Approved by the WWALS Board by email 17 October 2013.

From:
WWALS Watershed Coalition
3338 Country Club Road #L336
Valdosta, GA 31605
www.wwals.net
wwalswatershed@gmail.com
18 October 2013

To:
Mr. John Crawford
Vice President for Advancement
   and Trustee
jdcrawford@valdosta.edu
VSU Foundation
   and Board of Trustees
1500 N. Patterson Street
Valdosta, GA 31698

WWALS Watershed Coalition, a nonprofit group working for conservation of the Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, and Little River Systems, supports the fossil fuel divestment request of Students Against Violating the Environment (S.A.V.E.).

In addition to the points made by S.A.V.E., WWALS would like to add that oil and gas leaks run downhill in our watersheds, fracking for natural gas pollutes groundwater, and fossil fuel energy plants use massive amounts of water that could go for agriculture or drinking. Divestment from fossil fuels by VSU by itself won’t stop leaks or end fracking or shut down coal plants. But it will send a clear signal that our regional state university is leading the shift from fossil fuels to renewable solar and wind power with efficiency and conservation.

Fracking may seem distant, but right now there is a proposed natural gas pipeline from Alabama to Florida that threatens Georgia’s environment and Georgians’ property rights. We don’t want an exploding pipeline like just happened in Oklahoma.

Perhaps like Harvard President Drew Faust some don’t want to get academic VSU involved in politics. But all our investments are political, and there’s nothing neutral about funding climate wreckage. As S.A.V.E. put it in their letter:

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