Towns and Nature: Boardman, OR: Portland General Electric Coal Plant Closed Oct 15, 2020

EastOregonian
"Boardman Generating Station went offline for good on Thursday, Oct. 15, marking an end to Oregon’s coal-burning era." [It was the last coal-fired plant in the state. It could burn as much as 8,000 tons of coal per day. That would be almost a coal train a day.] "PGE had considered trying to turn the plant, which still has about 20 years of expected life left, into a different type of generation plant, using biomass pellets in a process known as torrefaction, or natural gas. The utility stated in 2017 it had successful test runs using biomass materials at the plant, but later made the decision to close the plant completely." [The article talks about a Wheatridge project: "The 300-megawatt wind farm portion is expected to come online by the end of 2020. The 50 megawatts of solar and 30 megawatts of battery storage are expected to be completed by the end of 2021." The article doesn't mention the gas-fired plant pictured below. So the replacement power is not near as carbon free as the article is trying to imply. And nobody talks about the carbon emissions produced when building solar panels and batteries. Those emissions should include all of the mining and processing activities needed for the rare materials those products require.]