WHAT: 100 Central Michigan students are having a rally in Bay City Wednesday, April 15 at 5:00 pm to urge Consumers Energy to invest in Renewable Energy for Manufacturing Jobs in MI and to ask the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to deny an air permit for the proposed expansion on the Karn Weadock coal plant.

WHEN: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 5:00 pm rally 7:00 Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's public hearing

WHERE: Bay Valley Resort and Conference Center 2470 Old Bridge Rd, Bay City, MI

WHO: Michigan Student Sustainability Coalition, Global Exchange, Student Environmental Action Coalition and Energy Action Coalition

WHY: The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is holding it's first public coal plant hearing since Governor Granholm called for 45% reduction in fossil fuel use in Michigan by 2020. This hearing will determine the future of coal in Michigan.

Consumers Energy will spend billions of dollars out of state for coal every year for the next 50 years. If built, the coal plant will have far fewer permanent jobs than those generated by clean energy industries, environmental and health threats, and a drastic increase to the monthly bills for area ratepayers.

In recent years, Consumers Energy has found itself in hot water with the Environmental Protection Agency for its violations of environmental laws. Recently, it was found that the existing Karn Weadock plant has been responsible for 400 acres of coal sludge that has been piled into a landfill, causing deadly arsenic toxins to leak into the Saginaw Bay wetlands area. An expansion on the coal plant would increase pollution and threaten the local community with deadly carbon dioxide emissions and other toxic pollutants.

Michigan youth continue to stand up for green job creation and a more sustainable, prosperous future for Michigan. Last month, over 430 young people from across Michigan joined 12,000 youth in DC for Power Shift '09. They brought the call for clean and just energy in Michigan to the Nation's capital, held crucial lobby visits with Michigan Congressional members and participated in a Congressional briefing.

Since returning to Michigan, these students have ramped up their demands to usher in a new clean energy economy for the state. This week they have meetings and town halls scheduled with many of their Representatives and are gearing up to stop another dirty energy facility, the Bay City Coal Plant, from being built.