By December 21, the Des Moines City Council is expected to vote on a resolution committing to 100% clean renewable energy by 2030. As an advocate for clean energy commitments across the country, and an expert on energy generation and distribution, Sierra Club was slated to speak on the agenda before the Council. MidAmerican Energy provides most of the City’s electricity, and Sierra Club’s recent Coal Truth report explains how much of MidAmerican’s energy generation continues to come from burning coal at significant cost to customers, contrary to the utility’s claim that it is on track to generate 100% of its energy from renewable sources. The report also points out that MidAmerican is one of the largest utilities in the country that continues to refuse to set a carbon reduction target, and that its emissions from burning coal represent the largest source of carbon pollution in Iowa. It is Sierra Club’s understanding that Sierra Club was removed from the meeting agenda at the request of MidAmerican.
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DULUTH, MN. -- In a new paper released this morning, analysis by Sierra Club shows that Minnesota Power would save customers millions of dollars by retiring the Clay Boswell coal plant and replacing that power with a clean energy portfolio that includes wind, solar, storage, energy efficiency, and demand response technologies.
Read Retiring the Boswell Coal Plant: The Case for Clean Energy in the Northland here.
After days of speculation surrounding the FBI search of Chairman Sam Randazzo's Columbus home, and an SEC filing from FirstEnergy identifying a questionable $4 million payment to an unidentified Ohio utility regulator, Chairman Randazzo has resigned from the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
ANNAPOLIS, MD - The Sierra Club and Maryland League of Conservation Voters today applauded the Maryland Commission on Climate Change’s new 2020 Annual Report to the Maryland General Assembly and Governor Hogan.
ANNAPOLIS , MD - Today, Talen Energy announced that the company would stop burning coal at the Montour, Brandon Shores, and Wagner power plants by the end of 2025, pending approvals by relevant state agencies. In addition to moving off coal, Talen publicly committed to develop 1 GW of solar and electricity storage facilities, beginning with a 100MW solar development adjacent to the Montour site in Pennsylvania and storage at Wagner in Maryland.
This week, WEC Energy Group announced it plans to retire 1400 MW of coal by 2025, starting with the four remaining units (1192 MW) at the South Oak Creek coal plant in 2023 and 2024; with an additional 300MW to be retired by 2025. WEC is a co-owner of the Columbia coal plant, operated by Alliant Energy; and it co-owns and operates the Weston Power Plant and Elm Road Generating Station. WEC’s announcement included plans to invest in a significant clean energy portfolio that includes 800 MW of solar, 600 MW of battery storage, and 100 MW of wind. WEC’s announcements are part of a “roadmap” that lays out the company’s near-term plans to achieve 70% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030.
Austin, Texas -- American Electric Power, parent company of Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO), announced a fleetwide compliance plan to address coal ash and toxic water pollution, which includes plans to end coal use at its Pirkey and Welsh coal plants in east Texas. In addition, AEP announced it will spend tens of millions of dollars to update ash disposal systems at plants in West Virginia and Arkansas and divest its interest in the Rockport coal plant in Indiana in 2022.
The Clean Power Coalition of Southeast Wisconsin hosted an online press conference Thursday morning on the ninth anniversary of the We Energies’ Oak Creek bluff collapse incident which occurred on Halloween of 2011. Speakers from the community and local public officials called on We Energies to stop their dirty tricks and finally end their haunting legacy in Southeast Wisconsin by retiring their polluting and devastation-prone coal plant. We Energies is faced with having to eliminate its more dangerous methods for handling coal ash by the end of next year, in accordance with its water permit. The company has yet to decide whether it will invest more money in the Oak Creek coal plant, or shut it down in order to comply. Speakers appealed to the company to make the only decision that will offer residents a guaranteed future free of impacts from that plant: a retirement and remediation timeline for the coal-fired Oak Creek Power Plant.
Today Puget Sound Energy (PSE) announced they will no longer pursue a plan to sell their stake in Colstrip Unit 4 and transmission capacity to Montana’s NorthWestern Energy and Talen Montana, following near-unanimous opposition to the deal. This decision leaves the future of the plant in doubt and speaks to the need for the plant’s owners to negotiate an orderly retirement and transition plan for workers and the local community.
Annapolis, MD - Today, the Governors of Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina announced a new regional partnership that seeks to attract and promote massive clean offshore wind development and thousands of clean energy jobs and billions of dollars to the region.
RICHMOND, VA - Today, the Governors of Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina announced a new regional partnership that seeks to attract and promote massive clean offshore wind development and thousands of clean energy jobs and billions of dollars to the region.
Today, the Platte River Power Authority (PRPA) Board voted to build a new gas-fired power plant as part of its long-term, electric resource plan (ERP), which derails the utility’s 2018 commitment to 100% carbon-free power by 2030. PRPA is now the only utility in Colorado with plans to build new, permanent fossil fuel-powered generation.