I would urge all UK students and Lexington citizens to observe the two coal-fired heating plants on UK’s campus. One is located, ironically, next to UK’s hospital. The other is located on South Upper Street.

You won’t miss them.

They are the buildings with the not-quite-high-enough smokestacks churning out the blue-gray smog that often hovers at street level, creeps into your parked cars, onto your faces as you stroll downtown and through campus, into your homes and ultimately into your lungs.

While the issue of coal-fired heating plants is often far removed because we cannot see them or the pollution they generate, we have two coal-fired heating plants right in the middle of our city, churning out toxins such as mercury, arsenic, dioxin and lead and creating a cloud of smog that can be seen for miles in our city.

Do not be fooled — UK’s coal-fired heating plants do not utilize modern “clean coal” technology, such as scrubbers.

As a citizen of Lexington, I am horrified by the idea that UK will burn coal in the middle of our city well into the foreseeable future because UK is unwilling to break its ties with “big coal” and transition 100 percent to cleaner energy sources such as natural gas.

Let us all observe UK’s two coal-fired heating plants, take an active interest in the health of ourselves, our family and citizenry, and demand that UK clean up its act and stop polluting Lexington’s air and water.