Coal continues losing at life, this time in Mississippi where environmental and civil rights activists have forced utility giant Southern Company to significantly scale back its plans for expanding fossil-fuel energy plant production across the Delta region. Advocates from the Sierra Club have negotiated a remarkable deal on behalf of residents who’ve lived too long with coal pollution. Southern has agreed to:

cease coal burning operations at two of its Mississippi locations by next March;
end its opposition to net-metering policies so that residents and businesses can more easily access solar power;
invest $15 million into energy efficiency programs for low-income communities;
strengthen flood protections for water retention ponds near the coal mines that feed the plants to prevent toxic pollution from contaminating groundwater and local waterways;
provide $2 million to protect habitat for the critically endangered Mississippi gopher frog (the preserve will be named for Gulf Coast activist Linda St. Martin who passed away in May);
and minimize mining operation impacts on local traffic.

This is a big freaking deal not only for the residents, but for the environmental justice coalition that forged this treaty. The NAACP’s climate justice director, Jacqui Patterson, explains:

They said it couldn’t be done. In a state […]