Netherlands, two ships from the environmental advocacy group Greenpeace were
impounded after crew members blocked access to
the city’s port and chained themselves to equipment in protest of a new coal-fired power plant
planned by German power company, E.ON.
Greenpeace activists also have set up camp in the
village of Roztoka, Poland, where they’re demonstrating around the clock against the construction
of a coal mine near the Goplo lake.
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Sunflower Electric Power Corp., Hays, Kansas, USA,
is currently fighting the state government’s October
2007 denial of an air-quality permit for a project to
expand one of its coal-powered plants. The company
knows it needs to dig in early in the battle to win
over stakeholders.
“The trick to getting and keeping support for
coal is to be a good corporate citizen all the
time,” says Clare Gustin, vice president of member services and external affairs at Sunflower.
“The community’s perception of you is not
something you can start thinking about the day you
decide to do an expansion project,” she says. “You
need to develop a reputation as a good employer
and a contributor to economic development in the
community. You can’t do that overnight.”
Once a new coal project is in the works, Ms.
Gustin says, the team must carefully shape what
is communicated to stakeholders—and when it’s
communicated.
“As the project evolves, you need to find a balance
of sharing information without saying too much,”
she says. “You don’t want to get people’s hopes up
