With the Retirement of Dolet Hills, Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign Retires 300th Coal Plant Since 2010

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Arkansas PSC approved the retirement of the Dolet Hills Power Station today, in a settlement with Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO), making it the 300th coal plant proposed to retire since the beginning of Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign. Dolet Hills’ retirement symbolizes an important milestone for Beyond Coal, which began in 2010 with 530 active coal plants, a robust and influential coal industry, and a fledgling clean energy economy. 

Since then, Sierra Club and its allies have organized thousands of communities, medical organizations, and consumer accountability groups to hold coal plant owners accountable for the pollution they create and pushed local utilities and power providers to transition to cleaner, cheaper power generation resources like solar, wind, energy efficiency, and battery storage. 

Medical science estimates that retiring just one coal plant prevents 408 asthma attacks, 38 heart attacks, and 25 premature deaths annually, which makes today’s 300th announcement especially impactful to communities and families that suffer from the most severe health consequences of the coal industry’s toxic pollution. In a remarkable progression from the Beyond Coal movement’s humble beginnings, coal based electricity generation now counts for less than a quarter of America’s energy market, the coal industry has dramatically shrunk in both size and influence, and the United States’ clean energy economy is ascendant. 

Even in the face of an antagonistic Trump Administration, the Beyond Coal campaign and its allies have been able to secure the retirement of 62 coal plants since Donald Trump was elected to the Oval Office, while also successfully challenging attempts to rollback important accountability standards for the coal industry. Today, the Beyond Coal campaign credits the coal plant retirement movement with the annual prevention of 8,001 premature deaths, 12,435 heart attacks, 131,713  asthma attacks, and $3.8 billion in healthcare costs. 

In response, Mary Anne Hitt, Senior Director of Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, released the following statement: 

“This 300th coal plant retirement of our Beyond Coal campaign is both a great accomplishment and an important call to action. As a democratic, grassroots lead organization, we know that this milestone is the culmination of tens of thousands of hours of work by thousands of volunteers, campaigners, lawyers, health experts, economists, and dedicated community leaders. It’s because of them that 8,000 lives are now saved each year, and that we’ve made real strides toward addressing the climate crisis. However, there is still much more work to be done. 

“230 coal plants are still out there polluting our air, water, and climate - putting thousands of lives at risk. There are still current and former coal miners out there that need real support holding coal companies accountable to the healthcare, pension, and mine reclamation obligations that they owe to their workers. And there are still programs that must be developed and implemented to help former coal miners and their families transition out of the fossil fuel industry. These problems are still in front of us, and they still need real and fair solutions - and we are up to the challenge.” 

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.