Ash Pond Newsletter: March 2021

The following is a collection of ash pond news from March 2021. The intent of the newsletter is to summarize news regarding ash pond closure activities, lawsuits filed against utilities relating to their ash ponds, as well as regulatory changes impacting ash pond operations or closures.

This downloadable, three-page newsletter provides resources and explanations of ash pond news concerning a number of topics, including: 

• Following the near-collapse of the Texas power grid, Merrimack Station in New Hampshire has won another year’s funding from the Forward Capacity Market, run by ISO-New England, designed to guarantee future electricity supplies.
• Electric cooperatives serve 42 million people; but in recent years, as part of a national energy democracy movement, customers of electric cooperatives are demanding greater transparency and expanded access to renewable energy from their cooperatives, whose elected boards are sometimes “anti-consumer.”
• Environmental groups were worried about the Illinois Wood River Power Station’s demolition because the owner, Commercial Liability Partners, avoided speaking with local residents and elected leaders.
• Recently, Dynegy announced a three-year partnership with Chicago’s Metropolitan Pier Exposition Authority. The agreement will attempt to provide 100% renewable energy to McCormick Place.