A Victory for Capitol Power Plant Protest (And It Hasn't Even Started).By Robin Bravender, NYTimes, February 27, 2009. "Days before a scheduled protest against coal combustion at a Washington, D.C., power plant, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called today for switching the plant to natural gas. 'The Capitol Power Plant continues to be the number one source of air pollution and carbon emissions in the District of Columbia and the focal point for criticism from local community and national environmental and public health groups,' the Democrats said in a letter (PDF) to acting Architect of the Capitol Stephen Ayers... Under Pelosi's Green the Capitol initiative, the House has shifted from coal to natural gas for the percentage of hot and cool air that it uses. The Senate Rules Committee held a hearing last June about reducing coal use even further, but the plant has not eliminated coal from its fuel mix. The cost of switching completely to natural gas is $7 million, Ayers told the Senate panel. But Pelosi and Reid said today that they wanted to identify and support funding to retrofit the plant, if necessary, to operate on 100 percent natural gas... On Monday, a coalition of advocacy groups (www.capitolclimateaction.org) is planning a protest at the power plant, which organizers are calling an iconic symbol of the nation's reliance on the dirty fossil fuel (E&EDaily, Feb. 5). Protest organizers issued a statement applauding Reid and Pelosi's letter but saying their plans would proceed."
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