Maeve Bauer, Contributing Writer

Green Action at VCU hosted a film screening of “Mossville: When Great Trees Fall,” in collaboration with Virginia Interfaith Power and Light on March 26, followed by a discussion surrounding environmental projects happening in Virginia.

The documentary told the story of a once-flourishing small town founded by formerly enslaved and free people of color, to a town overrun by chemical plants, forcing the residents to leave, according to the Mossville Project website. 

Carolyn Hindle and Caroline May, Green Action club co-presidents, said they showed this film to bring light to power plant developments in the works in Chesterfield, Virginia.

“The issues we saw in Mossville related to community health in Black and brown communities are definitely relevant in the state of Virginia,” Hindle said. “The Chesterfield gas plant is another example of an environmental justice issue because it’s been cited on the site of an old coal plant.” 

Hindle said the proposed plants show links to childhood asthma and other health issues for residents. 

Dominion Energy is spearheading the project and has plans to build five additional plants, which violates Virginia’s clean energy goals, according to Hindle.

“Under the Virginia Clean Economy Act, we’re not supposed to be building fossil fuels anymore, but Dominion is using the carve-out for energy reliability,” Hindle said.

Green Action is acting in tandem with other environmental justice groups at Virginia universities, such as the University of Virginia, the University of Richmond, George Mason University, Virginia Tech and the University of Mary Washington. Together, they are organizing a state-wide Earth Day event, according to Hindle. 

The most impactful thing students can do is to hold large corporations accountable, join organized efforts and get plugged into groups on campus, according to May. 

May said Green Action tries to engage students by getting out in the community. 

“We do a wide variety of activities, there is something for everybody,” May said. “We do things like city clean-up and volunteer at community gardens.” 

They also try to engage with different groups that have similar goals, according to May. 

Green Action is in collaboration with Virginia Interfaith Power and Light, a group that “envisions overcoming the climate crisis, eradicating environmental and social injustices, and living in a just, thriving, and equitable world,” according to the VAIPL website. 

Kaycie Lassiter, the VAIPL community outreach organizer, said the two groups organized the Mossville Screening together after connecting at an event VAIPL held at Studio 23. 

VAPIL wanted to put the heat on Dominion Energy, and they plan to build plants throughout the state, according to Lassiter. 

“There are several plants being proposed in the next ten years, which typically get proposed in predominantly BIPOC communities,” Lassiter said. 

Lassiter said that citizens can voice their concerns for the power plants that’ve been proposed. 

“Dominion needs permits from the DEQ and a CC to move forward. We are able to make public comments of opposition to those permits,” Lassister said. “We can also attend town hall and community meetings in Chesterfield, Henrico and Richmond; basically sharing our opinions and letting our voices be heard, to hold our elected officials accountable.”