Sierra Club

More than 40 environmental and social justice groups called on U.S. senators today to declare their independence from big oil and other special interests and finally pass clean energy and climate change legislation.

“We need them to stand up for the workers in Arkansas building wind turbines, for the workers in Michigan building the clean vehicles that will cut our dependence on oil and help clean the air, and for people everywhere who are tired of padding the pockets of big oil instead of protecting the planet for future generations,” Sierra Club President Allison Chin told a crowd on the Capitol lawn.

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• SolveClimate Staff's blog
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Oregon utility Portland General Electric (PGE) is maneuvering to shut down the state’s only coal-fired power plant in 2020, two decades ahead of schedule. It's a significant move that some observers say may prompt a shift in U.S. coal use. 

"It could be game-changing," said Jeff Bissonnette, the organizing director for the Portland-based Citizens' Utility Board of Oregon, a ratepayer advocacy group.

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• Stacy Feldman's blog
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Despite a lack of substantive action on climate change in Copenhagen or, yet, in Washington, environmental groups are celebrating a year of victories over one of climate change’s biggest culprits.

Coal releases more carbon dioxide emissions per unit of energy produced than any other fossil fuel, but it also provides more than half the United States’ electricity supply. It is possible, however, that 2009 marked a turning point away from that reliance on coal.

In 2001, energy companies across the United States were busy drawing up plans for about 150 new coal-fired power plants. That year, Sierra Club launched its Beyond Coal campaign.

Today, the campaign celebrated its 100th defeat of a proposed coal plant.

"Coal mining is literally blowing the tops of mountains in Appalachia, coal burning is literally heating up our planet, spewing mercury across our landscape, and exposure to coal ash is wreaking havoc on streams and rivers across this country. So in every phase of the lifecycle, coal is filthy business,” Sierra Club campaign director Bruce Nilles said in announcing the milestone.

“We have persuaded the developers, the investors and the decision makers that we can do better than building dirty coal-fired power plants.”

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• Stacy Morford's blog
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It’s not news that the Sierra Club can envision a time when no new coal plants will be built. It is news when the Department of Energy agrees.

The DOE’s Energy Information Administration released its Annual Energy Outlook this week, and it anticipates only about two new coal plants being built between 2013 and 2025.

That projection may even overstate the need – the report did not account for the more than $70 billion in funding from the stimulus package for clean energy and transit and energy efficiency or new climate legislation that will significantly boost the renewable energy sector.

When you take future government action into account, there won’t be a need for even those two new coals plants, says Mark Kresowik of the Sierra Club’s Move Beyond Coal Campaign:

“Even by these very conservative estimates, it’s clear that there is no truth behind the coal industry’s claims that we must have new coal to have a secure energy future. This is more evidence for investors that the future for coal is weak."

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• Laura Shin's blog
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It’s official: New coal lost its luster in 2008.

According to the Sierra Club, two dozen proposed new coal-fired power plants were defeated or abandoned this past year, "laying the groundwork to fundamentally change the way the U.S. rebuilds and repowers itself."

Global warming was a significant factor.

Investors yanked money out of the sector amid concerns that coming carbon regulation would add to already soaring costs of new coal facilities. States refused permits for failing to address CO2 pollution concerns.

The full highlights of the "year in coal" are here (pdf). They include: