LA's Dirty Secret: 44% of its energy comes from coal
Los Angeles has a dirty secret: Every day Los Angeles burns about 12,000 tons of dirty coal to generate electricity-that's over 4 million tons a year!
Currently, the city of Los Angeles owns shares in two coal plants: Navajo and Intermountain Power Project. In 2006, Navajo Generating Station and Intermountain Power Project released a combined total of 36,107,111 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. The Navajo generating station alone uses 8 million tons of coal a year which translates into 25,000 tons of coal per day when all units are fully running. Additionally, each year the plant uses nearly 8 billion gallons of water from Lake Powell for cooling – a shocking number in water starved Los Angeles. Our dependence on coal is responsible for significant pollution and human health impacts at every phase of its life cycle.
Los Angeles has a responsibility to leave a legacy of leadership to our children and grandchildren. We must rebuild Los Angeles in a way that will protect us from the true cost of coal: polluted rivers and fish, increased asthma rates and health related issues, waste of billions of gallons of fresh water to cool coal plants, and the destruction of eco-systems through strip-mining, coal-slurries, and mountain-top removal.
Luckily, the city of Los Angeles recently announced an exciting commitment to kick our dirty coal habit by 2020. To help end coal and give L.A. clean energy, the city held hearings on a 5-point plan for solar energy.
The Sierra Club supports ALL parts of this plan. We believe fiscal support for all of these programs will create a broad reaching public-private partnership that will ensure a diverse array of projects and ensure rate stabilization through healthy competition. Show your support for clean energy and moving our energy dependence beyond coal by taking action now, joining our climate crossroads action team, and inviting your friends to help move California Beyond Coal.
We have collected over 3000 signatures so far, but we need to continue to let the Mayor and City Council know that we are serious about our commitment to clean energy in Los Angeles. The State of California is in an incredible position to lead the country in energy efficiency and renewable energy, and Los Angeles has an opportunity to lead California on this issue, but we need the Mayor and the City Council to create an action plan to ensure success.
View Los Angeles Coal Plants in a larger map
Intermountain Power Project (IPP)
Navajo Generating Station
Where does LA Coal Energy come from?
