California is Working Globally to Fight Climate Change. Closing its Last Coal Plant is a Good First Step.

     In June 2022, California made history with its announcement that it would partner with other nations, starting with New Zealand and Canada, to come up with innovative solutions to combat climate change. Governor Gavin Newsom, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are to thanks for this, and all three have demonstrated leadership in combating climate change.

     In the United States, California has been a leader in the fight to develop renewable energy and achieve carbon neutrality. However, one literal black spot remains on California's climate record: the Argus Cogeneration Plant.

     Regardless of state policies, coal has been dying across the United States for nearly a decade. In that time, the number of coal plants has gone down from 600 to less than 180. During the Trump administration, for example, nearly 200 coal plants closed while only one plant was built, and that is in spite of Trump "digging" coal. Maintaining century-old infrastructure is expensive, coal is an intensive industry that takes a heavy toll on communities and workers, and renewable energy is becoming as cheap as dirt. Keeping plants open actually hurts consumers and energy companies alike. Renewable energy generates the same percentage of American energy as coal does but creates nearly 60 times as many jobs. There are no real coal innovations: renewable energy is the future, and it is a clean, climate-friendly, healthy future.

     In California, just one coal plant remains: the Argus Cogeneration Plant. The LA area still runs on some coal generated by a facility in Utah, but this facility is ditching coal, transitioning to natural gas, and aiming to eventually run entirely on hydrogen energy. California already generates nearly 45 percent of its energy from renewable sources. Argus generates just 63 megawatts of energy, compared to nearly 2,300 and 4,000 (a combined 6,300) megawatts for California's two nuclear energy plants.

     Closing the Argus Cogeneration Plant would cut costs, fight climate change, help prevent more disastrous wildfires like those experienced in 2021 by doing so, create jobs, clean the air, and score a huge symbolic win in the fight to move beyond coal, expand clean energy, and achieve carbon neutrality. I'm urging Governor Newsom and the state legislature to get it done ASAP.