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255 premature deaths. 4,233 asthma attacks. 80 million pounds of sulfur dioxide. Billions of gallons of coal sludge. Carbon emissions equivalent to five million cars.
These numbers represent the enormous public health and environmental harm avoided as Vistra -- the #1 emitter of climate warming pollution in the US power sector -- prepares to close all of its remaining Illinois and Ohio coal plants. Vistra announced its decision to get out of coal burning in the Midwest as executives attempted to rebrand the fossil-fuel behemoth on a call with Wall Street analysts last week. Vistra simultaneously announced new carbon-reduction goals, including a net-zero by 2050 target.
Vistra’s plan to retire more than 6,800 megawatts of coal across seven plants, including the previously announced Edwards plant, was the single biggest retirement announcement in the Sierra Club Beyond Coal campaign's history. It took more than a decade of advocacy by those experiencing polluted air and unsafe drinking water, along with the vision of advocates across the region, to build a clean energy economy that is poised to replace coal.
Here are a few of the key trends we’re pulling out of Vistra’s announcement.
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“Net zero” is the new normal. Many utilities -- including Ameren last week -- are announcing that they’re going net-zero by 2050. The power sector is now operating inside a reality that will not accept a long-game built on coal and gas. We know a 2050 timeline is too long, so we’ll continue to move the goal post!
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Our bedrock environmental laws are still critical to forcing coal plant operators to reckon with their pollution. Vistra pointed to plant retirement as a way of avoiding necessary upgrades to comply with coal ash and wastewater standards, confirming that the industry can only make a profit when it passes environmental costs on to others.
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Community and worker transition must come next, and Vistra referenced a just transition as it outlined a timeline that gives the opportunity for workforce training and community support. We have a long way to go to hold the company and policy makers accountable to this vision, but this is an important acknowledgement that transition is a key component of the work to move from coal to clean energy.
Vistra’s divestment from coal in Ohio and Illinois is an important step in the right direction, but it’s time to double down in Texas. Despite the Midwest coal plant retirements, Vistra will still operate the largest coal fleet in Texas, with three plants still operating without a retirement date. This includes the most notorious coal plant in the US -- Martin Lake -- which has the distinction of being the top emitter of harmful mercury pollution and a major source of ongoing violations of sulfur dioxide public health standards. Vistra made no mention of Martin Lake’s devastating public health impacts during the Midwest announcement, and chose to tout the plant as performing "very well,” disregarding the plant’s lethal emissions.
We also haven’t forgotten about Vistra’s considerable investment in dirty gas plants nationwide, with carbon emissions from its gas plants exceeding the power sector emissions of the entire state of Wyoming.
So we have good news to celebrate, coal and gas fights to double down on, and a new “zero-carbon” normal in the power sector. Not bad for a Thursday.
Vistra Energy will still be the top carbon polluter in the power sector for the foreseeable future, so we still have a tremendous amount of work to do for our vision of a clean energy economy rooted in justice. However, we have become adept in pushing them to do the right thing for our communities, our country, and our planet.
So let's get to work. Join us.