As negotiations continue over a climate and energy bill in Illinois, misleading online advertisements from a group called “Voices for Cooperative Power” have appeared. The ads running in Illinois political media outlets claim that legislators are on the verge of closing the Prairie State Energy Campus, a “state-of-the-art coal plant” that has “$1 billion of emissions controls.” While state lawmakers are working on how to equitably phase out coal and gas power plants in the state, the advertisements imply that the Prairie State Energy Campus should remain open because it is “highly efficient” and “came online during the Obama-Biden Administration.”
In truth, the $5 billion 1,600 MW coal plant located in Marissa, IL – about 50 miles from St. Louis – emits more carbon dioxide, methane, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides than any other power plant in the state. These pollutants are greenhouse gases and contribute to global warming while causing severe health and environmental problems. Prairie State was also the eighth largest carbon polluter among power plants in the United States in 2019, when it emitted 13,859,542 metric tons of carbon dioxide.
Voices for Cooperative Power, which is behind the online advertisements, is a new advocacy effort from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) – the trade association for electric cooperatives. NRECA launched Voices for Cooperative Power earlier this year. The website, which was registered on February 24, 2021 and went live on May 6, 2021, features NRECA policy priorities along with images of electric cooperative members – though some are simply stock images available for purchase. The banner image used on the main page of the Voices for Cooperative Power website is a stock photo available at Shutterstock, titled “Group of Diversity People Teamwork Together.” Another image on the main page of the website is also a stock image, titled “Friendly female colleagues having good relationships, pleasant conversation at workplace during coffee break, smiling young woman listen talkative coworker, discussing new project, talking in office.”
The advocacy effort replaces NRECA’s “Our Energy, Our Future” program, which campaigned against President Obama’s Clean Power Plan as well as other EPA proposed rules. The Voices for Cooperative Power Twitter handle was renamed from the original “Our Energy, Our Future” account, which explains the account start date of 2009, and older posts frequently link to that effort’s now-deleted website and other social media channels. […]
In addition to running misleading ads in Illinois, the website emphasizes electric cooperatives’ efforts to reduce emissions, including a deceptive claim that “nearly two-thirds of [cooperative] power comes from low- or no-emission sources.” NRECA’s figure appears to include fossil gas plants as a “low- or no-emission source.” Gas typically emits half the carbon of coal when burned, but that’s still far from no emissions, and these plants rely on a supply chain of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, prone to leaking.
Electric cooperatives also remain more reliant on coal than the US electricity sector as a whole. Coal accounted for 32% of electric cooperative retail sales in 2019, according to an NRECA fact sheet, with gas increasing to 32% as well that year; fossil fueled power plants account for nearly two-thirds of the industry’s power supply.
- Ok - Thursday, Jul 15, 21 @ 3:07 pm:
“Group of Diversity People Teamwork Together” is the worst band name ever.
- Ok - Thursday, Jul 15, 21 @ 3:14 pm:
I think Prairie State has to open their books. The whole thing was built on a campaign of hucksters convincing small towns to issue bankrupting bonds for the luxury of getting over-priced power. It’s like the red light camera and parking meter deals all over again.
Open their books. See who their “consultants” were, then. See who the monied interests are, now, that continue to make millions off these bad deal contracts.
- Donnie Elgin - Thursday, Jul 15, 21 @ 3:24 pm:
” emits more carbon dioxide, methane, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides than any other power plant in the state”
While that may be true - it should be understood in terms of emissions related to generating capacity - Prairie Station is a huge plant - by far the largest coal plant in the state and 6th
in terms of overall production. Also, the top 5 plants are Nukes; they do not make for a meaningful comparison to coal plants…
Plant Primary energy source Operating company Generation (MWh)
Braidwood Generation Station Nuclear Exelon Nuclear 20,251,140
Byron Generating Station Nuclear Exelon Nuclear 20,117,981
LaSalle Generating Station Nuclear Exelon Nuclear 19,435,255
Quad Cities Generating Station Nuclear Exelon Nuclear 15,486,108
Dresden Generating Station Nuclear Exelon Nuclear 15,081,715
Prairie State Generating Station Coal Prairie State Generating Co LLC 12,053,090
- Bruce( no not him) - Thursday, Jul 15, 21 @ 3:34 pm:
===misleading online advertisements===
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen any advertisement that someone can’t call misleading.
That’s called marketing.
- SKI - Thursday, Jul 15, 21 @ 3:42 pm:
Prairie State emits a lot because of it’s size. We’re talking 1600MW. Take their annual energy production divided by emissions, so we can see emissions per MWh and compare that to the dirtier coal plants in neighboring states that we will be importing energy from in the MISO footprint (downstate IL) if the “clean” energy folks get their way in Illinois.
- Nobody Sent - Thursday, Jul 15, 21 @ 4:00 pm:
Many electric coops support “clean” power so much they try to prevent their customers from using solar energy. Just follow the money.
- Anyone Remember - Thursday, Jul 15, 21 @ 4:39 pm:
===Open their books.===
Adam Andrzejewski, is that you?
- illinoyed - Thursday, Jul 15, 21 @ 5:01 pm:
The real issue is how overpriced the power from prairie state is - the towns that got duped into paying for it would actually save money if it shut down and they had to buy power on the open market. Now if the enviro groups would take finally take yes for an answer and let the energy bill pass we’d all be better off.
- Siualum - Thursday, Jul 15, 21 @ 6:10 pm:
That’s interesting - $5 billion for a 1600 MW coal plant. The Byron and Braidwood nukes each produce about 2800 MW, and each reportedly cost about $4.5 billion to build.
- the dude - Thursday, Jul 15, 21 @ 7:06 pm:
The pro-coal, pro-Prairie State crowd has so thoroughly lost the argument on cost they’re not even trying to pretend this boondoggle is a good deal for consumers.
Now their argument is that we should keep the state’s biggest polluter open because burning coal is actually… good for the climate?
Seems like they’re getting desperate.
- Sir Reel - Thursday, Jul 15, 21 @ 8:47 pm:
The rural in rural electric cooperatives tells you all you need to know. Not the most progressive organizations.
- Candy Dogood - Thursday, Jul 15, 21 @ 9:40 pm:
===The Byron and Braidwood nukes each produce about 2800 MW, and each reportedly cost about $4.5 billion===
You forgot to adjust for corruptflation.