Today marks the beginning of the end of coal’s dirty energy legacy in New England, as Dominion of Virginia, owner of Salem Harbor Station power plant in Salem, MA confirmed that it will shut down the facility by 2014. Dominion also said that it would shut down two of the 60-year-old plant’s smaller coal units this year.

The announcement ushers in a new era of clean air, clean water and clean energy for the community of Salem, MA, and of New England as a whole. The announcement is monumental  not just for the people of Salem who can now see the end of their long struggle for cleaner air, but for New England as a whole. At last, technology has caught up with these polluting vestiges of the past, making them uneconomic and impractical to run.

Salem was one of the plants targeted by CLF’s Coal-free New England campaign, which aims to shut down the region’s remaining coal-fired power plants and make way for a clean energy future. Earlier this year, CLF was instrumental in the closure of Somerset Station power plant in Somerset, MA. More >

The wait is finally over. There is a clear path to the complete shutdown of Salem Harbor Station by June 1, 2014. Yesterday, ISO-NE presented its preferred option for upgrading the transmission system to relieve any need for the polluting, obsolete, and un-economic coal- and oil-fired plant. The solution is simple, cost-effective, and clean.

Instead of propping up the 60-year-old plant with above-market payments to be on call when electricity demand is highest, a transmission solution would upgrade the lines so they can carry more power into the area. The advantages are clear: by upgrading the transmission infrastructure, ratepayers will reap the benefits of a reliable system for years into the future at much lower cost than continuing to operate an out-of-date plant that emits tons of toxic pollution into the air each year.

The preferred alternative identified by ISO-NE is one of four that it presented in a compliance filing it submitted to FERC in December of 2010. FERC had directed ISO-NE to identify these solutions as the result of a protest lodged by CLF. The presentation yesterday was a result of Dominion’s February 2011 request to retire all four units at Salem Harbor Station. Although ISO-NE determined that Units 3 & 4 may still be necessary for reliability under existing system conditions, it has concluded that the proposed alternative would allow the units to retire without impacting system reliability.

The focus on existing lines, rather than building new ones, would reduce the cost and the timeline for implementation of the solution. CLF is confident that these upgrades can be completed and placed in operation in time to ensure that Salem Harbor Station shuts down no later than 2014, and possibly even earlier. With a confirmed date for shutdown, Salem residents and area ratepayers can better anticipate what’s next for Salem and pursue clean energy alternatives and economic development options now being studied for the site. CLF will work with ISO-NE, the transmission owners, and state agencies to make an expedited shutdown a reality.

Members of Mt. Holyoke's crew team pass Mt. Tom in the early morning.

CLF today announced that it intends to file a federal citizen suit against Mt. Tom Generating Company, FirstLight Power Resources and GDF Suez North America, the owners of Mt. Tom Station, for ongoing violations of the Clean Air Act. Mt. Tom, a 50-year-old coal-fired power plant in Holyoke, MA, is one of the top five sources of toxic emissions in the state, and one of the plants targeted by CLF’s Coal-Free New England campaign.

“The soot Mt. Tom releases contains dangerous pollutants that threaten the health of everyone who breathes them–particularly children and the elderly,” said CLF staff attorney Shanna Cleveland. “Despite recent investments in new technology, this plant is unable to operate in compliance with the law, and therefore within the limits of what is considered safe for human health.” More >

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (known as “FERC”) has delivered a clear message: the time to plan for a future without coal is now. This comes in response to a protest submitted in October by CLF that challenged a decision by the New England Independent System Operator (ISO-NE) that could have kept the 60 year old Salem Harbor Station running for years longer, despite the damage it causes to public health and the environment and the huge costs it imposes on ratepayers.

CLF argued that ISO-NE, the overseers of the regional electricity system under FERC’s supervision, should have developed an alternative to retaining units at Salem Harbor Station to meet the area’s reliability need.  CLF therefore asked FERC to step in to expedite the planning process. Today, the FERC issued a decision directing ISO-NE to find a solution that would allow shutdown of the Salem Harbor power plant – a dirty, obsolete and unprofitable plant that has long outlived its lifespan and has requested to leave the market.

“We…order ISO-NE to submit a compliance filing within 60 days that either identifies alternatives to resolve the reliability need for Salem Harbor Units 3 and 4 and the time to implement those solutions, or includes an expedited timeline for identifying and implementing alternatives.”

The news that FERC is mandating action to ensure that this dirty coal plant can retire without impacting reliability is a game changing development of national significance. The Chicken Little warning that old coal is needed to keep the lights on—brandished by coal interests primarily to delay long overdue emissions reductions requirements—simply isn’t true.  Today FERC concurred that the sky will not fall – the lights will not go out without old coal – if we envision a future without it and plan for that future.  That future starts here in New England with a concrete plan and timeline for life without Salem Harbor Station.

