UNC should investigate Red River Coal Company

TO THE EDITOR:

A recent Independent Weekly article titled “Fact-checking UNC’s Coal Claims” has asked a number of troubling questions about the coal that UNC uses in its cogeneration plant.

The article’s main question is whether the coal that UNC receives is produced through mountaintop removal mining, a process that UNC officials have said is not used to produce their coal.

The article looks at the Red River Mine, which was UNC’s largest supplier of coal last year. It is owned by the Red River Coal Company, which operates several mines and uses mountaintop removal mining in the extraction of coal from some of these mines. Mountaintop removal mining is the most destructive method of coal extraction used by coal companies.

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, 380,000 acres of forest have been damaged as a result of mountaintop removal mining.

Officials from the Red River Coal Company did not comment to the Independent Weekly about their mining practices, so it is still unknown whether any of UNC’s coal is produced through mountaintop removal practices.

Chancellor Holden Thorp continues to claim that UNC’s coal use causes as little environmental damage as possible. The Daily Tar Heel, UNC officials and the newly created Energy Task Force need to conduct a thorough, responsible and transparent investigation into UNC’s coal sources.


Chris Moffitt
Junior
Communication Studies