Iowa Beyond Coal: The Dirty Truth on Iowa Utilities Emissions Plans
by Katie Rock
We are starting 2021 with clear eyes towards the future. If utilities continue playing chicken with the climate crisis, we all lose. Sierra Club’s latest national report, The Dirty Truth About Utility Climate Pledges, outlines exactly what utilities must do to reduce their emissions 80% by 2030, a target that science tells us is necessary to mitigate the worst impacts of the climate crisis. The report shows that most of the biggest utilities in the US are not doing enough. It is time to look past their clever branding campaigns and shrewd lobbying tactics, and start holding utility companies accountable.
The report gives grades to the 50 US utilities that remain most invested in coal and gas generation by looking at their latest energy plans. Many utilities have pledged vague ‘carbon neutrality’ pledges for 2040 or 2050, but that’s too little too late. We need to reverse course on emissions in this critical decade to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
The average score was 20 out of 100 for utilities with a net-zero climate pledge and 14 out of 100 for utilities without such a pledge, showing that the pledges have not led to any appreciable amount of near-term ambition or action. Climate science demands that every utility retire all of their coal plants by 2030, immediately cease building new gas plants, and aggressively build out clean energy resources to fill in the gap.
Both of Iowa’s major utilities, Interstate Power and Light (IPL) and MidAmerican Energy scored a D grade in our report. Our report shows they are average compared to other utilities. Despite its public claims, MidAmerican is not the climate leader they claim to be. In order to be a 100% clean energy company and get a top grade, MidAmerican must commit to retire all of its coal plants.
In Iowa, MidAmerican Energy (score 23) has kept its 5 massive coal plants online even as they invest in clean energy. MidAmerican continues to vaguely promise a transition to 100 percent clean energy with no commitment to retiring any of its coal plants. This leaves communities with air and water pollution left behind by coal plants, and sets Iowans on a dangerous path to a more extreme climate.
Last summer, Beyond Coal called attention to the most uneconomic coal plants in MidAmerican’s fleet -- George Neal North and South outside Sioux City. Our report showed these plants have lost $27.5 million over the past five years. The utility could save $92 million for its customers by committing to retire these plants by 2023. Yet, retiring the George Neal plants and replacing them with clean energy will get MidAmerican to only a C grade. We have advocated for the retirement of these two plants in our Coal Truth report and at the Iowa Utilities Board.
IPL, listed by parent company Alliant, (score 19) still has a way to course correct and lead on climate. The shifts it made in 2020 by announcing plans to retire coal plants in Iowa and replacing them with solar power and storage are a good start that Sierra Club supports. Last summer we outlined how IPL could reach a stronger emissions goal and reduce emissions 80% by 2030. Read more: Alliant should set more ambitious emissions goals in 2020
Utilities are overwhelmingly failing to do these three things that will correct our course toward the climate crisis. We need real climate commitments backed by concrete plans with milestones this decade to transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy, not vague promises that leave our communities breathing polluted air and our planet overheating. This is the only way to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of the climate crisis.
