By CAROLYN SZCZEPANSKI
Now you see it, now you don't. This time last week, Missouri officials approved the construction of a new, coal-burning power plant. Today, the electric company put those plans on hold.
Last fall, Springfield-based Associated Electric Cooperative Inc., announced its intent to build a new facility in Norborne, a small town 60
AEC’s New Madrid coal plant
This afternoon, both sides changed their tune.
Nancy Southworth, a company spokeswoman, tells The Pitch thatAECI officials decided to shelf the coal plant at a board meeting last Friday. "They looked at all the data about the project and the costs had continued to climb," she says. According to a news release this afternoon, the estimated price tag had grown to more than $2 billion.
Southworth says AECI has already committed to buying electricity from wind farms in northwest Missouri and will unveil a new energy efficiency program later this week. AECI is also investigating the use of nuclear power, she added.
Norborne won't be getting AEC smokestacks anytime soon.
The Sierra Club, which had spent months in "frank discussions" with AECI, praised the utility. "With today's announcement that they are abandoning their coal plans in favor of clean energy, Associated Electric is taking a giant step forward in our collective fight to stop global warming," Melissa Hope, an organizer with the Missouri Sierra Club, said in a news release.
AECI isn't alone. Including the Norborne proposal, 63 coal-burning plants across the country have been canceled or postponed in recent months. Meanwhile, Kansas legislators are still trying to ram through plans for a massive coal complex in Holcomb. Maybe this forward-looking utility from the Show-Me state can help lead the way.
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Does this mean that AECI may have to shut some of their plants down? OR does this mean they are just going to have to develop a better way to to produce electricity with coal that does cause problems with global warming?
This is excellent news! MO recognized what many others are - coal plants pollute, are expensive & out of date. This protects rate payers from unnecessary expenses when carbon regulations hit soon.
Let's hope KS follows MO's lead. Coal plants are being abandoned left and right, while KS continues to make efforts to have not one, but two built.
THANK YOU to MO for keeping things clean!
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