Wall Street Journal reports new coal plants are bad investments
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Dan Farough
Monday, Feb. 4, 2008 (517) 999-3646 Office
Michigan consumers must be protected from big utilities’ poor investments in coal plants, citizens’ watchdog group says
LANSING — A report in today’s Wall Street Journal detailing how investors are pulling their money out of coal plants shows that Michigan ratepayers must be protected from bad energy investments, a coalition of conservation and watchdog groups said today.
Major banks and investment firms are taking their money out of dirty coal projects and instead encouraging energy efficiency and investments in clean alternative energies, the Wall Street Journal reported in a Feb. 4 article titled “Wall Street Shows Skepticism Over Coal.”
Meanwhile, environmental and consumer advocates are urging the Michigan Legislature to adopt the Michigan Ratepayer Protection Plan, which would protect consumers by making utility companies absorb the costs of future regulations.
“Investors are now discovering what environmental leaders have known for years: Michigan’s future rests with clean, renewable energy technologies, not dirty coal plants that harm our land, air and Great Lakes,” said Anne Woiwode of the Sierra Club. “It’s time we protect Michigan ratepayers from bad investments in coal by ensuring that big utilities carry the full burden of their poor decisions.”
Despite warnings from investors and conservationists, big energy companies are attempting to build at least seven new coal plants in Michigan, even as other states are refusing such bad investments. In the past four years, at least 59 coal plants have been denied, withdrawn or shot down across the country because of skyrocketing costs and global warming concerns.
“The Michigan Ratepayer Protection Plan would make big utilities carry the burden of poor investments in outdated coal instead of passing those costs along to the average ratepayer,” said Dan Farough, executive director of Progress Michigan. “Michigan legislators can follow the lead of banks by protecting consumers from bad coal plant investments by acting on the ratepayer protection plan now.”
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