Coal power in WA Legislature's crosshairs after talk of Centralia plant's revival
The Washington House of Representatives on Thursday approved a new coal tax that targets a single company.
It’s meant to thwart a surprise move by the Trump administration to keep the last coal-fired power plant in the Pacific Northwest operational.
The fast-moving bill would saddle TransAlta Corporation’s Centralia coal plant with extra costs that would make it highly uncompetitive in the electricity marketplace were it to restart. TransAlta idled the power plant in December in conformance with a 2011 agreement to phase out coal power in Washington by the end of last year.
“This bill is intended to close the book on that chapter of our state’s electricity generation; to once and for all say we’re done generating electrons with the dirtiest and most expensive way to do so,” said House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon, D-West Seattle, the lead sponsor.
https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2026/02/12/coal-power-in-wa-legislatures-crosshairs-after-talk-of-centralia-plants-revival/