Students from the Environmental Law Clinic at Columbia Law School provided excellent research in support of CLF’s filing.

In the wake of Dominion’s announcement that it would not be cost effective to continue to operate and invest additional capital for pollution controls at Salem Harbor Station, the Patrick Administration has sent a message to ISO-NE calling for action.  In a letter to the President of ISO-NE, Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Ian Bowles, highlighted the need to invest in clean energy instead of propping up old, environmentally obsolete coal plants such as Salem Harbor Station.  Secretary Bowles urged ISO-NE to “quickly implement” a solution to allow Salem Harbor Station to retire.

Clean energy policy has been one of the centerpieces of the Patrick Administration, and this letter signals not only the Administration’s commitment to building clean, new energy infrastructure, but also the important role they have in hastening the retirement of the coal-fired power plants that cause significant damage to public health and the environment.

ISO-NE is responsible for finding an alternative that will remove any need for Salem Harbor Station; however, after 7 years of transmission upgrades and planning, ISO-NE rejected Dominion’s request to remove Salem Harbor Station from the market over concerns that the plant could be needed on the hottest days of the year.  CLF has been pushing ISO-NE to expedite its planning process so that ratepayers will not be forced to bear the costs of keeping this 60 year old coal and oil plant on line despite its continued struggles to meet environmental regulations. 

The Secretary’s letter is particularly timely given that ISO-NE will host meetings on December 15 and December 16 to discuss the planning process for replacing Salem Harbor Station.

Articles in this morning’s Boston Globe and Salem News describe an important shift in the status of Salem Harbor Station and highlight the need for ISO New England (ISO-NE) to go beyond the analyses it has done in the past so that it can finally identify an alternative that will actually solve the reliability issue that has dogged efforts to retire the plant since 2003.  That is the subject of the recent protest filed by CLF asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to require ISO-NE to perform an expedited analysis of the alternatives and establish a timeline for implementation.

ISO-NE’s failure to identify solutions that will relieve the need for Salem Harbor Station has resulted in decisions that will cost ratepayers up to $18.5 million in above market payments in 2012-2013 and up to $16.9 million in 2013-2014. ISO-NE could avoid imposing these costs on ratepayers by implementing an alternative that would allow the plant to retire by 2012.

However, if ISO-NE rejects Dominion’s recent “permanent delist bid” – its latest and most telling signal that it wants to retire the plant – on the basis of reliability, ratepayers face the risk of even higher costs. The reality is that ratepayers pay more per kilowatt for electricity from Salem Harbor Station than they pay for other sources of electricity in the capacity market ranging from natural gas to nuclear and renewable.  This dispels the perception that coal is a cheap source of electricity.   Importantly, these additional costs aren’t spread among ratepayers throughout New England; instead, they are passed on solely to the ratepayers in northeastern Massachusetts, the same people who already bear the costs of additional medical expenses from the heart and lung diseases and other illnesses caused by pollution from the plant.  A study released by Clean Air Task Force concluded that pollution from the Salem Harbor Station causes 20 deaths, 36 heart attacks and 316 asthma attacks every year.

These costs diminish any economic benefits that the City of Salem receives from tax payments and jobs at the plant, and the likelihood that Dominion will retire in 2014 if its de-list bid is accepted makes it more important than ever that an alternative use for the site be developed to replace the facility.

Dominion’s claims that it is not planning to retire the plant contradict its own filings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.  Continuing a tradition of telling the story that best suits its interests depending on the audience, Dominion told the Commission in a 2009 filing that it estimated only three more years of economic viability for the plant.  Dominion spokesman Dan Genest told the Salem News, “We know what it costs us to produce a megawatt of electricity at Salem Harbor Station, and the lower price at auction is not enough to cover our costs to generate electricity.” Despite its claims that it can continue to make profits in other markets, Dominion has said in its own filings that it was likely to lose money in those markets.

The bottom line is that ISO-NE has a responsibility to find an alternative to replace Salem Harbor Station that will cost less.  Now that the threat of even higher costs looms, protecting ratepayers demands a solution by no later than 2014, and the public health and environmental harms caused by the operation of this 60 year old coal and oil-fired relic weighs heavily in favor of shutting down the plant as soon as possible.

Local Activists from Salem Alliance for the Environment (SAFE) and HealthLink are hosting a Forum this Sunday that will expose the true costs of burning coal at plants like Salem Harbor Station.  The heat is on Dominion Energy to shut down Salem Harbor Station to allow the City of Salem and Massachusetts to usher in a clean energy economy that will provide sustainable and equitable jobs without jeopardizing public health or the environment.  Anyone who is interested in moving us towards a Coal Free Massachusetts should attend this event to find out more about the toll coal fired power plants take on communities from mining through burning and finally the disposal of ash.

For more information on how you can get involved check out the SAFE and HealthLink websites  CLF’s take action webpage.

