Environmentalists are fighting Uruguay’s plans to build a coal-fired electrical plant to generate 350 megawatts in Candiota, a town in southern Brazil near the Uruguayan border. “A new plant could make air quality intolerable” in Candiota, which has had another coal energy plant since 1961, Kathia Vasconcelos, an activist with the Integrity Movement, told Tierramérica.

Lucía Ortiz, coordinator of Friends of the Earth Brazil, rejected the project for “going against history, because it uses one of the fossil fuels that most emits greenhouse-effect gases per unit of energy generated.”

The burning of coal also releases sulfur and mercury, which can cause cardiovascular illnesses, skin reactions, allergies and cancer.

The Uruguayan and Brazilian governments announced the construction of the energy plant on July 18 as a gesture of solidarity, given Uruguay’s energy needs.