For years, Texas-based EmberClear has proposed building a costly new gas-fired power plant in Pawnee, Illinois. Since the project would be built near homes and a school, the idea doesn't sit well with some folks in the mid-state village. And since the project also poses serious health and environmental risks in the midst of a climate crisis, the idea doesn't sit well with Illinois environmentalists either.

And given market forces at play, these companies probably could never deliver on the big promises they made when they came into town. As of 2019, according to a Rocky Mountain Institute study, 90 percent of new gas-fired capacity to be built within four years could be cost-effectively avoided with clean energy portfolios. Prioritizing clean energy investment in these cases would unlock $29 billion in net customer savings and avoid 100 million tons of CO2 emissions each year.