Amy Dominguez, Amy.Dominguez@sierraclub.org
Salt Lake City, UT – In a major win for public health and the climate, yesterday the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized standards that will slash air, water, and carbon pollution from power plants to address their deadly and dangerous emissions. Final carbon pollution standards under section 111 of the Clean Air Act will help advance the transition to clean energy, and build upon efforts to curb pollution from coal- and gas-fired power plants, and other industrial polluters. Before today, there have been no federal limits on carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants, and no meaningful limits for new sources.
In Utah, the Hunter and Huntington Rocky Mountain Power owned and operated coal-fired power plants are some of the top most polluting coal plants in the West, according to analysis by the National Park Conservation Association. Neither of these plants have modern pollution controls, and together, they spew hundreds of tons of pollutants per year like sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides, and millions of tons of carbon dioxide that threaten our communities and significantly impact our air, contributing to haze pollution that reduces visibility in our renowned national parks. The same pollutants that cause haze pollution also significantly contribute to ozone pollution that can make Utah air damaging to breathe. The Hunter and Huntington coal plants have long avoided installing modern pollution controls due to state litigation that has enabled the utility’s bad behavior.
Just recently, Rocky Mountain Power suspended its 2022 All Source Request for Proposals (RFP) that's meant to build out the energy infrastructure outlined in the 2021 IRP, putting clean energy objectives that were planned for at risk. The pause could impact fossil plant operation levels or retirements. This continues a long saga of Rocky Mountain Power’s continued commitment to double down on coal regardless of the health impacts and costs it will impose on ratepayers. This on the heels of a 2024 Legislative session that saw bills passed like SB 224 that all but guarantees Rocky Mountain Power’s parent company, PacifiCorp, cost recovery if it continues to invest in and operate the plants – on ratepayers’ dime.
Across the country, trends demonstrate that 99% of U.S. coal plants are more expensive to run than the cost of replacing them with clean energy. Replacing the Hunter and Huntington plants are no different. In fact, Sierra Club’s 2023 analysis showed that both plants should be retired even earlier: a 2025 retirement, coupled with clean energy replacement, would reduce costs by over $1 billion, thanks to financing made available under the Inflation Reduction Act. Replacing the Hunter Huntington coal plants with clean energy would not only be cost effective, but an opportunity for Utah communities to begin to transition to a clean energy future.
“For too long, the Hunter and Huntington coal plants have been allowed to pollute our air with little oversight and no regulation,” said Paula Decker, Sierra Club Utah Chapter Co-Chair. “As the Utah Legislature has continued to step in to protect these plants from market forces, EPA’s newly released regulations are needed to force Rocky Mountain Power to reckon with its decades of pollution. EPA’s actions will help clear our skies and facilitate a clean energy transition that supports job creation.”
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About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of 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.