Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, a large electric co-op heavily reliant on fossil fuels, isn’t providing the legally required financial guarantees that prove it has the capacity to clean up its mines in Colorado and Wyoming. We’ve therefore challenged the company’s policy of “self-bonding” its mines.
By law, for a coal company to be permitted to mine, it must post bonds to cover the costs of reclamation. That way, if the company declares bankruptcy or goes out of business, the costs of cleaning up its mines don’t fall on taxpayers. Tri-State, on the other hand, is “self-bonding” these costs; effectively a corporate IOU, this means the company has actually allocated no financial backing to guarantee reclamation.
Tri-State’s failure to guarantee its bonds begs the question: has it honestly disclosed to its members the true cost of relying on fossil fuels?
Read the press release.
