Coal news and updates

WNC and nation get a $30 million push to move ‘Beyond Coal’

The Sierra Club’s national campaign Beyond Coal got word earlier this month of a $30 million boost from Bloomberg Philanthropies. The Duke-Progress Energy coal-fired plant at Lake Julian in Skyland is one of Beyond Coal’s list of priority coal plants to retire and local environmental group MountainTrue is gearing up to oppose the upcoming renewal of the plant’s air pollution permit.

The Beyond Coal campaign, an effort started in 2010 to replace at least half of the nation’s coal-fired power plants, aims to see half the nation’s coal-burning plants replaced with clean energy sources by 2017. The recent $30 million grant builds on Bloomberg Philanthropies’ previous $50 million commitment, according to a press release from the donor, and raises the foundation’s overall investment in the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign to $80 million.

“We are very pleased with [Bloomberg Philanthropies’] additional support to help continue our robust campaign to transition our country off dirty coal plants and replace them with clean energy sources,” said Kelly Martin, senior campaign representative for the Sierra Club Beyond Coal initiative.

The $30 million is meant to provide continuity and support for ongoing Beyond Coal efforts, rather than for any specific new programs at this point. And while the new funds won’t arrive in WNC for months, their anticipation has energized MountainTrue.

source: https://mountainx.com