Today, a coalition representing thousands of members who live in communities directly impacted by coal mining sent a letter to the White House asking the Biden Administration to prioritize the appointment of a permanent director for the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE). The groups highlight three specific, unprecedented challenges facing the coal mining industry and coal mining communities.
The Biden administration's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notified conservation groups that it will defend the Trump administration’s decision to let Utah’s massive coal plants pollute 11 national parks and 14 wilderness areas in violation of the Regional Haze Rule, established by the Clean Air Act.
Today, the Sierra Club released a report of independent modeling and analysis of decarbonization pathways for the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD). The report, titled Coal-Free at OPPD [LINK HERE] and co-authored by Rachel Wilson and Iain Addleton of Synapse Energy Economics (Synapse), focuses on near-term actions available to OPPD that will enable the power district’s long term decarbonization.
In today’s order, N.C. Utilities Commission (NCUC) members approved Duke’s five-year short-term action plan, which includes the full retirement of Duke’s 62-year-old Allen coal plant in the Belmont community, as well as no additional gas infrastructure.
Michigan Public Service Commission (PSC) ruled the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation (OVEC) contract costs Indiana and Michigan Power (I&M, an AEP subsidiary) sought to charge Michigan customers are likely to be disallowed in all future proceedings.
Duke Energy Indiana’s newest plan for providing electricity to nearly one million Hoosier households fails to address Duke’s responsibility as the biggest carbon polluter in both Indiana and the United States to move rapidly away from climate disrupting fossil fuels and build out the clean energy infrastructure communities demand and deserve.
New York — Today 25 environmental and environmental justice groups filed a response pushing back against a petition by the Independent Power Producers of New York (IPPNY) that seeks to classify fossil gas-fired power plants and hydrogen combustion as zero emissions power sources under the state’s Clean Energy Standard.
Richmond, CA — Today, the Richmond City Council reached a monumental settlement with the Levin-Richmond Terminal Corporation to phase out the storage of coal and petcoke in the city by the end of 2026. The settlement closes the chapter on a legal fight between the City of Richmond and three fossil fuel companies after Richmond passed an ordinance phasing out the handling of coal and petcoke in the city over three years. Environmental groups represented by Earthjustice quickly intervened in the lawsuit to defend the ordinance alongside the City of Richmond.
Atlanta, GA -- Southern Company, the nation’s third largest utility, has announced plans to close most of its coal burning units at Plant Scherer, Plant Bowen, and Plant Wansley in Georgia, in addition to its coal units at Plant Gaston and Plant Barry in Alabama. The utility announced during its quarterly earnings report on Thursday that the closures will occur by 2028.
David Rogers, Southeast Deputy Regional Director for the Beyond Coal Campaign, released the following statement:
Today the Wisconsin Public Service Commission voted to approve We Energy’s proposal for a new Liquified Natural Gas storage (LNG) facilities in Ixonia and Bluff Creek. With an announcement by We Energy parent company WEC Energy Group earlier this week to move away from coal by 2035, as well as a swath of other proposed projects across the state, the approval signifies a decisive pivot by Wisconsin utilities to double down on gas that is facked and piped from other states. The new proposals have advocacy groups concerned about continuing climate and economic costs of fossil fuels.
Little Rock, AR -- Entergy Arkansas, the state’s largest monopoly electric utility, pivoted away from plans to build fracked natural gas power plants in its long-range energy plan filed with the Arkansas Public Service Commission last week.
This evening, the Arizona Corporation Commission disallowed $215.5 million of Arizona Public Service’s requested costs for “selective catalytic reduction” pollution controls at its Four Corners coal-burning power plant. Despite evidence in APS’s own modeling indicating that continuing to operate Four Corners was a losing bet for ratepayers, the utility sunk hundreds of millions into this aging, dirty, and expensive coal plant.