Sierra Club Nebraska Statement on Forced Outage at Aging OPPD Coal Plant

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Omaha, Nebraska — Reports of a steam tube failure at OPPD’s North Omaha coal plant once again raise reliability, health, and safety concerns. As a result of the failure, one of the two remaining coal units was taken offline last week. The forced outage follows a recent OPPD board vote to extend the life of the coal-fired power plant, whose remaining units are more than 60 years old. The average life expectancy of a coal plant is approximately 40 years.

In response, Ken Winston, Sierra Club Nebraska Chapter Director, released the following statement:

“The North Omaha coal plant is long overdue for retirement, and this unplanned outage is further evidence that it is unreliable and expensive to continue operating. This completely undercuts the argument for keeping the facility’s coal-burning units running, and forced outages are likely to become more frequent and riskier the longer OPPD burns coal. A 60-year-old car wouldn’t be considered a safe, affordable, or reliable option for transportation, and the same goes for 60-year-old coal units that generate electricity. North Omaha deserves affordable, clean energy they can depend on.”

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person’s right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.