A third policy front where we seek to accelerate the transition from our historic fossil fuel addiction to zero carbon emissions energy lies in influencing the policies of individual investor-owned utilities with respect to their power plants. Utilities sometimes choose the option of retrofitting already old coal plants instead of shutting them and replacing them with much cleaner sources of electricity. Through a combination of research, education, and grassroots organizing, HEC was involved in a very focused way in a successful campaign that led a major utility company to retire their coal plant and replace it with natural gas; while gas is quite problematic in terms of the risks posed by hydraulic fracturing to groundwater, gas has a carbon footprint that is nearly half of coal’s (EIA, 2017). HEC occasionally weighs in on environmental cases (as an intervenor) as well as rate cases (as a commenter) before the Utility Regulatory Commission.
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Zero Carbon Emissions Energy
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Posted on: February 7, 2019 |
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