The Sierra Club's anti-coal campaign is getting a boost of up to $60 million from donors including Michael Bloomberg, who pledged $30 million Wednesday to further the group's new goal of shuttering half the nation's coal-fired power plants by 2017.
"America is leading the way not because of Washington, but because of you," Bloomberg said during the announcement in front of cheering volunteers at the Sierra Club offices in Washington, D.C.
Bloomberg announced that more than a dozen additional donors have pledged to match Bloomberg Philanthropies' $30 million commitment — bringing the total to $60 million.
The former New York City mayor has long supported the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign, including a $50 million pledge he made in 2011 through his Bloomberg Philanthropies. He made his 2011 announcement in front of the GenOn coal-fired power plant in Alexandria, Va., which shut down the following year.
Beyond Coal's goal of closing half the country's power plants by 2017 is based on a 2010 baseline.
The Sierra Club's campaign previously had set a goal of retiring one-third of the country's coal plants by 2020 and replacing them with low-carbon energy sources like wind and solar. Wednesday's revised goal of shutting down half of U.S. coal plants reflects rapidly changing market conditions.
The Beyond Coal campaign says 187 coal plants have been retired or repurposed since 2010, with 336 plants to go until it reaches its initial goal.
Low natural gas prices, combined with federal policies like an Environmental Protection Agency mercury rule that takes effect next week, have taken a heavy toll on the coal sector.
An estimated 28.4 gigawatts of coal-fired power in the U.S. is expected to be retired between this year and 2023, according to Energy Information Administration statistics, following the loss of 16.6 gigawatts since 2012. The total U.S. power supply from all sources is about 1,000 gigawatts.
Coal is being replaced largely by natural gas and wind. A combined 54 gigawatts of power from those sources is expected to come online between this year and 2023, EIA says.
Bloomberg's anti-coal advocacy has made him a target of Republicans and industry groups. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's wife, former George W. Bush Administration Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, resigned from the board of Bloomberg Philanthropies in January amid news that the group would invest millions in efforts to cut emissions from electricity production.