On February 20, 2008, the Sierra Club launched an all-out grassroots lobbying campaign to prevent Houston-based Dynegy, which it labeled "America's Coal-Fired Polluter Number 1," from building the largest remaining group of proposed dirty power plants in the U.S. Dynegy has coal-fired power plants on the drawing boards in six states: Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada and Texas. Read our February 20th news release here.
Known in some parts of the United States as "LS Power," Dynegy is proposing to construct more new coal-fired power plants than any other power company in the nation, even though other power companies increasingly are shunning carbon-based pollution and its widely recognized financial and regulatory risks.
As a result, Dynegy now is the biggest U.S. power company moving in exactly the opposite direction on coal -- threatening the climate, the pocketbooks of ratepayers, the health of those living near the power plants, and the long-term wealth of its investors. Of 150 announced new coal-fired power plants originally announced for the U.S., just over a third (XX) either have been killed or voluntarily withdrawn by the companies behind them – with Dynegy being a conspicuous exception.
Consider these key facts:
- If Dynegy shifted its investments away from coal and into cleaner alternatives like wind, solar and efficiency it could meet our energy needs while boosting the economy, creating jobs, improving public health and fighting global warming.
- Not only is clean energy good for the environment, it is good for the economy, too. In 2007 the development of new wind energy added $9 billion to the U.S. economy. Not to mention wind is already competitively priced and is cheaper than coal in many places. The cost of efficiency is as little as half the cost of new coal-fired power plants. A greater investment in renewables and efficiency would not only help lower our energy prices but would also help local economies. A recent study by the Apollo Alliance found that renewable energy generated 40 percent more jobs per dollar invested than coal. Another good source for the economics of clean power is available from the Blue Green Alliance.
