The alarm bells haven’t started ringing, but environmental groups and concerned citizens are nervously eyeing a permit renewal for a coal-fired power plant in University Circle. It is likely the plant will continue to burn coal here, yet the renewal is seen as a litmus test as the city’s cultural and intellectual elite—many of whom have taken a public stance to be more environmentally correct—expand their appetite for power to keep pace with an institutional growth spurt.

Much has been made about the benefits from the $1 billion invested in University Circle by these same institutions. Certainly there’s evidence of a new chapter forming in the relationship between the ‘Eds and Meds’ and underserved Cleveland…