ISU Students Aim to Cut Reliance on Coal

The student government at Iowa State University voted to decrease campus use of coal energy and push for more clean energy use.   The coal plant on campus has become a target of student environmental activism since at least last August, and the school administration had already changed its policy to conduct groundwater monitoring following student protests.

The student group ActivUS has been meeting with administrators over the last year, and the environmental organizations Greenpeace and the Sierra Club have also become interested in this issue.

The groups won a victory at the student government level Wednesday, with a unanimous vote from the Government of the Student Body and over 600 signatures from students and administrators.   Anti-coal activists were quick to note the symbolic victory of this vote taking place so close to the 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day.