6:30 PM on a rainy Monday night, and I’m at the University of MD, College Park, waiting with anticipation for the town hall meeting with House of Representatives Majority Leader, the Honorable Steny Hoyer, to begin. The room is packed with students and community members alike, from across the 5th district, some having driven up to College Park from as far as St. Mary’s County to hear what their Congressman has to say, and show their overwhelming support for strong global warming legislation being passed by Congress in 2009.

Overall, the event was a great success.

My personal favorite moment was when a student stood up, and asked the Congressman if he would support a moratorium on all new coal-fired power plants. The entire room burst into applause. Of course, Mr. Hoyer does not support a coal moratorium (maybe because he is the 3rd highest political recipient of utility money? this could be unrelated), but it was great to see 250 of his constituents showing their support for getting off dirty coal.

What was your highlight from the evening? Comment below! (if you couldn’t make it, you can watch it on our blog here – then comment away!)

**Thank you to Matt Stern for his beautiful photos of the evening!**