Today, Sierra Club filed direct testimony in WEC Energy Group’s rate case, asserting that WEC is asking customers for $138 million more than is fair and reasonable due to costs associated with the company’s aging coal-fired power plants. WEC Energy Group, which operates as Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) and WEPCO (We Energies), owns all or part of seven coal plants in Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, all of which are uneconomic to operate.
Press Releases
North Carolina regulators on Tuesday issued their order on Duke Energy’s 2018 long term energy plans, directing the utility to analyze whether continuing to operate its aging, coal-burning power plants is the least cost alternative option when compared on a level playing field with alternative resources, like solar, battery storage and energy efficiency. The N.C. Utilities Commission also directed Duke to include the full costs for disposal of coal ash in making any comparison with the costs of alternative resources.
Recent tests conducted by the Sierra Club have shown that drinking water is contaminated in neighborhoods around Consumers Energy's J.H. Campbell Coal Plant in West Olive. Results found elevated levels of arsenic, lead, and radium in homes that draw their water from private wells.
Vistra Energy announced today that it is closing its coal burning power plants in Canton, Havana, Hennepin, and Coffeen.
Vistra Energy announced today that it is closing its coal burning power plants in Canton, Havana, Hennepin, and Coffeen.
Kansas City, KS -- Earlier today, the Sierra Club released a report on Evergy’s coal fleet titled Kansas Pays the Price: A Comparison of Coal Plants and Renewable Energy for Electric Consumers of Evergy, KCP&L, and Westar. The report finds that the coal plants operated by Evergy--a company that provides power across eastern Kansas and western Missouri under the KCP&L and Westar brands--are losing hundreds of millions of dollars on coal power relative to market energy pricing, and will continue to do so for decades to come.
The Sierra Club and a coalition of environmental allies launched a lawsuit today challenging former coal lobbyist and EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler’s “ACE” rule -- known by many as the Dirty Power Plan.
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK -- A coal mining company recently submitted an application to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to expand the existing Pollyanna No. 8 active coal mine across “270 acres of additional Federal coal reserves located approximately 2 miles east of the town of Spiro, Oklahoma.” It is estimated that this mine expansion, requested by Georges Colliers, Inc. (GCI), could unearth over one million tons of pollution-causing coal, enough to fill an enormous freight train stretching from Tulsa to Oklahoma City.
Charleston, W.V.-- A coalition of West Virginian advocacy groups including the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Appalachian Voices, and the Sierra Club sued four coal and chemical facilities alleging serious violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA). The facilities listed below have been dumping toxic pollutants into local waterways in violation of their permits. These lawsuits follow previous notice letters submitted to these companies in early June.
Yesterday, Sierra Club filed direct testimony of its expert witness in the rate case of Interstate Power & Light (IPL) at the Iowa Utilities Board. IPL owns all or part of seven coal plants in Iowa.