Georgia Power announced plans Wednesday to shutter two coal-fired power plant units in Middle Georgia, saying the cost of equipping them to meet current and pending environmental regulations is too high to justify their continued use.
Those regulations include the new mercury rule EPA announced Wednesday and regulation of coal ash. Aging coal plants around the country will be faced with the decision to make costly upgrades or shut down.
This fits into the goal President Obama set in his State of the Union address when he called for 80% clean energy by 2035. It's time to start retiring America's fleet of outdated, worst polluting coal power plants, many of which are three, four or five decades old.
There are pressures to go in the opposite direction. The coal industry will ask taxpayers to subsidize expensive plant upgrades and continue burdening the public with the impact of their pollution. But, don't expect any similar offers from coal companies to share their profits with the public after we pay for their operating costs.
In particular, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity spends tens of millions to prop up the coal industry. Millions of dollars in grants are spent yearly to keep dying coal plants on life support.
DCEO's authority over economic development and their cozy relationship with the coal industry means additional federal dollars are directed toward coal. That was the case when they helped subsidize a $3.6 million retrofit of the Lake of Egypt Coal plant built in 1978. Nearly 1/2 million of the grant came from federal stimulus dollars designated for energy efficiency.
That money could have been spent to help Southern Illinois transition to a new energy economy with a future. The economy of coal dependent regions will never move forward as long as millions of taxpayer dollars are spent to convince people that they have no other option. It's time to stop throwing money at the past and invest in a realistic energy future.