PSE IRP Hearing: February 21
Puget Sound Energy filed its 20-year energy plan, or Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), as is required every two years. And February 21 is the day that PSE customers and other people who breathe air in Washington get to weigh in on PSE’s fossil-fuel-heavy plan that locks 1.1 million Western Washington customers into decades of fossil fuels. Attend and offer your comments at the sole public hearing with the body charged with reviewing these for-profit utility plans, the Utilities and Transportation Commission. The hearing at the Renton Community Center will be preceded by a rally at noon before public comment begins at 1:30 PM. RSVP here, and sign up for buses and carpools here.
Talking Points in a Nutshell
You can click here to download a comprehensive comment guide with links to lots of supporting information to help you build your own comments. These talking points are provided by the Sierra Club, which is spearheading a coalition of environmental groups working to turn out large numbers for the hearing and rally. This is what they’ll be talking about:
- PSE needs to officially commit to ending its stake in Montana’s Colstrip coal plant.
- PSE’s plan to continue operating Colstrip could also cost Western Washington families.
- PSE should not trade in one fossil fuel (coal) for another (gas).
- Before spending customers’ money, PSE needs to take a hard look at whether or not to build anything at all.
- PSE is stuck in the past at a time when our energy markets are undergoing transformational changes.
- PSE is also sacrificing Puyallup Tribal land, community safety, and customer money for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Tacoma that we do not need.
- PSE’s 20-year plan falsely treats the Tacoma LNG facility as a done deal and assumes that the project will be complete in time for the winter 2019/20 heating season.
- PSE disregards the environmental review process, and is inconsistent about its capacity plans for the Tacoma LNG facility.
The Bottom Line
We must demand that the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission reject any plan from PSE that does not address getting Colstrip off the grid by 2025 and explicitly exclude all new fracked gas infrastructure, including the liquefied natural gas terminal in Tacoma.