 As of today 100 coal plants have been defeated or abandoned since the beginning of the coal rush. In their place, a smart mix of clean energy solutions like energy efficiency, wind, solar and geothermal has stepped up to meet America's energy needs. Last year 42 percent of all new power producing capacity came from wind, and for the first time the wind industry created more jobs than mining coal.
Coming just a week after Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced the city would end coal use by 2020, and announced the same day as a decision by Basin Electric Power in South Dakota to pull plans for a new coal-fired power plant, the Intermountain Power coal plant in Utah became the 100th prevented coal plant. The decision marks a significant milestone in the shift to clean energy.
For the past six years the Sierra Club and its allies have been running a hard-hitting campaign to expose the dirty truth about coal across the country. Tremendous grassroots pressure, rising costs, and upcoming federal carbon regulations all contributed to the demise of the 100 plants. In Virginia hundreds of volunteers turned out to public hearings, held rallies and met with officials to push for cleaner alternatives to new coal plants proposed by Dominion-Virginia Power and Old Dominion Electric Cooperative.
In Virginia, Sierra Club has teamed with the Wise Energy Coalition comprised of Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Appalachian Voices and the Southern Environmental Law Center to oppose new coal plants proposed by Dominion-Virginia Power and Old Dominion Electric Cooperative.
Dominion's plant in Wise County and the ODEC plant proposed for Surry County together would emit more than 20 million tons of global warming pollution every year, along with harmful levels of soot and smog pollution, which can worsen asthma and cause other respiratory illnesses, and mercury, a neurotoxin that poses developmental risks to fetuses and children.. In addition to harming our health, these new coal plants would pre-empt the development of clean renewable offshore wind power in Virginia that could secure our energy future.
"The community opposition to the Cypress Creek coal power plant is growing and with that so will the nationwide movement for clean energy" said Julie Verdaguer with the Keep Surry Clean Coalition. "We are ready for clean energy and jobs we can be proud of having and that's not coal!"
"In Wise County, our fight continues to stop Dominion's coal plant as well as the devastation of mountaintop removal coal mining that is destroying communities across Appalachia," said Kathy Selvage with Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards.
"Although Virginia lags behind much of the nation, the shift has clearly started toward a cleaner, healthier, more secure future," said Glen Besa, Virginia Director for the Sierra Club. "Basin Electric is the latest in a growing list of electric power cooperatives moving away from coal, and searching out better energy options. Old Dominion Electric Cooperative and Virginia Power should follow suit and start implementing efficiency and clean energy options like off shore wind instead of building new coal plants."
That movement has kept well over 400 million tons of harmful global warming pollution out of the air annually, making significant progress in the fight against global warming. Stopping 100 new coal plants has also kept thousands of tons of asthma causing soot and smog pollution, as well as toxins like mercury out of our air and water.
As the new coal rush ends in many states, the Sierra Club is working to replace existing dirty and unreliable coal plants, like the Wise County and Surry County plants, that are large contributors to health harming soot, smog and mercury pollution with cleaner energy options that create more jobs.
"The coal industry is still pushing forward with plans for dozens of new plants including two in Virginia and pouring money into slick advertising campaigns and lobbying efforts," said Besa. "So while the coal rush may be entering a new phase in some parts of the country, it is far from over."
For more, visit www.sierraclub.org/100coalplants |
