100% Renewables For The City Of St. Louis

Image: mddawdy

From coal town to clean energy town – the city of St. Louis in Missouri will soon undergo a major energy transition.

The City of St. Louis has among the highest rates of adolescent asthma rates in the USA and childhood asthma is the leading cause of hospital emergency room admissions. The city has also had the unpleasant distinction of quite often featuring among the top 20 smoggiest cities in the country.

It’s a problem that goes back decades. Back in 1939, there was a day when the sun didn’t shine due to pollution generated by the burning of soft coal; which was subsequently banned in 1940. The city has continued to struggle with air pollution, and one of the sources is the Meramec Power Station, a 923 MW coal-fired clunker that is due to be closed in 2022. The decision for closure was made following a study that determined it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars in upgrades to comply with stricter laws relating to soot and sulfur dioxide.

The city is also the base for two major American coal companies – Peabody and Arch Coal.

Those companies may start feeling a little more ostracized in their home town after last week, when the St. Louis Board of Aldermen unanimously gave the go-ahead for the city’s commitment to transition to 100 percent renewable energy by 2035.

“St. Louis’ commitment to 100 percent clean energy sends a powerful signal: even in communities with long ties to coal, the benefits of clean energy are too great to ignore. Wind and solar can create jobs, lower electric bills, and give the people of St. Louis a better alternative to the highly polluting coal power which currently makes up the bulk of Ameren’s generation,” said Sara Edgar, Sierra Club Organizing Manager in Missouri.

The Board has recognised clean energy is one of the fastest growing employment sectors and will create opportunities for good local jobs within the city. The City will now need to develop a plan by December 2018 to meet the clean energy goal, which will involve the harnessing wind energy and solar power, as well as energy efficiency measures.

St. Louis joins 46 other communities in the US to commit to 100 percent clean energy.

While the Trump Administration may be attempting to undo the work of previous president Barack Obama and recently declared the war on coal in the USA “is over”, coal has lost that war.

According to a report from the Union Of Concerned Scientists:

The share of US electricity coming from coal fell from 51 percent in 2008 to 31 percent in 2016—an unprecedented change. New UCS analysis finds that, of the coal units that remain, roughly one in four plans to retire or convert to natural gas; another 17 percent are uneconomic and could face retirement soon.

Various levels of U.S. government are also rebelling at the attempt to revive the use of coal. In June this year, a coalition of mayors across the United States denounced President Trump’s decision to walk away from the Paris Climate Agreement.

Image: ClimateMayors

Currently, 382 mayors representing 68 million Americans have signed on to the Climate Mayors pledge. St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson was among the original group of mayors to commit to upholding the Paris Climate Agreement goals.

Also in June, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the Climate Alliance, a collective of U.S Governors determined to observe the Agreement and taking aggressive action on climate change.