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 Indianaâs newest plan for providing electricity to nearly one million Hoosier households fails to address Dukeâs 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 â 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 stateâs Clean Energy Standard.
Richmond, CA â 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 nationâs 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 Energyâs 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 stateâs 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 Serviceâs requested costs for âselective catalytic reductionâ pollution controls at its Four Corners coal-burning power plant. Despite evidence in APSâs 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.
Today, Wisconsinâs largest utility, WEC Energy Group, announced intentions to transition to coal-free electricity generation by 2035, though did not announce specific plans for either the Elm Road or Weston coal fired power plants. The move is in line with previously announced goals to reduce carbon emissions, but advocates reiterated that shifting to other fossil fuel resources would continue to raise serious climate concerns.
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND -- Today, the annual United Nations Climate Negotiations (COP26) began in Glasgow, with thousands of attendees from across the globe convening for climate action and discussions. The event began with Bloomberg Philanthropies announcing a huge new initiative aiming to close 25% of the worldâs remaining coal plantsâand all of the proposed plantsâby 2025.
In response, the Sierra Clubâs International Climate and Policy Campaign Director, Cherelle Blazer, issued the following statement:
In an important victory for clean water in Montana, a Montana district court judge ruled on Thursday that the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) repeatedly ignored the law and failed to protect water quality from an expansion of the Rosebud coal strip mine near Colstrip, one of the largest coal strip mines in the nation. The Western Environmental Law Center, Earthjustice, Roger Sullivan and Walton Morris represented the Montana Environmental Information Center and Sierra Club in this case.
Kansas City, KS - Evergy could retire its Jeffrey and La Cygne coal plants and replace them with a lower cost and reliable clean energy portfolio as soon as 2025 and 2028, according to the Kansas Pays the Price Volume 2 report released today by Sierra Club. Retiring these coal plants could save customers between $333 million and $869 million based on how quickly Evergy retires them.