“Fighting Goliath: Texas Coal Wars”

“Fighting Goliath: Texas Coal Wars” is a new video from the Redford Center at the Sundance Preserve and Alpheus Media and is narrated by Robert Redford. It is about an unlikely coalition of Texans against 19 conventional coal-fired power plants proposed for Eastern and Central Texas.

The film highlights the group that has come together to fight the coal companies, one of which wants to build 11 of the 19 proposed coal-fired plants — and the governor of Texas, who had planned to fast track the construction of these plants. Regular citizens who found their property rights in danger were prompted to speak out against the plants, and city mayors, lawyers, legislators, ranchers, and even CEOs have united against the energy companies and their friends in the Texas state government to prevent the plants from being constructed.

The coalition in the film is one which should be repeated in the nationwide battle against energy companies and their allies in government. For the Texans involved, they see it as their responsibility to protect their homes, children, and lives from harmful pollution caused by the proposed power plants. Although their personal interests may not always align, these Texans from across a wide range of demographics have joined together to pool their resources in the fight for a common cause: a cleaner environmental future for their communities.

This film is important because so often the efforts of ordinary citizens to stand up for their rights are left unreported, and the majority of citizens remain clueless not only of the issues pressing their communities, as well as the brave efforts to stop these injustices from occurring. Without such knowledge, we can not expect that people will stand together against coal-fired plants that will pollute their environment, nor can we expect them to stand up against other issues, such as mountaintop removal coal mining, nor can we expect those who are out fighting injustices to have much success.

The information presented in such videos as “Fighting Goliath: Texas Coal Wars” is helpful both in informing people of the energy companies’ plans for Texas and in letting people know about the effort put forth by a cross-section of Texas society to prevent the coal-fired plants from coming into operation.