Deadline February 1, 6:00 PM MDT
Montana is at a major crossroads in tackling climate change. We can continue to rely upon an old, expensive, and dirty coal-fired power plant, or we can plan for the inevitable transition to a clean energy future. The largest owner of the Colstrip coal-fired power plant, Puget Sound Energy (PSE), is currently planning its energy future. Washington state regulators must approve this plan. PSE’s plan is a critical step in thoughtfully transitioning Montana and Washington to a clean energy future. We need you to contact Washington regulators today, and ask that they only approve a plan that prepares for a transition from coal to cleaner energy sources.
PSE has repeatedly failed to plan for a transition from the Colstrip plant to clean energy. PSE’s newest 20-year plan is business as usual. With the Colstrip coal plant’s days limited, failing to address a transition from coal to clean energy is shortsighted and irresponsible.
Montana has one of the best wind energy resources in the nation, and now several solar energy projects are being proposed across the state. Wind and solar will provide electricity and good paying jobs – but only if we plan for the transition. It’s also increasingly clear that the Colstrip coal plant is on its last legs. We must plan ahead for Colstrip’s retirement to ensure a smooth and just transition for workers and consumers and to guarantee full and complete reclamation and remediation of the area.
Regulators will be making a decision soon–we need you to act NOW to make your voice heard.
Thank you for taking action!
Seattle produces more filth and pollution than Colstrip ever could. They sit there in their dirty city with “Anti Coal” signs in their yards and windows. They breathe their dirty air that is so hazy you can barely see the stars, and advocate shutting down a place they have never seen and never will. It’s just ridiculous.
I believe that Colstrip has much to offer for the future of our state and our country. I believe that as the lucky few that call this place our home, we have not just a right, but an obligation to speak up and be willing to show the outside world what really makes Colstrip what it is, and not to just roll over and accept what anti-coal groups have in store for us. These people are too far removed from the sources of the things they enjoy every day: food, energy, and other essentials. That distance is what makes them willing to take farmers, miners, plant workers, ranchers, and so many others for granted.
These people don’t know Colstrip. They don’t care about a small group of people out here in “the middle of nowhere.” They don’t care that by stifling the coal industry, they are willingly shooting themselves in the foot.
We need to show them ?#?thecolstripyouwontseeinthenews?
We need to show that if we are going down, it won’t be without a fight.
If I have to leave this place someday because there are no jobs, no businesses, no life left in it, then I want to leave with my head held high, knowing that I did the best I could to keep it alive. Wouldn’t you?
?#?thecolstripyouwontseeinthenews?
The air pollution made in Seattle is mostly caused by the transportation sector — cars, trucks, and shipping. Seattle and the west coast breathe China’s toxic mix of black carbon and the other carcinogens caused by coal burning and industrial by-products. Montana is actually downwind of Seattle’s transportation pollution and China’s coal pollution. Technically prevailing winds blow it our way, and our Montana-made pollution wafts eastward as well. We are all connected in the swirling air currents of fossil fueI pollution that blanket the earth’s atmosphere. I support the move to new jobs and modern energy that come from cleaner natgas or renewables.
Be careful when you ask for change…..the cure can be much worse than supposed disease. Fracking and drilling for natural gas destroys water tables…..deep water tables that the earth has built over the life of the planet. A drill sight in California is spewing natural gas into the atmosphere causing people to leave their homes and making them very, very ill. Have you ever seen a field of wind generators? Ugly! They destroy the landscape scene and their building and maintenance cost is over the top. Kinda like 8 years ago when people asked for a changed….they voted for him and now cant wait for him to be gone! I live in Colstrip and our air is clean, our landscape is beautiful and people are able to make a living and a difference everytime people turn on the light switch.
John, I was raised in Eastern Pennsylvania. Anthracite coal was discovered by Necho Allen ten blocks from my house. Wind turbine fields have taken over the abandoned fields nearby in Centralia, PA. –A coal vein is on fire there and the entire area is evacuated. The wind turbines look amazing. So tall. Very clean. Fracking is different everywhere. In PA where there is plenty of fracking, I depend on NRDC to sue the polluters and the EPA to regulate the methane. Nothing is easy. You are right.