Coal-fired power plants: The writing on the wall

Only green compromises will allow them to survive

THE coal-fired power plant that was cancelled in Michigan on May 1st is the 97th to be rejected since 2001, and the ninth this year. The number of planned coal plants across America has plummeted from 150 to 60 in the past five years. Last year 5,465 megawatts (MW) of new electricity were announced, but more than twice that capacity

Environmentalists, though thrilled, know they still have a long way to go. The Energy Information Administration reports that more than 600 coal-fired plants still produce about half of America