Local Energy Rules

How can a community close a coal plant and produce clean electricity, respect the needs of its community members, and provide a just transition for power plant workers? A successful, multi-year campaign by community members in Holyoke, Mass., to address air pollution and related public health impacts from the coal-fired Mount Tom Power Station and push for clean energy provides a powerful model. As a new video about this campaign by the Toxics Action Center shows, community efforts were instrumental in closing the nearby plant. The campaign didn’t stop there, however. It pushed for initiatives to help plant workers transition into new careers or retirement and to develop a new solar and energy storage facility to replace the plant. In this episode of Local Energy Rules, ILSR’s Energy Democracy Initiative director John Farrell digs into this story with Lena Entin, deputy director of the Toxics Action Center and board member (as well as former community organizer) of the grassroots, Latinx-led economic justi