Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 3, 1995 TAG: 9504040051
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Short
An environmental group founded by two Tech sophomores from Roanoke and Floyd County sponsored the protest. The students gathered near Shultz Hall, walked down North Main Street to College Avenue, then back onto campus and around the Drillfield.
The students with TREE - it stands for Taking Responsibility for the Earth and Environment - have protested Tech's boiler plans before to raise awareness of the issue, which was the subject of a state public hearing in Blacksburg last fall.
Tech wants to build a modern coal-fired boiler by the late 1990s to prepare for growth. Tech currently heats the campus with five coal- and gas-fired boilers, the oldest of which dates from the 1940s.
"We would prefer to see them upgrade the old ones than see them spend $8.5 million to buy a new one," said student Scott Cooney of Roanoke. He and fellow sophomore Earl Blanchard, originally from Floyd, had hoped that as many as 250 people would turn out for the march because of a student environmental conference at Tech during the weekend, but conference attendance wasn't as high as expected. Still, the march drew more than previous stationary protests in Tech's upper quad, near the university's power plant on Old Turner Street.
by CNB