Anti-FPL demo called in Palm Beach for Feb. 24

The Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition has called for a Feb. 18-24 week of solidarity with 26 activists arrested for blockading the construction entrance to the 3,800-MW West County Energy Center in Palm Beach County and to protest the Feb. 2 sentencing of two activists in an earlier protest at the site.

On Feb. 18, over a hundred anti-FPL activists gathered and 26 were arrested for blockading the construction entrance to the power plant, which is adjacent to headwaters of both the Everglades and Loxahatchee River.

On February 2, 2009, two of the activists, Lynne Purvis and Panagioti Tsolkas, were sentenced to 30 days and 60 days, respectively, for their participation in the blockade of the plant's entrance.

The coalition says the plant is being blockaded because:

The WCEC is permitted by the DEP to use over 7 billion gallons of water a year, drawn from surface, aquifer and re-use sources in and near the Everglades. It has also been permitted to emit over 12 million tons of C02 annually—an amount greater than the thirty least polluting nations on Earth.

Read more here about the week of "Solidarity actions with Everglades Earth First! Political Prisoners, Feb 18-24 and the Feb. 24 demonstration called for the DEP Southeast Regional Office 3-5pm at 400 N. Congress, West Palm Beach.