Environmentalists take aim at TEP's San Juan Generating Station
A coalition of Arizona community groups and businesses, including the Sierra Club, Sustainable Tucson, and 350.org Tucson, are calling on Tucson Electric Power (TEP) to divest from the out-of-state coal-fired San Juan Generating Station, and instead to commit to local, clean energy solutions like rooftop solar.
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San Juan Generating Station. Credit: Sierra Club |
Over the past few weeks, support for continued burning of coal at the San Juan Generating Station has gone down as the Public Service Company of New Mexico's (PNM) has revealed financial risks for the future of the plant.
Earlier this month, Farmington, New Mexico, where the plant resides, abandoned its plans to acquire an increased portion of the plant due to reliability concerns and excessive costs. Other New Mexico stakeholders have also pulled away from an agreement that would continue PNM's use of coal at the plant, citing the overall uncertainty about San Juan's operations.
TEP owns half of one unit of the plant, which presents huge financial risks to local Tucson ratepayers if the utility continues its investment in the expensive, outdated coal-fired power plant, according to the coalition.
"By continuing our reliance on an expensive out-of-state coal plant, TEP is locking our community into a future of more coal and expensive rate hikes that will threaten the pocketbooks of families in our region," said Dan Millis, Tucson organizer for one of Sierra Club's Arizona chapters. "It's time for TEP to protect ratepayers here in Arizona by getting out of a dirty, expensive out-of-state coal plant and investing in local clean energy such as solar."
The future of coal at the San Juan Generating Station has grown increasingly uncertain in recent weeks as more costs and challenges continue to arise, including the uncertainty of where the plant will get its coal after 2017.
Last month, TEP said it would not purchase the San Juan coal mine that supplies the San Juan Generating Station. In addition, PNM announced that the total bill for their plan to increase reliance on coal and other fuels had increased by more than $1 billion. This comes just weeks after PNM introduced a rate proposal that, if approved, would result in nearly a $10 per month increase to the average residential home bill due to the utility's plans to continue burning coal at the plant for the foreseeable future.
The local calls for TEP to divest from the San Juan Generating Station come at a critical time -- a time when the New Mexico Public Regulatory Commission (PRC) recently concluded hearings on PNM's proposal, which generated strong opposition from public health groups, clean energy advocates, environmental organizations, and others.
Earlier this week, a coalition of New Mexico community groups called on the New Mexico PRC to reject the plan from PNM, which would extend the utility's commitment to the San Juan Generating Station coal plant.
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