Georgia No Coal Summer Program

In Georgia, a group of six electrical membership cooperatives (EMCs) have incorporated as POWER4Georgians in order to finance, develop, and construct two new coal-fired power plants in Central and South Georgia. Southern Energy Network (SEN) is part of the Georgians for Smart Energy coalition, fighting these proposed coal plants through a variety of strategies and tactics. Our goal is to move Georgia toward a safe, clean, and renewable energy future that promotes the prosperity and health of all Georgians.  

Southern Energy Network and Georgia Youth for Energy Solutions, the state network and youth chapter of SEN, focus on Central Georgia EMC (CGEMC), a small utility providing electricity to approximately 40,000 member households and businesses in Central Georgia, south of Atlanta and north of Macon.

The No Coal Summer Program is an intensive residential program that allows student and youth organizers to interact directly with CGEMC members, educating them around the coal plant proposals, supporting members in building community groups, and ultimately organizing a large public event pressuring CGEMC Board Members to withdraw their support for the proposed plants.

Program organizers live and work together in the No Coal house in Atlanta, GA, allowing creativity and strategic thinking to flourish.

Program Fellows

Allie McCullen - Lead Fellow

allie[at]climateaction.net

Allie McCullen is a recent graduate of The University of Georgia in English Literature and Women’s Studies. As an undergraduate she worked with fellow students and community members to found Georgia Students for Public Higher Education and the Athens Immigrant Rights Coalition, respectively geared toward protecting students and immigrants from bearing the brunt of state budget cuts. Allie looks forward to working with SEN on the No Coal Campaign, as she recognizes that “financial crises” are also used to further justify the continued use of dirty energy. She looks forward to incorporating her experience organizing for economic justice with the campaign to prevent new coal-fired plants from being built in GA.

Michelle Hindman

Michelle is a junior the University of Alabama majoring in Chemical Engineering with a focus on Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies. This Summer Michelle and the other fellows and interns will strategically interact with the members of Central Georgia EMC to educate them and discourage their support of the proposed coal plants.  She serves as the treasurer of the University of Alabama Environmental Council and attended Power Shift 2011 as a Southeast Facilitator. Michelle’s enjoys reading in her hammock, painting, playing Frisbee, and the color yellow.

Bakari Pace

Bakari Pace is a senior Philosophy major at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. At Morehouse, he is a member of the environmental justice organization S.E.E.E.D. which actively raises awareness on campus regarding becoming more sustainable. This summer, he will be actively using social and traditional media to raise awareness about Power4Georgian's plans to build Plant Washington.

Niko Segal-Wright

Niko Segal-Wright is a sophomore at New College of Florida majoring in Sociology and Environmental Studies. He has two years' experience managing canvassing groups, and now serves as one of two Green Affairs representatives on New College's Council of Green Affairs. He is spending the month of July working as a No Coal fellow, and will be directing his energy toward organizing the volunteer canvassers and making the community canvasses more effective. Cooking, writing stories, and doing handstands are some of Niko's favorite things to do on his time off.