RENO, Nev. (AP) — Sierra Club lawyers have been preaching against the environmental evils of coal-burning power plants for decades.
Now, in in Nevada, they are trying to force the closure of the last significant one in the renewable energy-rich state with arguments based on a different sort of green: money.
Critics of the Valmy coal plant east of Battle Mountain scored a key victory last month when state regulators formally ordered NV Energy to reassess its economic efficiency.
Leaders of the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign say it means the biggest utility in the state will have to address arguments they've been making for years — that the plant burning the black stuff is increasingly putting NV Energy ratepayers in the red.
They say current plans to keep it open until 2025 will cost ratepayers at least $30 million.