This Tuesday, in a class named Energy and Environmental Issues, I had the privilege of listening to a guest lecture by Professor Eric Zencey on a new economic paradigm—ecological economics. The talk was certainly interesting and made me wonder about the limits of traditional economic theory. But I was struck less by Professor Zencey’s thesis than something he mentioned only in passing. At one point during the lecture, he referred to Wash. U. as a “coal university.” The comment stuck with me and made me realize the implications of our university’s close ties with the coal industry. One place in which those ties manifest themselves is on our Board of Trustees. I’m referring in particular to one trustee: Gregory Boyce—C.E.O. of Peabody Energy.

For those of you who are not familiar with Peabody, it is the world’s largest private-sector coal company. Peabody has a bad track record with the environment, to say the least. Last year, Peabody spent five million dollars on lobbying, arguing that any attempt to limit carbon pollution will jack up energy prices and destroy the U.S. economy. Of the 500 largest publicly traded companies, Peabody was ranked 500th in Newsweek’s Green Rankings. Peabody’s “Green Score:” 1.00 of 100. (Compare this with the score of the 499th company, Bunge—18.82). While Peabody claims that coal is the cheapest and best source of energy for the world, a Reuters study found that “the United States’ reliance on coal costs the economy about $345 billion a year in hidden expenses not borne by miners or utilities.” That’s a hefty price tag for “cheap” energy. Finally, Greg Boyce ranked no. 4 on Rolling Stone’s list of “Politicians and Execs Blocking Progress on Global Warming.”

So how does Boyce’s presence on our board of trustees affect Wash. U.? Among other things, the board of trustees reviews the annual budget, makes final decisions on awards of tenure and degrees, manages the endowment and oversees the development of new programs (www.boardoftrustees.wustl.edu). If you don’t see the potential for foul play, let me direct your attention to Wash. U.’s shiny new “Consortium for Clean Coal Utilization.” The leading sponsors? You guessed it, Peabody Energy—as well as Arch Coal and Ameren. The consortium sounds great, except that “clean coal” is a myth. Coal companies are not so committed to clean coal as they are to the phrase’s incessant repetition—a classic case of, “if we say it enough times, people will believe it’s true.” Let me say loud and clear: CLEAN COAL IS NOT REAL. Coal mining and burning lead to acid rain, black lung, asthma, lung cancer, mercury contamination and most importantly, over 30 percent of our country’s carbon emissions. As for “clean coal” research, no technologies yet exist to effectively mitigate the consequences of coal on our health and climate. Of course, the problem is not the research; it’s the corporate influence that makes academic integrity virtually impossible and the implication that clean coal technology is ready for “utilization.”

By allowing Greg Boyce on our board of trustees, Washington University is giving him and his company its stamp of approval. This affects Wash. U.’s credibility as a research institution. As I saw in Tuesday’s class, the reputation of Wash. U. as a “coal university” is a reality. It would be in our best interest to begin to break some of those ties, starting with Greg Boyce, and show both the coal industry and the academic community that dirty lies don’t belong on our campus.