Dirty Coal Meets its Match

In 2008 Columbia Riverkeeper and allies launched a campaign to clean up the Boardman plant. Two years later, we won.

February Throwback Victory: Dirty Coal Meets its Match

PGE, Boardman

In 2020 Oregon’s only coal-fired power plant will shut down. Wondering if you should send a thank-you note to Oregon regulators? Nope. It took a people-powered campaign and lawsuit brought by Columbia Riverkeeper and our partners to end decades of dangerous air pollution at Portland General Electric’s (PGE) Boardman coal-fired power plant.

PGE Boardman emits about 4 million tons of greenhouse gases a year and another 25,500 tons of pollutants, primarily sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.

The coal plant’s pollution creates haze and acid rain. Wondering about the leading cause of haze pollution in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area? Look no further than the PGE coal-fired power plant.

In 2008, Sierra Club, Columbia Riverkeeper, Friends of the Columbia Gorge, Hells Canyon Preservation Council, and the Northwest Environmental Defense Center (NEDC), with legal representation from the Earthrise Law Center, launched a campaign to clean up the Boardman plant. Two years later, we won. PGE agreed to a binding shutdown date; lower sulfur dioxide limits during the plant’s final years in operation; and a $2.5-million penalty for violating the law.

According to PGE, the Boardman plant, which opened in 1977, will be the youngest U.S. coal plant closed for environmental reasons.