The Department of Energy claimed “emergency” conditions in the Pacific Northwest required TransAlta to continue running Washington [State’s] last coal plant past its planned retirement.
This is likely one case where capitalist polluters and leftist environmentalists are on the same side. Neither wants to see this plant in operation.
Coal is an expensive way to generate electricity in the USA. Its a PITA to get the coal and deal with the tailings. Further with the death of coal power being obvious for decades, plant operators have put off maintenance again and again knowing that the plants closing is forthcoming. The forced demand from the government would require at least some of that expensive maintenance done to keep operating. Plant operators don’t want to spend that money for something that is going to be closed as soon in the years ahead as trump isn’t in the picture anymore.
It’d be interesting if some enterprising souls figured out a non-polluting, low-danger way to offline the plant for a significant amount of time. And then did it again. And again. And again. And- well, you get it.
You could, potentially, get in touch with Washington’s Dept of Labor & Industry, and file a complaint about unsafe practices concerning boiler maintenance. Such as you suspect them of trying to avoid using National Board certified welders on ASME vessels.
It might not work, but…
Any pollution taking it down causes would pale in comparison to the pollution the plant would cause.
On the same page:
Customers, don’t expect electric bill relief in 2026: ‘The cake is baked.’
…even with the right policies, it will take time to reduce customer energy burdens. The U.S. Energy Information Administration puts the national average residential price per kilowatt hour in 2026 at 18 cents, up approximately 37% from 2020.
Those of us in California would like to have this 18 cent-per-kilowatt-hour suffering inflicted on us.
https://www.electricchoice.com/electricity-prices-by-state/
Average Electricity Rates by State
Residential electricity prices in cents per kWh — March 2026
California: 33.75
Yeah, California utilities are spending a lot of wildfire prevention because they’ve repeatedly sparked fires that burned down towns. Makes electricity expensive for everyone
