Join us to turn it off.                              

How should we be using a piece of beautiful waterfront property in Alexandria, surrounded by apartments and office buildings, hugged by the Mount Vernon bike trail, in view of our Nation's Capital?

Right now,  just such a space is being used to keep a 514 megawatt coal-fired power plant burning on standby for the regional power grid. Meanwhile, the plant is making us sick, spilling oil into the Potomac River, and polluting right here in Virginia, and also blowing pollution onto our neighbors in Maryland and DC. The plant burns trainloads of coal from mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia, and the plant’s toxic coal ash waste has been dumped at sites in Maryland and Virginia, where it threatens communities’ drinking water.

What used to be known as the “Mirant Potomac River Generating Station” is now owned by GenOn, a corporation based in Texas. 

The GenOn plant sends its profits & its power far away, while dumping its pollution and health costs right here – on us. 

All of this for a plant that only operates at a fraction of its capacity, and isn't even necessary to keep our lights on.

Local citizens of the City of Alexandria have fought the plant for nearly a decade, and have forced GenOn to set aside $34 million in an effort to contain some of the plant’s pollution. While we applaud this initial effort, a growing group of concerned citizens believe that GenOn should not continue to invest in a plant that nobody wants here.

We’re demanding that GenOn use that same money to retire the plant – permanently.

Coal is a 19th Century energy source, and it’s time to move on. Around the country, communities are turning away from dirty coal power and embracing energy efficiency and renewable energy sources. No new coal plants have begun construction anywhere in the US in the last two years, and fully 150 proposed coal plants have been cancelled since 2001.

It’s time for us who live near the GenOn plant to lead the way towards a clean energy future and to imagine better, higher uses for our beautiful waterfront. We are calling on GenOn to set a retirement schedule for the coal plant by the end of this year.

For more information or questions, please contact genoffpotomac@gmail.com