Two of America’s biggest coal plants closed this month

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QZ.Com

First the dirtiest ones began shutting down. Then it was the old ones. Now it’s some of the biggest. America’s coal plants are turning off the boilers, facing brutal economics and customers fleeing for natural gas and renewable energy.

This week, Arizona’s 2.25-GW Navajo Generating Station burned its last load of coal after no buyers turned up during a two-year search. Trade publication Utility Dive reports that the fate of the financially ailing plant was sealed after a bid to force an Arizona water agency to buy its electricity failed. The Navajo station emitted about 20 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year, equivalent to 3.3 million cars. It’s one of the biggest retirements in a year of massive shutdowns.

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Southern Indiana coal mine laying off nearly 200 workers

OWENSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A coal mine in southern Indiana is laying off 184 employees.

The Evansville Courier & Press says Gibson County Coal filed a notice Friday. The layoffs are effective Jan. 15.

The coal company’s parent, Alliance Resource Partners, says there’s too much coal on the market as a result of poor export markets. Chairman Joseph Craft III says, “We deeply regret the impact of this action on our employees.”

The Gibson North mine this year produced about. 1.7 million tons of coal through Oct. 31.