Entergy Arkansas still plans to shut down the company’s two coal-fired power plants in Redfield and Newark despite a recent lawsuit challenging the closures, according to an article published in the Nov. 9 print edition of Arkansas Business.
The article in the weekly publication based out of Little Rock highlights a report from NPR detailing a recent lawsuit against the shutdowns that is backed by money from a non-profit group in Wyoming and Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge. Their argument against the shutdowns is coal is cheaper and more reliable than other fuel sources, the article said.
“Industries like steel manufacturing in northeast Arkansas want to keep access to this reliable coal-generated power,” a representative of one of the groups told Arkansas Business.
The organization behind the lawsuit, Arkansas Affordable Energy Coalition, is largely funded by the Energy Policy Network in Wyoming, a state that NPR says is the home to the coal mines that feed the two Arkansas plants slated for shutdown.
An Entergy Arkansas representative told the publication: “We have agreed to cease using coal at the White Bluff [Redfield] and Independence [Newark] plants within the next decade. These generating units and our employees who work there have been an important part of Entergy Arkansas for approximately four decades.”
However, as Arkansas Business noted in the article, the fate of Entergy’s closing plans for the plants now hinges on the result of the lawsuit.
The Newark plant went online in 1983 and 1984. Both the Newark and Redfield plants are within 10-15 years of the projected end of their life span, the Arkansas Business article reported.
Image via Entergy Arkansas
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