Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) on Monday will participate in a campaign event alongside the radical environmentalist group pushing to close the state’s largest coal plant.
The Sierra Club, a radical environmental group that pushes for the closure of “all U.S. coal plants,” will join Brown at a virtual phone bank sponsored by the Ohio Democratic Party Coordinated Campaign. Earlier this month the group signed a letter sent to Blackstone, the owner of the Gavin coal plant in southeast Ohio, demanding the coal plant be shut down.
“You cannot undo the damage from pollutants emitted during Blackstone’s nearly eight years of ownership of Gavin. But you have the opportunity to announce a retirement date of no later than 2028, which could lend Blackstone some credibility in its pledges of emissions reductions and an energy transition and avoid the perception that Blackstone is incapable of shepherding assets through an energy transition and is simply interested in passing the buck,” the letter read.
The Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal Campaign” is seeking to replace “coal and gas with clean energy” by “retiring coal plants, preventing new fossil fuel plants from being built, and working to stop the expansion of fracked gas.”
Brown’s partnership with the Sierra Club could cause him problems as he navigates a close race against Republican Bernie Moreno in a state that has long relied on coal for energy and jobs. Brown has attempted to position himself as a moderate on energy, vowing that he “will not turn my back on Ohio’s rural electric co-ops, Ohio energy workers, and Ohio families whose energy bills are already too high.”
The Sierra Club officially endorsed Brown, and gave over $2,000 to his campaign this cycle.
Brown’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
The Sierra Club refers to the Gavin coal plant, which is the largest coal plant in Ohio, as “America’s deadliest coal plant.” Earlier this week, the group also launched an ad campaign calling on Blackstone to close the plant. The Gavin plant employs around 300 people, and energy experts warn that closing coal plants, such as the one in Cheshire, Ohio, would “negatively impact the stability of the electric grid and power markets.”
Southeast Ohio has long relied on coal for energy and jobs, and Brown has uniquely positioned himself as a Democrat who opposes some of the Biden-Harris administration’s clean energy mandates for power plants. As the Environmental Protection Agency was seeking to implement new power plant emission rules earlier this year, Brown said the “unachievable rule … could undermine grid reliability, cause job losses for energy workers, and raise energy costs for Ohioans.” Brown has also vowed that he “will not turn my back on Ohio’s rural electric co-ops, Ohio energy workers, and Ohio families whose energy bills are already too high.”
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Energy has become a top issue of the 2024 presidential campaign, as former President Donald Trump is promising to ramp up U.S. drilling and fracking, adding that he wants to reduce Americans’ energy costs by 50% in his first year back in office. The former president said during a town hall event in Michigan earlier this month that reducing the cost of groceries begins with addressing high energy costs.
“We have to start always with energy,” Trump said. “I don’t want to be boring about it, but there’s no bigger subject that covers everything. If you make donuts, if you make cars, whatever you make, energy is a big deal.”
