By JIM GENARO

Representatives of several local environmental groups gathered at Pritchard Park in downtown Asheville last Sunday to  launch an electricity boycott in protest of plans for two new coal-fueled power generators.

Despite temperatures as low as 10 degrees, about 30 people turned out, carrying  LED candles in a symbolic “candlelight” vigil to protest Duke Energy’s plans to build two new units at its Cliffside power plant in Rutherford County.

Organizers of the event called for citizens to turn off their electricity for 15 minutes at 9 p.m.  every Sunday and place battery-powered LED candles in their windows.

The Canary Coalition and other groups charge that the new smokestacks will spew toxic mercury into the air and contribute to global warming.

However, Duke argues that the extensive emissions controls will ensure that the facility will be among the cleanest in the nation, and that the two new state-of-the-art generators will allow the company to retire four older units. Duke currently is awaiting approval from the N.C. Division of Air Quality.

Canary Coalition Executive Director Avram Friedman said in a telephone interview with the Daily Planet last Tuesday that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has urged the air-quality board to delay a decision pending further research.

Specifically, he said, the EPA has concerns about the effects the new smokestacks could have on mercury levels and on the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Friedman said a decision from the DAQ is expected soon.

In addition to turning off their electricity for 15 minutes every sunday, boycott organizers are urging participants to “divest from corporations, banks and other lending institutions that have major investments in new coal and nuclear plants.”

The organizations supporting the boycott include the Canary Coalition, Mountain Voices Alliance, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Carolinas Clean Air Coalition, N.C. Interfaith Power & Light and Physicians for Social Responsibility.