Coal in the Northwest
Up one levelThe Northwest is blessed with bountiful energy efficiency and renewable resources - enough to meet all projected increases in electricity needs several times over. The Tellus Institute Study showed that the region could tap more than 13,000 average megawatts of cost-competitive efficiency and renewables in the next 20 years - enough to meet all new demand and retire much of the existing fossil fule generation facilities.
Despite this, coal plants are being proposed across the Northwest. In this section you'll find information and the newest updates on this issue.
The Northwest is blessed with bountiful energy efficiency and renewable resources - enough to meet all projected increases in electricity needs several times over. The Tellus Institute Study showed that the region could tap more than 13,000 average megawatts of cost-competitive efficiency and renewables in the next 20 years - enough to meet all new demand and retire much of the existing fossil fule generation facilities.
Despite this, coal plants are being proposed across the Northwest. In this section you'll find information and the newest updates on this issue.
Read the Coalition's Resolution on Coal, adopted by NW Energy Coalition Board, Oct. 23, 2005 (PDF)
Recent News
- NWEC Comments-Treatment of CO2 Risk in the IRP Process
- Utility resource planning is all about risks, but each type of risk – fuel cost, load growth, hydro generation, technology change, regulatory change, etc. – has unique characteristics, and therefore calls for different treatment. Key to determining the appropriate treatment of CO2 risk and its cost in the IRP process are assumptions about its future regulatory treatment.
- NWEC Comments-Treatment of CO2 Risk in the IRP Process
- Utility resource planning is all about risks, but each type of risk – fuel cost, load growth, hydro generation, technology change, regulatory change, etc. – has unique characteristics, and therefore calls for different treatment. Key to determining the appropriate treatment of CO2 risk and its cost in the IRP process are assumptions about its future regulatory treatment.
- NWEC Comments-Treatment of CO2 Risk in the IRP Process
- Utility resource planning is all about risks, but each type of risk – fuel cost, load growth, hydro generation, technology change, regulatory change, etc. – has unique characteristics, and therefore calls for different treatment. Key to determining the appropriate treatment of CO2 risk and its cost in the IRP process are assumptions about its future regulatory treatment.
- The Transformer - October 29, 2007
- This issue of The Transformer considers the saga of PacifiCorp’s fossil-fuel-heavy integrated resource plan which proposes more new coal and other fossil-fuel generation than any other investor-owned utility in the Northwest.
- NWEC & Climate Solutions Comments on NPCC CO2 Report.pdf
- On Sept. 13, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council sounded a regional call-to-arms on global warming. Its paper, “Carbon Dioxide Footprint of the Northwest Power System,” declares that achieving the steep reductions in carbon dioxide emissions scientists say are needed to avoid catastrophic climate change will require closure of ALL coal-fueled power plants in the Northwest. As we reported in our Oct. 5, 2007, Energy Matters Update link, the historic Council report was not without flaws, particularly on the issue of replacing the power from the four fish-killing Lower Snake River dams. We invited readers to submit comments on the report. These are NW Energy Coalition's and Climate Solution's official comments.