UW Sped Up Removal of Anti-Coal Sculpture

E-mails obtained by a Casper newspaper show that officials at the University of Wyoming sped up the removal of an anti-coal sculpture because of the furor it caused, but chose to tell the public the removal was as scheduled and because of water damage.

The Associated Press reports that the decision to remove Carbon Sink: What Goes Around, Comes Around from campus was made by UW President Tom Buchanan before the piece was damaged anda full year before the piece's dismantling was due.

The artwork consisted of beetle-killed tree logs surrounded by lumps of coal.  The emails indicated UW decided to remove it to calm angry state legislators, energy industry donors and trade group representatives.

Buchanan, who approved the sculpture, wrote in an email that the sculpture should be removed "given the controversy that it has generated."