Advance Contact: Rebecca Kling, rebecca.kling@sierraclub.org, 202-495-3059
Day-Of Contact: Johnson Bridgwater, johnson.bridgwater@sierraclub.org, 405-902-2288
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK -- At noon on Tuesday, May 28, 2019, the Sierra Club will hold a rally opposing OG&E’s proposed rate hike. OG&E is requesting to force ratepayers to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for excessively costly work on OG&E’s Sooner coal-burning power plant. The rally will take place prior to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission's (OCC) hearing on the rate increase, the afternoon of Tuesday, May 28, and there will be space for media.
Since 2015, OG&E has spent almost half a billion dollars upgrading the 38-year-old Sooner coal plant, located approximately 90 miles north of Oklahoma City and 80 miles west of Tulsa. The utility is now trying to force those costs onto the people of Oklahoma. OG&E previously asked the OCC for permission to recover the costs of retrofitting the Sooner plant to keep it burning dirty coal. That request was denied. OG&E returned, asking for permission to move forward with the costly project anyway, but that request was ultimately rejected by the Supreme Court of Oklahoma. Now, OG&E is back at the Commission a third time, seeking to raise customers’ rates to pay for the excessive costs of this previously rejected money-pit project at the Sooner coal plant.
What: A rally opposing OG&E’s proposed rate increase
When: Tuesday, May 28, 2019, at 12:00PM, prior to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission's 1:30 PM hearing on the proposed rate increase
Where: 2101 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105, at the east steps of the Jim Thorpe Building
Who: Speakers to include Johnson Bridgwater, Director of the Oklahoma Chapter of the Sierra Club, as well as faith leaders, advocacy partners, and impacted community members
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.