Sierra Club Responds to Attorney General Rutledge Actions Concerning Its Settlement with Entergy

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Today, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge announced her intentions to file documents with the Arkansas Public Service Commission and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, seeking to insert her office into a recent settlement agreement that will result in the planned retirement of three Arkansas power plants.  

The agreement filed in federal court on November 16th between Sierra Club, the National Parks Conservation Association, and Entergy Arkansas, settled litigation between the environmental groups and the utility which alleged violations of the Clean Air Act. The parties agreed as part of the settlement that Entergy would retire its White Bluff plant no later than December 31st, 2028, its Independence plant no later than December 31st, 2030, and its Lake Catherine plant no later than December 31st, 2027.  

Attorney General Rutledge today said she will ask the Arkansas Public Service Commission to review the closings, and  the United States District Court for permission to intervene in the litigation between the environmental groups and Entergy Arkansas.

In response Sierra Club’s Arkansas Chapter Director Glen Hooks released the following statement:

"Today's actions by Attorney General Rutledge is another misguided attempt to thwart clean air protections for Arkansans.  Our settlement with Entergy Arkansas responsibly transitions two of the largest and dirtiest unscrubbed power plants in the nation to retirement, while also committing to hundreds of megawatts of clean energy for our state.  This settlement will mean cleaner air and more clean energy jobs right here in Arkansas.

Rutledge is asking the Public Service Commission to review the shutdown dates, but the PSC is already reviewing this information as part of Entergy's 2018 Integrated Resource Planning process--a lengthy process in which both the Attorney General's office and the Sierra Club participated.  The shutdown dates contained in our settlement and the IRP submitted to the PSC are exactly the same. And Entergy’s modeling demonstrates that those coal shutdown dates are the least-cost option for Arkansas consumers. Rutledge is asking the PSC to waste taxpayer money by opening a new investigation to review an analysis the PSC is already reviewing.  

Since 2010, more than half of our nation's coal-burning power plants have scheduled their retirement.  Burning coal no longer makes environmental or economic sense when clean solar and wind energy prices have plummeted .  Entergy Arkansas realizes this, as does the Sierra Club and utilities across the country. That's why you're seeing utilities rapidly turning away from coal and toward clean energy.  

Together, the White Bluff and Independence coal plants emitted over 42,000 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions and 20,000 tons of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions in 2017. These plants rank sixth and thirteenth in combined SO2 and NOx emissions out of the hundreds of power plants across the United States, and have also been linked to increased levels of ozone smog, harming communities in St. Louis and Memphis. The replacement of these plants with clean energy will eliminate 75 percent of the SO2 and 34 percent of the NOx from combined emissions from all the power plants and industrial smokestacks across Arkansas.

The two Entergy coal-burning plants have operated for more than three decades without modern pollution controls. They have been the largest sources of air pollution in Arkansas for decades. Combined, these three power plants are responsible for 59% of the carbon emissions from the entire electric sector in Arkansas. These reductions will significantly improve Arkansas’s air quality while reducing health risks for thousands of Arkansans.

While virtually everyone--regulators, politicians, utilities, and environmental groups--are embracing the economic and environmental benefits of clean energy, Leslie Rutledge is attempting to stand in the way of progress that will greatly benefit our state.  Why is our state's chief legal officer standing up for the dirty and dying coal industry, when she should be--at a minimum--applauding Entergy's efforts to clean our air and our energy system?

The Sierra Club urges Attorney General Rutledge to embrace Arkansas's clean energy future.  We need state leaders who will stand up for progress in Arkansas--not stand in the way."