Plans for green energy materializing in Columbus
Organizations are partnering with the city of Columbus, and gathering public input, to craft a plan that fits the city's needs.
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – Solar panels have been popping up across the Golden Triangle, but the city of Columbus remains bare.
Now, through grant funding, plans for green energy in Columbus are materializing.
Dr. Beverly Wright, the founder of Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, said climate change is a threat that can be solved, in part, by green energy.
“Green energy can help save the planet and otherwise save us from ourselves because we’re really on a path to extinction,” Dr. Wright said. “And we seem to be oblivious to what’s going on. Everything that’s happening to us is scientific; it’s based upon what we are. It happens naturally, but also what we’re putting into the air, water and soil that’s heating the planet. It’s really simplistic, but we are complicated people. And so, it’s taking quite a bit of time to get where we need to be. But renewable energy and a transition to a renewable energy economy is what will save the planet. It will also make a lot of us pretty wealthy, and the quality of our life will be better.”
That’s why Dr. Wright’s organization and the Memphis Town Community Action Group are partnering with the City of Columbus to create plans for new green energy projects.
These projects are to be funded by Municipal Investment Fund grants through the Local Governments for Sustainability USA and the Coalition for Green Capital.
Darren Leach, with the Memphis Town Community Action Group, said green energy has many advantages.
“We want to be resilient,” Leach said. “We want to be able to stand storms. We want to be able to make it through tough times. We had a blackout in Columbus just a couple of days ago, and our power was out for several hours. If we had rooftop solar, that wouldn’t have happened. The other thing it does is it makes things more efficient, and it reduce costs for people. And last but certainly not least, if we could become a hub center creating workforce development plan so we could train people on how to install and repair solar right here in Columbus, Mississippi.”
When making these plans, it’s important to involve the whole community.
Kabir Karriem, a Mississippi State House Representative, said learning about these things is the first step.
“It’s new to me,” Karriem said. “I’m familiar with some green energy, but we need to know the ins and outs, the logistics of it. And I’m glad to be involved at the beginning. And I’m willing to do anything and everything that we can to make sure that this planning stage, the first stage of this is materialized.”
Dr. Wright said community involvement often leads to the best outcomes.
“When developers come in and do things oftentimes it disturbs something else, destroys a certain environment, throw things off an equal path,” Dr. Wright said. “But when communities make those decisions, it’s always good. Because I’ve never seen a community make a bad decision when they’ve had all of the information. And so, I want what I want for Columbus is for it to become this bright star in Mississippi that it should be. And from what I can tell it’s on the way to becoming.”
On Wednesday August 5th at 6 pm at the Genesis Dream Center, the EPA will be taking public comments on a proposed plan to clean up the Kerr-McGee Chemical Corporation Superfund Site in Columbus.
