Environmental opponents begin hunger strike in protest of coal-fired plants

(10/26/06 - DENTON, TX) -- Eleven environmental opponents of 16 coal-fired power plants proposed in Texas began a hunger strike Wednesday scheduled to last until Election Day on Nov. 7.

The fasting began nearly a year after Gov. Rick Perry signed an executive order Oct. 27, 2005, to speed up the permitting process for the plants.

The hunger strike aims to make state leaders consider cleaner technologies like wind power and other renewable energies, said Karen Hadden, 49, who organized the protest.

Hadden said Perry's order made Texans believe there is an energy crisis that requires the quick development for new plants when none really exists.

"We can meet our energy needs and not be held hostage by this perceived threat," said Hadden, 49, executive director of the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development Coalition.

Perry spokesman Robert Black has said that the new plants will be 80 percent cleaner than the current national average and help the state's need for increased power generating capacity.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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