UCS recently released a new analysis on the costly effects of how electric utilities operate their coal-fired power plants.
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Is Your Minnesota Electric Cooperative Still Losing Money on Coal Power?
James Gignac, lead Midwest energy analyst
June 24, 2020 11:13 AM EDT
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The Coal Bailout Everybody Is Talking About
Joseph Daniel, Senior Energy Analyst
May 28, 2020 7:00 AM EDT
Our new UCS report, Used but How Useful, How Electric Utilities Exploit Loopholes, Forcing Customers to Bail Out Uneconomic Coal-Fired Power Plants, found that utilities across 15 states in the heart of the U.S. exploited power market loopholes, costing customers $350 million in 2018. Read more >
Renewables Have Beaten Coal 100 Days Already This Year. What You Need to Know.
John Rogers, Senior energy analyst
May 26, 2020 10:20 AM EDT
If you need some good news at a time when there’s plenty of the less-good sort, try this: Renewable energy is crossing some really important milestones in its contribution to the US power sector. The latest involve its generation relative to coal’s: A year-to-date performance for renewables that is dramatically above any previous year’s, and a streak going on right now that hints at where our electricity supply needs to head, with renewables overtaking fossil fuels day by day. Here’s why we’re hitting those milestones. Plus some important next steps—for keeping the transition going, and making sure everybody has an opportunity to be part of the change. Read more >
Why Congress Must Invest in Environmental Justice and Equity in the Next Recovery Package
Adrienne Hollis, Senior Climate Justice and Health Scientist
May 5, 2020 4:15 PM EDT
People of color. The elderly. Women and LGBTQ people. Low income families. These are some of the most vulnerable among us. As such, they must be the focus of Congressional attention.
A recent report by nonprofit Kresge Health has drawn a straight line from these most vulnerable people to the likelihood of living near hazardous waste facilities. They are more likely to lack economic stability, education, housing and transportation options and even safe drinking water. Congress has it in its hands to change this as it crafts its next recovery package. Read more >
How to Help Coal Communities Recover from the Pandemic
Jeremy Richardson, senior energy analyst
April 28, 2020 2:46 PM EDT
Workers and communities that depend on coal for their economic livelihoods need deliberate, sustained, and comprehensive action to ensure that they recover from the economic devastation left behind by the pandemic. The COVID-19 crisis has touched all Americans in some form or another, but it has laid bare the reality that the most vulnerable among us—communities of color and working class folks—are hurting the most and dying more often. That is simply unacceptable. Read more >
