For Immediate Release
November 5, 2022
America’s Power president and CEO Michelle Bloodworth issued the following statement in response to President Biden’s call to shut down coal power plants at a campaign event on Friday, November 4, 2022:
“President Biden gave a speech yesterday in which he advocated for replacing coal power plants with wind farms, citing cost savings as the reason. Unfortunately, facts do not support the president’s campaign rhetoric. First, replacing coal power plants with wind farms would cost $1.2 trillion in order to provide the same reliability that coal power plants offer to electricity consumers because coal power plants are six times more dependable than wind farms. Second, billions of dollars would have to be spent to build new electric transmission lines to deliver wind power to consumers. Existing coal plants do not need new transmission lines. In addition, electric transmission projects like the ones that would have to be built for wind are taking more than 15 years to build. An all-the-above energy strategy – one that includes coal, natural gas, nuclear, wind and solar – is the best insurance policy the U.S. has to ensure reliable and affordable electricity supplies and to stay energy secure.”
###
America’s Power is a partnership of industries involved in producing electricity from coal.