(Photo credit: David Moisan)

There has been a significant development in the long running saga of the Salem Harbor power plant, one of the major targets of CLF’s Coal Free New England campaign. On October 5, Dominion Energy, the plant’s owner, quietly filed what is known as a Permanent Delist Bid with ISO New England (ISO-NE), the operator of the New England electricity system and markets. The filing commits Dominion to permanently withdraw Salem Harbor Station from the forward capacity market, the key market where power plants, and other resources like energy efficiency, are paid to be present, available and ready to meet the electricity needs of the region.

What does this mean?

By filing to permanently withdraw Salem Harbor Station from the forward capacity market, Dominion is signaling that it does not believe the market will be able to provide sufficient revenue to run the plant profitably and that it cannot maintain the plant going forward.

According to Paul Peterson, senior associate at Synapse Energy Economics, Inc., “The delist process was created specifically to allow power plants to withdraw from the forward capacity market, either temporarily or permanently, depending on their economics. A power plant that enters a permanent delist bid – an irrevocable decision that it will no longer try to earn revenue from that key market – is laying the groundwork to shut down.”

Although there are alternative scenarios that could allow Dominion to re-enter the market at a future date, the barriers to re-entry are extremely high and the process for doing so is complex.

Excessive ratepayer burden

Dominion’s move puts additional pressure on ISO-NE to implement a plan by June 2014 that does not rely on Salem Harbor Station to keep the lights on – ever. On October 14, CLF filed a protest with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission citing ISO-NE’s failure to develop such a plan following the 2009 and 2010 auctions, keeping Salem Harbor Station available for “contingency” needs at enormous cost to area ratepayers. In our protest, CLF pointed to insufficient planning and loopholes in the ISO-NE process that have allowed Dominion to receive more than $30 million dollars in above market payments just to continue to exist, even while Dominion’s own filings indicated its intentions to leave the market. The company filed “static delist bids” for the past two years, a temporary exit measure that allows a company to receive above market payments if it is deemed necessary for reliability. Dominion’s ability to repeatedly game the system has forced ratepayers to bear the cost of maintaining an obsolete and polluting coal plant well beyond its useful life.

Buckling under pressure?

Salem Harbor Station is under increasing economic and environmental pressure. In June 2010, CLF filed a federal lawsuit against Dominion for repeatedly exceeding smokestack emissions limits at Salem Harbor in violation of the federal Clean Air Act. The suit would hold Dominion responsible for paying millions of dollars in penalties retroactively. Meanwhile, new EPA regulations on the near horizon will mean tougher pollution controls and multi-million dollar investments needed to comply with them. The permanent delist bid is a clear indication that Dominion doesn’t believe it can continue to wring dollars out of ratepayers for its obsolete plant for much longer, and we are making sure they won’t. Stay tuned.

Hotter Temperatures More than Doubled Smog Days in New England

On October 1, the EPA announced that the number of bad air quality days increased from 11 last year to 28 in 2010.  These are also known as “high ozone days” and are triggered when ozone levels exceed the standards EPA has set to protect public health. Excessive ozone, more commonly known as smog, results from a combination of nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds and heat and sunlight. Even short-term exposure to smog has been shown to shorten lives and cause other severe health impacts, including shortness of breath, chest pain, asthma attacks, and increased hospitalization for vulnerable populations such as the very young, elderly, and those already suffering from lung or heart disease. In children, smog can also result in dramatic long-term impacts such as reduced lung development and function.

The hotter the day, the worse the smog—and that smog is intensified by the increased use of electricity from coal and other fossil fuel-fired power plants when we crank up our air conditioners.  Emissions from cars and trucks add to the dangerous mix, and as climate change progresses, the temperatures continue to rise.

Until now, the greater Boston area had experienced an average of 14 days of 90 degrees or more per year. In 2007, the Union of Concerned Scientists had estimated that climate change would result in no more than 15-18 days of 90+ degree weather from 2010-2039.

But in 2010, Boston endured 23 days of 90+ degree weather, far outstripping both the annual average and predictions of what that number would be in the future.  Although EPA has proposed stronger emissions limitations for power plants and cars and trucks, the rapid rise in 90+ degree days is a side effect of climate change that has already been set in motion, and it will continue and worsen unless we take action now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Coal-fired power plants rank as one of the primary culprits when it comes to emitting climate change pollutants and nitrogen oxides.  Across the nation, coal-fired power plants are the second largest source of nitrogen oxide emissions, and here in New England alone, eight coal-fired power plants churn out 10,515 tons of nitrogen oxide a year and millions of tons of carbon dioxide.  By contributing to climate change and increasing smog-forming pollutants, coal-fired power plants pose a major threat to New England’s air quality.  Creating a healthier future for New England means creating a Coal Free New England.  CLF is committed to shutting down each one of these polluting plants by 2020.  Work with CLF to create a thriving, healthy New England.