Administrative Law Judge Recommends Oklahomans Should Pay For OG&E’s Mistake

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK -- Earlier today an administrative law judge (ALJ) filed a recommendation as part of OG&E’s ongoing rate case that misguidedly supports the utility’s wasteful actions. Specifically, the ALJ recommends finding that OG&E’s so-called investment of half a billion dollars on the aging and polluting Sooner coal plant was “prudent, and used and useful,” and that those costs—hundreds of millions of dollars—should be passed onto Oklahoma ratepayers.

In response Director of the Oklahoma Chapter of the Sierra Club Johnson Bridgwater released the following statement:

“This recommendation flies in the face of what Oklahoma regulators and the Oklahoma Supreme Court have said in the past and ignores evidence that anyone can see: OG&E’s decision to spend half a billion dollars to keep an old, inefficient, dirty coal plant running was a waste of money. It was a bad decision when OG&E announced it in 2014, and remains a bad decision in 2019.

“Renewable energy sources are more than sufficient for OG&E to provide stable, affordable power to Oklahoma consumers. OG&E’s commitment to coal is bad for Oklahoma ratepayers, bad for Oklahoma’s economy, bad for Oklahoma’s health, and bad for Oklahoma’s air and water.

“The Sierra Club hopes the three elected commissioners on the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, who have the final say on this decision, will ultimately look at the facts in the record rather than accept OG&E’s hollow arguments for propping up a 40-year-old coal plant at a time of record-low prices for clean alternatives like wind and solar power. The people of Oklahoma deserve nothing less.”