Charlotte Creative Loafing reporter Rhi Bowman doesn’t have coal dust behind her ears or under her finger nails but she should. For over a year now she has been up to her eye balls in coal issues, coal ash, heavy metals in our drinking water and other critical issues related to our coal dependency. Her articles haven’t gotten the attention that they deserve and she hasn’t gotten the praise for speaking out on these issues that she has earned. Time to change that.
I count 52 articles on coal, coal ash and related topics in the last year (I may have missed some and I stopped counting at 9/27/09). That’s 52 well researched and informative articles on issues related to the dangers and hazards from coal and coal ash. That’s 52 articles bringing these issues to the public’s attention. That’s 52 times she has offered us an opportunity to take action.
As sure as Aretha Franklin is the “Queen of Soul”, Rhi is the “Queen of Coal” in the Queen City. Rhi, thank you for your excellent journalism. Thank you for speaking out on these issues. Thank you for your passion and dedication. You are a real asset to our community. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Pick an article from the Rhi Bowman Charlotte Creative Loafing Series linked below. Any one. Read it. If you do, you’ll want to read more. And after you’ve finished reading, I hope that you’ll say, “I have to do something. I need to make a difference for my community and my family.”
If you do, then I hope that you’ll go to www.sierraclub.org/coalash to learn more about the issues and to take action online.
I also hope that you’ll sign up by September 10th to give comments at the EPA Coal Ash hearing here in Charlotte on September 14th (Pre-Register: Reserve a time to speak at the hearing with the EPA.).
Let us know that you are coming (RSVP: http://action.sierraclub.org/coalash_charlotte).
I’m sure that the Queen of Coal will be there for another story, another call to action. Look her up and say “thank you”.
You’ll be glad that you did.
Rhi Bowman Charlotte Creative Loafing Series
Thank you, Bill. I’m humbled by your public thank you letter. For anyone who’s interested in other articles I’ve written about coal ash for Charlotte magazine and the Carolina Weekly Newspapers, you can find them on this list: http://thewordtrade.com/?page_id=67
[...] on coal ash news. Fortunately, the folks at the Sierra Club created an easy button for us when they published a public thank you to me and Creative Loafing for our ongoing coverage of the issue, one recently voted as the [...]