Press Releases

Denver, CO – This afternoon, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) provided its initial approval of Xcel Energy’s Colorado Energy Plan (CEP) to close coal-fired units 1 and 2 at the Comanche Generating Station in Pueblo ten years ahead of schedule. Colorado’s largest utility will replace that coal generation with a $2.5 billion investment in mostly renewable energy and battery storage that is estimated by Xcel to save ratepayers at least $213 million. The PUC will formalize their support in a written decision, which is due by Tuesday, September 4th.

BOSTON, MA -- Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced today that the City of Boston will issue a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) on August 27 for submissions from consulting firms to assist the City’s development, implementation, and administration, of a municipal electricity aggregation program.

Albany, NY-- Governor Andrew Cuomo announced today that New York will join the Powering Past Coal Alliance, an international group of governments, businesses and organizations dedicating itself to ending the use of coal-fired power. Today’s announcement comes as former coal lobbyist and acting Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler released an unlawfully weak carbon pollution policy that pales in comparison to the Obama Administration’s ambitious policy to work with states to dramatically reduce carbon pollution, promote economic and environmental justice, protect public health, and remove barriers to create a national clean energy economy.

College Park, MD - Former coal lobbyist and acting Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler released an unlawfully weak carbon pollution policy today that would gut the Clean Power Plan’s life-saving standards and do next to nothing to fight the climate crisis.

Pittsburgh, PA - Former coal lobbyist and acting Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler released an unlawfully weak carbon pollution policy today that would gut the Clean Power Plan’s life-saving standards and do next to nothing to fight the climate crisis.

Today, former coal lobbyist and acting Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler released an unlawfully weak carbon pollution policy that would gut the Clean Power Plan’s life-saving standards and do next to nothing to fight the climate crisis, continuing the agenda of disgraced former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. The Wheeler-Pruitt proposal pales in comparison to the previous Administration’s ambitious policy to work with states to dramatically reduce carbon pollution, promote economic and environmental justice, protect public health, and remove barriers to America’s clean energy economy.

The Sierra Club announced today that it will be launching a five-figure digital advertising campaign against the Trump Administration’s efforts to force taxpayers and electricity customers to pay tens of billions of dollars to bail out uneconomic coal and nuclear plants. The advertisements will run on Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook, and will be geographically targeted to viewers in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest who are likely to bear the most significant costs of a bailout.

AUSTIN, TX – Instead of protecting public health and the environment, EPA has proposed a plan that will continue to allow air pollution to darken skies and threaten communities and national parks, community members and advocates say.

After a tour of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) today, Department of Energy Executive Rick Perry again stated his intention to force electricity customers and taxpayers to spend tens of billions of dollars to bailout uneconomic coal and nuclear plants that cannot compete with cleaner, cheaper competitors like solar and wind.

Baltimore, MD--The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) released finalized water pollution permits for the Chalk Point, Dickerson and Morgantown coal-fired power plants yesterday. The plants have been operating under expired permits since 2014 and the update now requires the plants to install necessary pollution-control measures to reduce dangerous metals that are discharged into the Chesapeake Bay, Potomac and Patuxent Rivers by November 1, 2020. The permits follow EPA guidance but do not completely eliminate the dumping of toxic coal by-product pollutants such as arsenic, selenium and mercury into our waterways.