Amidst the recent drumbeat of increasingly dire climate news, there’s another important story to restore your hope - the US keeps moving beyond coal. In fact, US coal consumption is at the lowest level in four decades, coal plant closings doubled in Trump’s second year in office, and 2018 is on track to be a record year for coal retirements. Meanwhile, clean energy continues to skyrocket, as demonstrated by Xcel Energy, which this week became the first major US utility to commit to going 100% carbon-free. So while the news about worsening climate disruption may be a lot to take, know that there are solutions out there and people making progress every day. I want to highlight some recent Beyond Coal news to help demonstrate just that!
In the past few weeks we’ve helped secure retirements for seven coal-fired power plants across the Midwest and the South. Communities banded together to say ENOUGH to dirty air and water and the excessive climate pollution caused by these coal facilities, and to call for a just transition away from coal for workers and communities. They know the future is in clean energy.
In September, the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) unveiled a plan to retire its last remaining coal-burning power plants within 10 years and replace them entirely with renewable energy - and no new fracked gas - in Northwest Indiana! This includes the R M Schahfer coal plant in Jasper County, Indiana, and the Michigan City plant near the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore on Lake Michigan..
The new clean energy will save NIPSCO customers a jaw-dropping $4.3 billion, compared to the costs of running the existing coal plants. That means new clean energy has become cheaper than running existing coal plants, even in the coal-heavy state of Indiana. That is a game changer, my friends.
Later in September, American Electric Power (AEP) announced that the 700-megawatt Oklaunion coal-fired power plant in Vernon, Texas will be shutting down no later than September 2020.This is welcome news to Texans and Oklahomans alike who currently breathe air polluted by this plant. This plant is a a top ten polluter of nitrogen oxide -- a smog forming pollutant- out of ALL industrial sites in Texas.
