Nation’s Coal Consumption Drops 9.3 Percent as Wisconsin’s Increases

Posted on 3/2/10 by Clean Wisconsin

Madison, Wis – As Wisconsin legislators debate the Clean Energy Jobs Act in the Capitol, new data shows that the state is currently heading in the wrong direction by increasing its consumption of coal, even as the nation’s consumption falls.

“The $16 billion river of dirty fossil fuels flowing into our state is getting deeper,” said Peter Taglia, staff scientist at Clean Wisconsin, the state’s largest environmental advocacy organization. “Coal is the dirtiest source of power production, and, with no fossil fuel reserves of our own, we create significant environmental and economic harm to our state by relying on coal to meet our energy needs.”

Wisconsin increased its consumption of coal for power production by 1.1 percent between November 2008 and November 2009, even as the nation’s consumption of coal dropped 9.3 percent, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s February 2010 “Electric Power Monthly.”

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