Trump Redirects Pollution-Control Funding to Prop Up More Polluting Coal Plants

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Washington, D.C. — Today, Politico reported that the Trump administration will use funding legally directed by Congress to reduce pollution to instead help build new and prop up aging, expensive, polluting coal plants. Responding to competitive pressure from lower cost and lower risk resources, utilities have voluntarily retired 158 coal plants over the last decade.

This is yet another attempt by this administration to bail out expensive and polluting coal plants as coal-powered generation continues to decline in the U.S. while wind and solar power overtake coal in terms of generation and cost performance.

In response, Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign Director Laurie Williams issued the following statement: 

“Donald Trump is yet again driving up Americans’ electricity bills to help out his friends in the fossil fuel industry. For the man who claims he wants to make Americans healthier, Donald Trump sure is doing everything he can to make our air dirtier and our water more dangerous to drink. More Americans will get sick and more Americans will die.

“In one week, Donald Trump’s administration has tossed consideration of Americans’ health from its rulemaking  and pulled funding for pollution-control in favor of expensive, dirty coal plants. It could not be more clear that Trump only cares about bolstering profits for his buddies in the fossil fuel industry, and not one ounce about the health and wellbeing of Americans.”

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.