Kim Petty, kim.petty@sierraclub.org
DES MOINES, Iowa – Today, the Sierra Club released its annual Dirty Truth Report, with Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary MidAmerican Energy scoring a ‘D’ grade for the fourth consecutive year. MidAmerican Energy’s consistently low score is the result of the utility having no plans to retire its six coal-fired power plants across Iowa, and the emissions from these coal plants continue to make MidAmerican Energy the single largest carbon polluter in the state.
The Sierra Club’s Dirty Truth Report, supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Beyond Carbon, analyzes the plans of utilities and assigns scores and grades to the utilities based on three criteria: plans to retire polluting coal plants by 2030, whether they plan to build new gas power plants through 2035, and the scale of their plans to develop clean energy through 2035.
According to the report, some utilities use climate commitments to “greenwash their operations without making viable plans to achieve those goals.” As an example of utility greenwashing, the report references MidAmerican Energy’s claims of delivering 100 percent renewable energy to meet Iowa’s electricity demand. However, in addition to the utility’s renewable wind energy, MidAmerican Energy continues to burn air polluting fossil fuels at power plants near Sioux City, Council Bluffs, Muscatine, and Ottumwa. The excess energy generated at these pants is then sold to other utilities for a profit.
“While MidAmerican Energy may promote itself as a leader in renewables, its near failing ‘D’ grade goes to show its investments are ineffective without meaningful plans to transition away from harmful fossil fuels,” said Emma Colman, an organizing representative for Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign in Iowa. “Making the switch to safe, reliable, affordable clean energy has become easier than ever for utilities, especially with incentives and funding made available from the Inflation Reduction Act. MidAmerican can and must do better by Iowans and commit to retiring its coal plants instead of simply distracting from them.”
In an interactive webpage accompanying the Dirty Truth Report, users can see MidAmerican Energy’s score, along with the scores of other utilities, and what progress–if any–utilities have made toward transitioning to cleaner, more affordable energy since the first version of the report in 2021.
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.