Beyond Coal

Moving Oregon Beyond Coal

Most Oregonians didn't realize that over 40% of our electricity came from burning coal. Over the decades, the environmental costs of burning coal have been tremendous: from harmful mercury and haze emissions that have damaged our water and air quality, to acid rain and staggering emissions of greenhouse gases responsible for accelerating global climate change. For environmental and public health reasons, it's simply time to move beyond coal.
Between 2008 and 2010, the Sierra Club spearheaded the campaign to secure a closure date for Portland General Electric's Boardman coal-fired power plant, Oregon's single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and harmful air pollution. The plant was permanently closed on October 15, 2020, and will be demolished starting in 2022, ending Oregon's legacy of coal-fired power generation. Through public pressure and advocacy at the Public Utility Commission and in the Legislature, the Sierra Club is working to see the Boardman Coal plant replaced with clean energy instead of fracked gas.
The coal for the Boardman plant was mined in the Powder River Basin on the Montana/Wyoming border, where Portland General Electric and Oregon's second-largest utility, PacifiCorp, own stake in the harmful Colstrip coal-fired power plant. PacifiCorp additionally operates coal plants in other western states, powering Oregon homes with coal mined and burned in places as far away as Utah.

Most recently, ports along the Columbia River have become the site of possible coal export terminals, which would ship millions of tons of Powder River Basin coal to China, undermining the Pacific Northwest's efforts to reduce pollution from coal-fired power plants. Mercury emitted from existing coal-fired power plants in China is already finding its way into Oregon's rivers, streams and fish. Through the work of the Sierra Club, citizens across the region are making a coal-free Northwest possible. Learn More about Coal Exports.