America’s march away from coal is continuing with recent numbers from Energy Information Administration (EIA) showing that in April, for the first time ever, renewable energy production (hydro included) surpassed coal-based electricity production in the United States. EIA found that U.S. coal generation fell to a 47-year low in the spring and S&P Global Market Intelligence estimated that 28 GW of U.S. coal-fired generation will retire between 2019 and 2023.
As a result of these retirements, conservative estimates suggest that demand for thermal coal will fall by more than 150 million tons over the coming five year period.

Source: Sierra Club
According to the Sierra Club, these dwindling coal numbers will be compounded by the continued roll out of new state policies for 100% clean, renewable energy in the coming years.
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For example, in New York, Governor Cuomo signed the strongest climate legislation in the nation after working closely with the New York state legislature. The legislation sets the highest climate action standards in the nation by mandating 85 percent greenhouse gas emissions reductions economy-wide by 2050 and mandates that New York sources 70 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, like wind and solar, by 2030, and achieves a 100% carbon-free electric sector by 2040.
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In Maine, Governor Janet Mills also signed several pieces of legislation that collectively increase the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard to 80 percent by 2030 and 100% by 2050. The legislation also created a climate counsel to engage stakeholders in “mitigating, preparing for, and adapting to the climate crisis,” and ordered the state’s public utilities commission to increase distributed generation across the state while soliciting bids for up to 400 megawatts of solar energy.
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In Montana, Talen Energy announced that the oldest coal-burning units at the Colstrip coal plant will retire by the end of the year, two-and-a-half years earlier than required under an earlier legal settlement. Units 1 and 2 – which were built in the 1970s – have faced serious problems remaining competitive as energy markets shift dramatically. Economic shifts in energy are expected to put continued pressure on the remaining units at the plant, which produce power for three times the price of Montana wind projects.
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In Michigan, regulators approved Consumer Energy’s plan to phase out its coal-fired power plants and replace them with renewable energy and energy efficiency resources. Two coal generators will be retired at the Karn plant near Bay City in 2023, and the utility plans to close its final three units north of Holland, Michigan between 2031 and 2040. The Beyond Coal campaign plans to fight the later deadlines to have the units retired earlier.
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In California, General Electric decided to prematurely demolish a large fracked gas plant 20 years early due to the low cost and availability of the Golden State’s solar energy resources. The Inland Empire Energy Center, located 70 miles southeast of Los Angeles, was powered by a new type of GE turbine when it came online in 2009. That turbine, called 7H, was meant to supply round-the-clock power, but local solar energy resources has made its operation obsolete.
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In Kentucky, the Cane Run Generating Station was demolished, giving a clear sign that the coal industry’s days are numbered even in places where it once dominated. The 1,000 MW coal plant on the banks of the Ohio River has been retired since 2015, but, the Courier Journal noted, “its demise, which took less than a minute, symbolized the broader decline of coal in both generating capacity and the production of electricity.”
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In Louisiana, New Orleans Civil Court Judge Piper Griffin ruled that the city violated its open meetings law by allowing actors paid by Entergy to argue in favor of the plant. The decision voided a pivotal City Council vote that allowed an unneeded fracked gas to be built and gave local activists another chance to stop its construction. Community groups and local leaders had long spoken out against the utilities plans to build a new fracked gas plant in New Orleans East, which would pollute the surrounding communities and cost ratepayers $230 million.
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Lastly, despite the finalization of the Trump administration’s Dirty Power Plan, executives from five of the nation’s largest public power utilities agreed that it has no bearing on their plans to reduce the carbon dioxide footprints (read: retire their coal plants) of their companies. Trump’s plow to “boost” the coal industry was largely perceived by the business community and the public as a legally dubious and economically defective policy that will do little to revive the coal industry, despite the significant health risks.
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