Heather Moyer, Sierra Club
The Sierra Club and our allies have two messages for Donald Trump today -- history will not look kindly on your decision to withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement, and the American people are determined to meet our climate commitments without you, working at the state and local level. I watched the press conference with my parents and 7-year-old daughter, and it felt like such a profound, painful betrayal of our responsibility to future generations. But I know that our powerful, sophisticated grassroots movement is doubling down in the states to meet the Paris commitment, and Trump won’t slow us down.
This isn’t just a symbolic promise -- this progress is happening on the ground, and Trump can’t stop it. Since January, seven US coal plants have been announced for retirement (making 253 total to date since 2010) and record-breaking new clean energy projects keep making headlines. Recent surveys of utilities have found the nation’s power providers are staying the course in their shift away from coal, despite Trump. Even coal-heavy states are turning away from coal power. And there are now three times more wind and solar jobs than coal jobs in the US. Just take a look at these highlights from recent weeks:
-- On May 31 Massachusetts retired its last coal-fired power plant, Brayton Point, becoming the second state to replace every operating coal plant, since the Beyond Coal Campaign began. The Commonwealth will soon be powered by offshore wind instead, thanks largely to Speaker Pro Tempore Patricia Haddad, who represents the community around Brayton Point.
-- Maryland -- in a race with Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York -- approved the nation’s largest offshore wind projects to date, which will ultimately create 9,700 jobs and bring in tens of millions of dollars in tax revenues. This is the latest victory in a long campaign for grassroots leaders in the state that included passing state legislation in 2013, signed by then-governor Martin O’Malley, that created the program to support these clean energy projects.
-- In Florida, JEA announced retirement of the very large St. John’s River Power Park coal fired power plant, the 253rd coal plant to announce retirement since 2010. This comes on the heels of a big victory for clean energy advocates over an anti-solar ballot amendment in the Sunshine State.
-- Xcel Energy announced the largest single clean energy investment in US history - $4 billion worth of new wind projects across seven states.
-- In New Jersey, the two largest coal burning plants, Hudson and Mercer, were taken out of commission. The Hudson unit had been burning natural gas, but it will now be taken offline altogether as more renewable energy comes online. CEO Ralph Izzo made the company’s future plans clear: “We are not investing in new coal.” To the contrary, the company is exploring the possibility of installing a solar array on the 114-acre Mercer site.
-- Legislatures in both Nevada and California are considering increasing their renewable energy goals. California's legislation would set a goal of achieving 100 percent carbon-free electricity for the world's sixth largest economy.
-- A new reports shows levels of dangerous coal plant air pollution have fallen dramatically over the past decade. Coal power plants are our biggest source of sulfur dioxide (SO2), which is linked to asthma, heart attacks, strokes, and other serious health problems, and also release dangerous nitrous oxide (NOx) emissions. Over the past decade, as 253 coal plants have either retired or begun the process of doing so, SO2 and NOx emissions from power plants have fallen 80 percent and 75 percent, respectively.
-- We reached an agreement with my home state of West Virginia that will require clean-up of six former mine sites. The state had taken on these clean up responsibilities from bankrupt mining companies but then did nothing on the actual clean up for years. We hope this agreement will put other states on notice to meet their obligations -- after all, clean water is essential for communities who are working to diversify their economies as coal continues to decline. And in another recent decision, a federal court found a coal company liable for its dangerous pollution from another mine in the state.
Trump’s decision marks a low point in US history, but we won’t let it slow us down. In the US, states and cities are where we make decisions about how we produce our electricity -- not Washington, DC. The thousands of grassroots leaders who make up the Beyond Coal Campaign have lead a historic transformation that has moved the US from coal to clean energy, and we will keep moving the nation forward. Join us.