Sierra Club takes on fossil fuels in the US electricity grid

The Sierra Club announced on Tuesday that it is challenging the decision of a U.S. Federal Energy regulator to expedite connecting fossil fuel power stations to major electrical grids, at the expense renewable energy.

The environmental group submitted a petition to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals will review the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)'s decision to allow the Southwest Power Pool to accelerate the interconnection of mostly coal fuel generation.

SPP is a 14-state region that stretches from North Dakota all the way to Louisiana. Grid operator, however, says that it requires more electricity in order to meet the surge in demand for data centers powered by AI.

According to the grid operator, last year wind accounted for 38% of the SPP's energy production, followed by gas at 28%. The Sierra Club challenged SPP’s proposal in front of FERC but was denied. FERC denied the Sierra Club’s request for a rehearing in September.

The Sierra Club also said that it filed a suit challenging a similar plan approved by FERC for Midcontinent Independent System Operators (MISO), a grid operator operating in the Midwest.

Greg Wannier said that the Sierra Club's senior attorney, Greg Wannier, believes the FERC's approval will add to the disruption, which has prevented hundreds of gigawatts worth of clean energy to come online in order to meet projected resource needs. (Reporting and editing by Jamie Freed; Tim McLaughlin)

(source: Reuters)