Renner Barsella, renner.barsella@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- David Tudor, CEO and General Manager of Associated Electric Cooperative Incorporated (AECI), provided testimony before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on the reliability of electric systems. AECI supplies 51 local electric cooperatives in Missouri, Iowa and Oklahoma while running two of the dirtiest coal plants in the country: Thomas Hill and New Madrid.
Jenn DeRose, Missouri Campaign Representative for Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign said, “With the opportunities under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to improve its electric system, maintain reliability, and keep costs low for customers there is no excuse for continued investment in coal. Clinging to fossil fuels is an ideological choice with huge costs to customers and public health while providing no proven reliability benefits compared to cheaper alternatives like wind and solar.”
In 2022, AECI encountered unplanned outages at its Thomas Hill coal plant, resulting in member cooperatives issuing “conservation alerts” to customers. During today’s testimony, Tudor claimed that the utility runs a “diverse” portfolio of coal, gas, and renewables, yet an assessment of the utility’s fleet shows that AECI is disproportionately exposed to coal and gas risk.
“The only thing reliable about burning coal is how dangerous it is. AECI runs two of the dirtiest coal plants in the nation,” DeRose continued. “New Madrid and Thomas Hill are first and third on the list of worst nitrogen oxide polluters in the country.”
Air pollution from New Madrid and Thomas Hill contribute to more than 1,400 asthma attacks and 133 premature deaths annually according to Clean Air Task Force’s Toll from Coal report. These are preventable deaths, and the cost for mitigating these health harms is substantially reduced by the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity presented by the IRA’s New Empowering Rural America (ERA) program. In 2021 alone, AECI spent more than $236 million purchasing coal to burn at its Thomas Hill and New Madrid power plants. Renewables avoid the volatile prices of coal and gas, reduce reliance on other states for that fuel, and avoid major supply chain disruptions like potential rail strikes, while improving reliability for members and creating energy independence for Missouri.
DeRose finished, “During today’s hearing, David Tudor said ‘I’m not a coal guy, I just know what works...[but] if we can get to an orderly transition that allows us to make changes, we’re all for that.’ Mr. Tudor, you’ve been handed a once-in-a-generation opportunity through the New ERA program to kickstart that orderly transition. There has never been a better time than now.”
According to the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC), the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) and the Southwest Power Pool (SPP)–regional transmission operators bordering AECI’s territory that are tasked with governing grid reliability–are both expected to have sufficient firm resources to cover normal summer peak demand this year.
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