Dive Brief:
- Utah regulators last week approved a multi-year contract between Rio Tinto Kennecott and Rocky Mountain Power that allows three coal-fired units at the to be permanently mothballed, Deseret News reports.
- As part of the agreement, mining giant Rio Tinto Kennecott will shut down the units more than a year ahead of schedule, after negotiating a contract to continue receiving electricity from PacifiCorp subsidiary Rocky Mountain Power.
- Officials say taking the units offline will eliminate more than 3,500 tons of emissions annually.
Dive Insight:
The agreement to shutter the Kennecott units was years in the making and was enabled by the controversial Sustainable Transportation and Energy Plan Act (STEP), passed by Utah lawmakers earlier this year. Critics argued it could raise rates and moves authority from the Public Service Commission, which approved the deal to close the Kennecott units, over to the legislature.
The new law allows Rocky Mountain Power to implement tariffs to fund a sustainable transportation and energy pilot program and recover 100% of "prudently incurred costs" for clean energy development. The utility argued the bill was necessary to address federal environmental regulations impacting its coal generation.
"Everybody said what a controversial piece of legislation STEP was, but it has so many elements that clean the air in Utah," Rocky Mountain Power spokesman Paul Murphy told Deseret News.
According to the utility, the contract took years of negotiations and substantial support was provided by Gov. Gary Herbert (R) and lawmakers to lay the groundwork.