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Coal plant investment halted, funds redirected to renewable energy

Plans to expand Los Angeles's use of coal power were halted by Mayor James Hahn in August, after pressure from labor and environmental groups including the Coalition for Clean Air. Coal-fired power plants are one of the most polluting sources of energy, and already provide over half of the power for Los Angeles. The city is the largest customer of a massive power plant in Delta, Utah, and had recently invested more than $2 million toward adding a third coal-burning generator there. Seventy-five percent of the power from the plant comes to Southern California.
The proposed expansion would have made Los Angeles power customers responsible for smog in five national parks and a 20% increase in Utah's carbon dioxide pollution. In addition to being the largest single source of global warming emissions in the United States, coal power plants also produce emissions linked to asthma, heart disease, and early death.

After public outcry, Mayor Hahn ordered the Department of Water and Power to stop any further investment in the Utah plant, and directed the utility to spend remaining funds on cleaner energy sources instead, following a new city commitment to renewable energy. Read more on LA's plans to increase renewable energy.

"Mayor Hahn's order tells LADWP it is time to break from a dirty past of dependence on coal," said Martin Schlageter, energy program director for the Coalition for Clean Air. "It was time to turn off the spigot of money flowing into more coal power."
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