Sep. 16--About 15 University of Missouri students joined in a Sierra Club rally against coal Wednesday, calling for college campuses to be leaders in renewable energy use.

The Speakers Circle event was one of 60 being held at colleges nationwide and coincided with the release of a Sierra Club report challenging universities to eliminate coal use.

Specifically, the report cited MU's use of more than 48,900 tons of coal for electricity generation in 2007.

"University campuses should be leaders in technological innovation and sustainability," said Ryan Doyle, a graduate of St. Olaf College in Minnesota and an organizer for Green Corps. "They should be places of learning, development and growth where students can thrive -- not homes to polluting 19th-century technology."

MU sophomore Sky Robinson said colleges are an ideal place to begin using renewable energy sources because students can join university administrators to influence higher-level decision-makers.

"We know that by winning visible victories to move beyond coal at the university level, we can inspire a transition off of coal and over to clean fuels all across America," she said.

And because MU owns its own power source, it can be even more influential in leading the charge, she said.

"Having our own power plant on campus is truly an asset," Robinson said. "It gives us the ability to not only be self-sufficient in our electricity and heat generation, but also to choose what types of fuels we want to provide power to our campus buildings -- and that choice should not include coal."

It is possible to completely move away from coal use, but it's going to take time, said Steve Burdic, MU's coordinator of sustainability.

"We are looking at biomass boiler use and are reducing coal through the use of biomass and alternative fuel sources," he said. "With those plans, by 2012, we expect to reduce about 25 percent" of coal use. "The real point here is we've reduced the amount of coal we use, but we're not going to be able to stop doing it tomorrow. It's going to take a long time to completely get rid of coal."

Students at the rally praised university administrators for taking those steps but said more should be done.

"We have an opportunity to create clean energy jobs, clean up our air and water and solve the climate challenge by moving away from coal," senior Mallory Schillinger said. "Mizzou should be investing in the future, not tied to the past. A clean energy campus -- now that's an alma mater I could be proud of."

Reach Janese Heavin at 573-815-1705 or e-mail jheavin@columbiatribune.com.

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