Sierra Club to APS: Less coal, more solar
- Protestors gathered at APS headquarters to encourage shutting down a coal plant.
- APS has proposed to close one of the three units it owns by 2016 and the other two by 2025.
- Arizona%27s top utility regulator mocked the protest.
About two dozen protesters, along with an inflatable replica of a coal plant, waged a demonstration against Arizona Public Service Co. on Wednesday to encourage the utility to shut its Cholla Power Plant in northern Arizona.
The protesters said they would like APS to use more renewable power sources, such as solar, instead of the coal-fired plant.
"APS wants to keep us tied to a dirty coal-fired power plant for at least another decade," said Will Greene, a Sierra Club representative who led the protesters in a march to APS headquarters to deliver petitions favoring the plant's closure.
In 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency notified the utility that Cholla's No. 2 unit would need new pollution controls to limit mercury, and in 2012, it proposed additional pollution controls on the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 units to limit nitrogen-oxide emissions that contribute to haze.
In response, APS recently announced plans to close Unit 2 in 2016 and stop burning coal at two others in 2025. But that isn't soon enough for the Sierra Club.
The No. 4 unit is owned by PacifiCorp/Rocky Mountain Power, which also said it will try to negotiate a deal with the EPA to stop burning coal there by 2025.
Pastor Doug Bland of Tempe Community Christian Church rubbed coal ash on his head as he spoke in a symbolic gesture to the harm caused by burning the fuel.
Pedro Lopez, program director for Chispa, a Latino environmental group, told the small crowd that Latinos care about climate change and support clean energy.
"They are not paying for the pollution they put in the air and the people who are hurt by this," said Jeanne Devine, of Tempe, who said she installed solar panels on her home six years ago to do her part to prevent climate change caused by burning fossil fuels.
An APS employee met the protesters at the front door of the utility offices and took about 6,000 petitions from the group.
The company said in a prepared statement that "APS stands behind its proposal to the EPA to permanently close Cholla's Unit 2 by April 2016 and to stop burning coal in Units 1 and 3 by the mid-2020s. These actions balance many needs: delivering reliable, low-cost electricity to customers; providing environmental stewardship; and mitigating job loss."
The protest drew criticism from Bob Stump, chairman of the Arizona Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities.
"Arizona has one of the cleanest coal fleets in the nation, and it's critical to keeping the lights on in Arizona," he wrote on Facebook regarding the protest. "This is the consensus among responsible adults; regardless of your opinions about coal, there is no way around this fact."
Regarding the suggestion that coal can be replaced with solar, Stump wrote: "The laws of physics remain stubborn, however."