By Ty Gorman, Senior Campaign Representative for Sierra Club Kansas and Oklahoma Beyond Coal Campaign
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has brought unprecedented opportunity for change to the municipal and cooperative-owned coal plants. Kansas is home to five active coal plants, a robust oil and gas industry, and other industrial sources of pollution. For the last two years, by focusing on Evergy’s cost savings opportunities through renewables, funding analysis and docket interventions, we have proved that clean energy is cheaper, reliable and healthier than coal for Kansas customers. In response, Evergy has accelerated coal retirement dates and stayed away from new natural gas plants. However, supply chain shocks, fossil gas distrust, and the Southwest Power Pool's reliance on dirty energy planning have delayed the clean energy goals of retiring coal quickly.
Coal proponents have exploited market structure volatility and fears about renewable energy reliability. Evergy's Integrated Resource Plan includes all the barriers to new renewable energy and none of the changes that would make a coal-free Kansas possible before 2030, a necessary outcome if the U.S. is going meet climate goals.
Kansas City, Missouri is implementing a climate protection plan that Sierra Club fought to pass last year, but nothing is happening in Kansas. Kansas has $3 million and the Kansas City, Kansas metro area has another $1-2 million to create local climate policy. This money should be used to bring together stakeholders who will create environmental justice plans and apply for the tens of millions of dollars in grant money available next year.
State institutions lack the capacity to apply for the maximum federal funds without turnkey solutions from cities and local organizations. Sierra Club has been making presentations to all major cities on how they can prioritize environmental justice to end energy burden and pollution, but we need your help! More organizer support and outreach to local environmental leaders is needed to keep these IRA opportunities at the forefront for Kansas policy makers. Join our Kansas Sierra Club chapter and help us volunteer to push for a healthier Kansas through public meetings with city, state, and utility regulators. Sign up for our email updates.
Evergy was going to close its Lawrence coal plant by the end of this year and add 700 megawatts of new solar power by the end of next year -- cleaner air and enough solar to power 87,500 Kansas homes. It sounded nice. But shortly after announcing this plan, Evergy’s CEO David Campbell decided to keep the Lawrence power plant open and reduce its solar investment to 190 megawatts. These are not the actions of a utility that takes climate change seriously.
From KU to the United Nations, experts are working on solutions to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels while finding ways to adapt to our already changing climate. Evergy’s coal and gas plants pump climate changing emissions into our atmosphere that make it harder to breathe. The Inflation Reduction Act offers utilities like Evergy a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to move from coal and gas to clean energy.
There are no more excuses for operating the Lawrence coal plant any longer. It will take all of us to reduce our ecological footprint, from our use of carbon to food and plastic waste. But individual actions are not enough. We can try to influence the decisions Evergy makes with regard to its energy choices, but the final decision about closing Lawrence and moving toward a modern clean energy grid is up to CEO David Campbell. You can help by writing a letter to the editor of The Lawrence Times. Here's how to do it.