(BOISE) The Idaho Conservation League (ICL) supports Avista’s commitment of “100 percent clean electricity by 2045 and to have a carbon-neutral supply of electricity by the end of 2027,” which was announced by the utility in a news release, Thursday, April 18.
“We welcome this news and ICL will continue to assist Avista on how to achieve this goal in an affordable and reliable manner,” said Ben Otto, ICL’s energy associate.
Avista joins Idaho Power as regional utilities that have set commitments to increase their use of renewable energy resources. Avista serves customers in northern Idaho, eastern Washington and parts of Oregon.
Otto added, “We’ve been advocating for Avista to divest from its part ownership of the Colstrip coal-fired power plant in eastern Montana for several years.”
Avista owns 15 percent of two of the four Colstrip generating units. Avista now will follow the lead of utilities in Oregon and Washington (Pacificorp, Portland General Electric, and Puget Sound Energy) that have already committed to part ways with the Colstrip plant earlier than planned.
ICL has a long history of working toward eliminating Idaho’s reliance on coal-fired power plants. The nonprofit has worked closely and successfully with other community members and Avista in this area. Overall, one of ICL’s priorities in the energy area is to address climate change and have clean Idaho air by eliminating carbon emissions and air pollution.
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