University students from the Midwest participated in the Coal to Clean Energy Tour on Saturday around the state of Illinois. Students from the University of Illinois, the University of Iowa and the University of Missouri went to sites of coal mining in different counties to learn about the effects of coal in a community.

Brian Perbix, community organizer with Prairie Rivers Network, said the focus of the tour is to look at the effect of coal on clean waters and communities across the state. Prairie Rivers Network, a water conservation organization for Illinois, partnered with Heartland Coalfield Alliance to put together the tour for the students. He said the youth are involved in the climate change movement on campus, but that they are not aware of the harm of coal mining.

“Push a statewide (effort) and stand up for clean air,” Perbix said. “This whole movement is coming together.”

He said he is expecting 50 to 60 students to come out for the coal tour where students will be meeting with local activists and discussing state-wide issues.

“It will be quite a caravan,” Perbix said. “We’re excited to see such student interest.”

Emily Cross, coordinator of the coal campaign and junior in LAS, said there were 27 students from the University of Illinois and 60 students total who attended Saturday.

“We’re busting at the seams with interest,” Cross said. “We’ll be able to see firsthand what’s happening.”

The students had the opportunity to talk to affected individuals of coal mines. They will be visiting coal mines that are disposing coal waste above ground, discharging coal ash into the water supply and storing it in pounds next to a local lake, Cross added.

“Coal is not a viable energy source,” she said. “We need to be moving beyond coal.”

Cross said they visited the Agricultural Watershed Institute, which is looking to grow perennial grasses as a source of renewable energy. The institute is aiming to burn renewable biomass, which could reduce the use of coal, she added.

“It (the coal tour) was a reminder of why I’m an environmentalist,” Cross said. “It was an eye-opener.”

Caroline Wooten, coal campaign coordinator and senior at the University of Chicago, said the goal of the tour was to bring students together since the issue is relevant to the Urbana campus with Abbot Power Plant and to the city of Chicago with two power plants of its own.

“We’re keeping up with the fight,” Wooten said. “Young people are at the front lines of this issue.”

She said one of the best learning moments from the tour came from talking with a group called Citizens Against Longwall Mining. Wooten said this is a particularly destructive type of mining because it takes out huge parts of the earth, causing the farmland to collapse. She added that farmers and Illinois residents who make up the organization are frustrated at what it has done to farmland and the increases in cancer cases in the community due to the mining.

Perbix said there are more bills supporting coal-fired power plants.

“Coal is a hot topic again,” he said. “We see this as a wrong-headed approach.”

He said there is a lot of work that needs to be done in Illinois along with other states. Perbix added that he was shocked when he went on a tour to see different coal mining sites for the first time.

“It would be served as an awakening,” Perbix said. “It’s about bringing everyone together and how us as a state can go forward.”