WASHINGTON, D.C. — ‘With concerns about climate change mounting, the era of coal-fired electricity generation in the United States may be coming to a close,’ says Lester R. Brown, President, and Jonathan G. Dorn, Staff Researcher, of Earth Policy Institute, in a recent release, ‘The Beginning of the End for Coal: A Long Year in the Life of the U.S. Coal Industry’. In early 2007, a U.S. Department of Energy report listed 151 coal-fired power plants in the planning stages in the United States. But during 2007, 59 proposed plants were either refused licenses by state governments or quietly abandoned. In addition, close to 50 coal plants are being contested in the courts, and the remaining plants will likely be challenged when they reach the permitting stage. What began as a few local ripples of resistance to coal-fired power plants is quickly evolving into a national tidal wave of opposition from environmental, health, farm, and community organizations as well as leading climate scientists and state governments. Growing concern over pending legislation to regulate carbon emissions is creating uncertainty in financial markets. Leading financial groups are now downgrading coal stocks and requiring utilities seeking funding for coal plants to […]