Sierra Club Victory

Sierra Club reports:
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Decision to Abandon Coal-Fired Power Plants is Victory for Public Health
Move comes after year-long Sierra Club "Clean Up Dynegy Campaign"
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WASHINGTON, D.C.: Under pressure from the Sierra Club's "Clean Up Dynegy Campaign," Dynegy Inc. today announced that it is pulling out of its joint venture with LS Power and abandoning five of its seven proposed coal-fired power plants. In February 2008, the Sierra Club launched a national grassroots campaign to urge Houston-based coal giant Dynegy to clean up its act. The campaign kicked off with call-in events in 20 states, which generated thousands of telephone calls to Dynegy headquarters, pressuring the company to shift its investments away from coal and into cleaner, smarter energy solutions.
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In response to today's announcement, Sierra Club National Coal Campaign Director Bruce Nilles issued the following statement:
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"This is a major victory in Sierra Club's efforts to stop the construction of dirty coal-fired power plants. Dynegy had been the largest developer of new coal-fired power plants in the country, and it seems like the company has recognized our efforts to move to a clean energy future. We applaud them for taking this major step forward.
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"LS Power has not developed or operated coal plants, and as they stand alone now we encourage them to shift their investments into cleaner alternatives like wind, solar, and efficiency that can create new jobs and economic opportunity while cutting pollution, improving public health, and helping solve global warming.
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"The five coal-fired power plants in question would have spewed an estimated 30 million tons of global warming pollution into the air each year making them some of the single largest sources of such pollution in the U.S.
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"Sierra Club will continue to challenge Dynegy's remaining proposed plant in Texas (Sandy Creek). The construction of another coal-fired power plant would be a giant step backward, so we will encourage remaining utilities to abandon their dirty plans and to invest instead in clean energy solutions."