WE SHUT DOWN THE LAST COAL PLANT IN NEW ENGLAND!
Our grassroots resistance to coal alongside regulatory and legal battles forced Granite Shore Power to choose a clean energy future for the site of their two formerly coal-fired facilities in New England: in Bow and Portsmouth.
We have come this far together because our first commitment is to building community – an organizing space where there is always room for one more person.
We’ve named a new goal to replace the one we just achieved: shut down ALL the fossil-fuel-fired power plants that run occasionally (the peaker plants) in New England. This will free up our ratepayer dollars that are used to keep the peakers on standby so they can be used instead to hasten a just energy transition. We will put pressure on the grid to change faster. We will do it together.
watch the highlights from our 2021 Mass Action at the coal plant
Passing the stack test with one of their units leads us to the question: if they are supposed to be able to supply more power than one of their units can supply on its own, what happens now?
If the board of ISO-NE thinks that it can hide from public engagement by hosting inaccessible meetings in boycotted locations, you are mistaken. While you hide in luxury hotels talking only to each other, we are taking action in our communities, building relationships and solidarity, making each other stronger, and continuing to organize in ways that will push for a swifter and more just grid transition.
Begin as you wish to continue, they say. We did. We started big! We showed up at 5 plants on the same day with the same message for each one: plant by plant we will end the practice of profiting from the fossil fuels that are causing such damage, plant by plant we will continue creating communities that care for one another and for our tender, beautiful earth. Join us as we climb on.
FERC’s response to our comments suggests that New England’s millions of residential ratepayers should have no effective way to participate in decisions about the billions of dollars taken from their utility bills every year to manage the grid and fund NEPOOL, a “stakeholder process” that keeps out the public. If the stakeholder process is the appropriate venue for comment, then we’ll need to create a stakeholder process that doesn’t lock us out.
As Audre Lorde reminds us, “Revolution is not a one-time event.” Let’s keep dreaming bigger and showing up boldly together!
As the lists of permit violations and indications of financial insolvency continue to grow, community pressure to shut down the coal plant also builds. The No Coal No Gas campaign has shown up at the plant, in the surrounding community, and at energy regulatory meetings, determined to shut down the polluting coal plant.
What a year it’s been for No Coal No Gas - The end of the coal plant’s life is near and our work to transition it to clean energy is ramping up. Read on about the awesome work our friends have done this year.
Listen to Leif’s comments to ISO-NE about their tariff, their mandate, and their responsibility to ratepayers.
No Coal No Gas responds to ISO-NE’s proposed budget increase - where lobbying, millionaires salaries, and a new position are included…
No Coal No Gas and our friends from across New England submitted hundreds of comments opposing ISO New England’s FCA 17 results. ISO-NE (Independent systems operator - New England) and FERC (federal energy regulatory commission) continue to claim our objections to fossil fuel subsidies on the grounds of negative climate impacts are “beyond the scope” of this proceeding - but that doesn’t deter us. We will continue to put pressure on ISO and FERC until we stop burning coal and gas in this region. Below are some of the highlights from No Coal No Gas’s official filings to FERC and letters to the office of public participation.
The No Coal No Gas Campaign has shown since its start that dirty fossil fuel peaker plants like Merrimack Station in Bow, NH, are not only unnecessary for grid reliability, but actually threaten grid reliability by ignoring how fossil generators, by damaging climate, increase risks of extreme events…
2022 was a rich, full year for No Coal No Gas. We took in person and virtual action, we supported our comrades through the court system, and we’ve grown our community. Here’s a recap of our 2022 highlights.