Whitney Priestas, 8, with a microphone assist from her mom, Rhiannon Priestas, tells the Ohio Power Siting Board on Oct. 22 why a seventh gas-fired power plant for a New Albany data center would be harmful to children like her. Credit: Alan Miller
Is there anything lower than using a child to scare grown-ups? Last Thursday night in New Albany, OH (a suburb northeast of Columbus), an 8-year-old second-grader, with her mom holding the microphone, asked the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) to reject a natural gas-fired power plant that would run a data center. She told the board she's now worried that air pollution will hurt people and animals in the local parks. Nearly 100 adults in the room rose and gave her a standing ovation. MDN had a different reaction. We're angry. Not at the little girl. At the grown-ups who taught an 8-year-old to be afraid of the very thing that keeps her lights on, her house warm in January, and her parents' paychecks coming.
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