Foundation News

Wow. That's the word I repeated over and over this summer as news rolled in of one clean energy victory after another. Each one of these campaigns represents a major victory for local families. They add up to a sea change in how we make electricity in America: 178 coal plants and 505 coal boilers, one-third of U.S. coal plants, are now retired or slated to retire. These 5 recent clean energy victories will give you hope for the planet.

1.      Mississippi: After six years of grassroots pressure and legal challenges against the Kemper coal plant, a landmark legal settlement was announced in August that will bring $15 million in energy efficiency and clean energy investments to Mississippi.

2.      Indiana: Indianapolis is home to a polluting downtown coal plant, long targeted by community leaders as a source of air and water pollution. After a two-year campaign led by local community groups including the NAACP, Sierra Club, and dozens of others, Indianapolis Power & Light announced it will stop burning coal at its Harding Street power plant. The announcement came on the eve of a much-anticipated vote by the Indianapolis City Council on a resolution calling for the phase out of the plant, which we expected to win.

3.      Oregon: In a decision heralded around the nation, the Oregon Department of State Lands rejected a vital permit for one of the last remaining proposed coal export terminals in the Northwest, Ambre Energy's proposed Morrow Pacific coal export project along the Columbia River. The rejection is the first time a Pacific Northwest state agency formally rejected a permit for one of the proposed coal export terminals.

4.      California: We scored a major clean energy victory in Los Angeles when the city utility board voted to increase its 10 year energy efficiency target from 10 percent to 15 percent. The city is going to jump from a low of around 0.5 percent energy savings per year in 2011 to saving 2 percent per year in the coming years, on par with the highest achieving energy efficiency savings programs in the nation.

5.      Utah: We won a big solar victory in Utah when the state Public Service Commission ruled that Rocky Mountain Power could not charge a “solar tax,” a proposed monthly fee to homeowners who go solar. This decision came after months of opposition to the fee from a broad coalition, including Sierra Club, and over 10,000 comments to the PSC opposing the fee.

I'll say it again – wow. I can't wait to see what this fall will bring. These were grassroots powered victories, one and all - thanks to everyone who helped make them happen!

-- Mary Anne Hitt, Beyond Coal campaign director