The Boston Globe Op-Ed: The end of the coal era, the beginning of a cleaner era
Mike Bloomberg and Gina McCarthy|April 4, 2024
The final plant closures in New England will bring us that much closer to a critical goal: the closure of all the coal plants in the United States by 2030.
Last week, New England passed a major energy milestone. An agreement to close the last coal plants in the region means all of New England will be free of coal pollution for the first time in well over a century.
Massachusetts, where we both grew up, has already closed its “Filthy Five” coal-fired power plants. Now, the last coal plants in the region — Merrimack Station in Bow and Schiller Station in Portsmouth, both in New Hampshire — are closing, which will make New England the nation’s second region — and the largest, by population — to consign coal smoke to history (the Pacific Northwest was first). And New England won’t be the last.