Stopping the Coal Rush - Map of Challenges (and Victories!)

Here’s a great resource I just stumbled across (hat tip to Alex Tinker). Sierra Club has compiled a Google Map (Google Earth version available too) of 138 proposed coal-fired power plants in the United States.

Clicking each icon brings up lots of information on the proposed plant: when/where it was proposed, how big it is, where it’s at in permitting/planning process, what actions have been taken against it, etc.

At first look, this map is frightening: 138 coal plants practically covering the map of the US. But after poking around and looking at a few of the proposed projects, one thing is clear: there are amazing and courageous organizations - Western Resource Advocates, Montana Environmental Information Center, Sierra Club, NRDC, Southern Energy Network, Rainforest Action Network, Global Exchange, Greenpeace, and many many more - fighting each and every one of these plants. Youth activists are at the forefront of many of these fights.

And guess what: we’re winning!

Many of these projects have stalled, been rejected by courts or regulators or simply withdrawn after public opposition.

But we’ve got to keep up the fight.

The sheer number of these proposals means we must be ever vigilant and resolute in our efforts to block the development of dirty, carbon-spewing power plants at the same time that we work to shift our nation’s priorities away from our dependence on dirty and depleting fossil fuels and towards a sustainable, just, and prosperous energy future.

Keep at ‘em!

About Jesse

Jesse is a young activist, organizer, policy analyst and blogger. He is currently the director of energy and climate policy at the Breakthrough Institute where he helps Breakthrough develop and advance new energy solutions to power America's future, secure our energy freedom, and halt global warming. Jesse joined the Breakthrough team in June 2008 to co-direct the Breakthrough Generation Summer Fellows Program. Before joining the Breakthrough Institute, Jesse spent two years as a Research and Policy Associate at the Renewable Northwest Project where he worked to advance the development of the Pacific Northwest's abundant renewable energy potential. While at RNP, he helped pass two statewide renewable energy standards (in WA and OR) and block plans to build 800 MW of new coal plants. In the past, Jesse has worked as a researcher and software developer with the Department of Physics at the University of Oregon, where he focused on alternative vehicles and fuels, and as a teacher's assistant in energy studies courses at the university. Jesse has a long history of grassroots climate and energy activism and co-founded the Cascade Climate Network, the Northwest's largest network of youth working to tackle the climate crisis and build a sustainable, just, and prosperous future. An active blogger, Jesse is the founder and blogmaster of the site, WattHead - Energy News and Commentary. He currently writes at several sites throughout the blogosphere and has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle and Baltimore Sun. Jesse graduated in 2006 with a B.S. from the Robert D. Clark Honors College at the University of Oregon, where he completed an interdisciplinary course of study in computer science, philosophy, liberal arts, political science & energy studies. Jesse currently lives in Berkeley, CA.

2 Responses to “Stopping the Coal Rush - Map of Challenges (and Victories!)”

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1 angeline3 Nov 22nd, 2007 at 1:48 am

To meet the IPCC carbon emissions goals, carbon emissions must peak in 2012. This means that every power plant built after 2012 must be carbon free and some carbon-emitting plants must have early retirements.

I think it is awesome that we are making so much headway in preventing more coal plants from coming online; hopefully we can phase out coal plants by 2012.

But I know that in some cases, even after a hard fight, the coal plants will be built. On the bright side, most new coal plants are incredibly more efficient than their predecessors. So if we can at least convince the power companies to close old coal plants in exchange for newer, more efficient ones, we would be moving in the right direction. Has anyone tried this approach?

1 Stop Toquop.org » Blog Archive » Stopping the Coal Rush - Map of Challenges (and Victories!) Trackback on Nov 22nd, 2007 at 2:39 pm

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