Utah’s troubled relationship with fossil fuel investors
We urge you NOT to listen to Warren Buffet’s encouragement to “inhale the air, drink the water” near his company, Berkshire Hathaway’s coal-fired power plants. Berkshire Hathaway owns the Hunter and Huntington power plants in Utah. Their plants, including the Utah ones, are some of the dirtiest in the country, releasing higher levels of NOx, and neglecting and lobbying against technology that helps cut emissions from the plants.
“Warren Buffett is making a multi-layered environmental mess he’s not being required to clean up,” UPHE’s co-founder and board president Dr. Brian Moench told Reuters.
“Neither of the plants is equipped with SCR scrubbers.
In 2023, EPA data show, Hunter and Huntington had NOx pollution rates around 60% higher than the national average for coal plants, and more than twice the average rate of plants with SCR scrubbers. The two plants are responsible for some of Salt Lake’s smog, causing up to $8.4 million a year in healthcare costs there, according to EPA data.” Reuters reported on the Utah plants.
Utah needs to stop allowing large corporations to profit off the exploitation of our residents. Lawmakers represent the people of this state, not out of state billionaires who are actively avoiding reasonable safety standards.
The Reuters article also covers Regional Haze from the power plants, which UPHE has actively fought in court. Pollution has dimmed visibility in Utah’s iconic national parks up to 40%, largely in part to the power plants emissions. The court disappointingly ruled against bringing the plants into compliance with the Clean Air Act’s visibility-protection provisions.
Hunter and Huntington were slated to shut down in 2032, until the company doubled back and extended those plans by years. Utah needs to get serious about investing in alternatives so our energy grid is prepared to make a cleaner transition as soon as possible.