Environmentalists are trying to get the country’s largest coal company to drop its lawsuit attempting to block the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan before oral arguments next month.
The Natural Resources Defense Council is circulating a petition for supporters to sign calling on Peabody Energy to drop its suit in federal court before the June 2 oral arguments. Peabody Energy is one of many fossil fuel companies joining interest groups and 30 states in trying to block the Clean Power Plan’s rules on coal-run power plants.
Rhea Suh, the president of the council, said it’s time for Peabody and other coal companies to join the clean energy economy.
“Peabody Energy’s lawsuit to kill the Clean Power Plan in federal court isn’t just disastrous for our climate — it’s bad for millions of American jobs,” Suh wrote in an email to supporters. “America’s booming clean energy economy employs 2.5 million people — more than all oil and gas extraction, coal mining and pipeline jobs combined. And, thanks to the Clean Power Plan, we can expect that number to grow.”
Peabody Energy filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year, as did Arch Coal, the second-largest coal company in the country. Coal companies have been under immense stress in recent years as the growth in supply of natural gas and the cheap prices that followed has driven down demand for coal, and President Obama’s environmental regulations have hurt the industry at the same time. The company also cited the slowing of the Chinese economy as a reason for its bankruptcy.
Peabody defended its decision by noting that the Supreme Court has stayed the EPA’s regulations, and said it’s working to find a way to reach a compromise solution involving all sides of the issue.
“Peabody has joined with other industry participants and attorneys general from dozens of states to contest the legality of the proposed carbon regulations that were stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court in an unprecedented decision to protect affordable energy for American families,” a spokesperson for the company said.
“Peabody believes that technology is the best path toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions over time,” the spokesperson added. “We look forward to continuing to work with industry, government and NGO participants on a technology path to achieve our energy, economic and environmental goals.”
In her letter, Suh noted that coal consumption has already dropped by almost 25 percent in the last eight years and 400 coal power plants have been shut down. The Natural Resources Defense Council said rather than fight the changing tide, Peabody and other coal companies should innovate and ready themselves for the future.
“No court decision should delay America’s shift away from climate-wrecking fossil fuels, and Peabody should be joining that shift instead of fighting climate action in court,” the group told supporters.
