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CHESHIRE, OHIO follows a community devastated by coal, starting with American Electric Power's buyout and bulldozing of this Ohio River town, after exposing them to years of harmful emissions.
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"A vital film...shows firsthand the human cost of dirty energy. It is a harrowing and compelling story that hammers home the point: coal kills, fossil fuel companies care more about profit than people, and now more than ever, we need to pay attention to the true stories of our frontline communities."
Bruce Nilles, Beyond Coal Campaign, Sierra Club
"Cheshire's story is singular and yet all too common. While there's no other example of a company buying out an entire town, the impacts of coal pollution, and the challenges those still residing in Cheshire face, are a daily reality for far too many communities across coal country in Ohio and the rest of the country. CHESHIRE, OHIO is a lesson, a warning, and a reminder."
Neil Waggoner, Beyond Coal Campaign, Sierra Club
"A moving and sensitive treatment of an issue of national significance - the true cost of coal. The film beautifully captures the issue on a human scale with the poignant story of the cost borne by one small American town that lost everything. An important cautionary tale bravely told by those who refuse to surrender."
Lisa Evans, Senior Counsel, Earthjustice
"Provides a powerful insight into a rural community being torn apart by fossil fuel pollution...This documentary explores the dirty aftermath, and what comes next, when the air is no longer safe to breathe. It really brings home the experience and consequences of living with serious air pollution, with stories and characters that stay with you long after the film has ended"
Clare Lakewood, Staff Attorney, Climate Law Institute, Center for Biological Diversity
"This film shows in striking human terms why we must move quickly to clean energy. No other community should suffer as this one has. We have to produce energy in a way that does not make people sick, pollute our air, or produce millions of tons of waste containing toxins."
Frank Holleman, Senior Attorney, Southern Environmental Law Center
"A truly eye-opening film behind a dark chapter in American history, the takeover of small, rural towns by coal-fired power plants and the resulting pollution and social damage they cause, with Cheshire, Ohio as the example. I highly recommend this film."
Mark Jacobson, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Director, Atmosphere/Energy Program, Senior Fellow, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University
"A tough but moving film about the death knell of a formerly beautiful Midwestern village, brought to its knees by the toxicity of a power plant. A contemporary American Tragedy, the film is powerfully told by director Morgenstern, who evokes the innocence of town dwellers in places like Cheshire - and what happens to them when big business betrays them."
Marc Glassman, Planet In Focus Environmental Film Festival
"A jarring examination of the gulf between civic rights and corporate responsibility in the United States of America. It captures both the resilience of communities in the face of uncertainty and the certainties of governmental indifference to communities when pitted against powerful business interests...Fundamentally, this documentary asks how long we can accept and externalize these travesties in exchange for fossil fuel-based energy."
Dr. William Schumann, Associate Professor and Director, Center of Appalachian Studies, Appalachian State University, Editor, Engaging Appalachia: Building Capacity for Sustainability (forthcoming)