NO COAL: PUC Makes it official.

The PUC voted unanimously yesterday to prohibit investor-owned utilities from entering into contracts for coal-generated power. The move is designed to encourage investment in alternative energy technologies and to reduce CO2 emissions.

Predictably, the decision was met without much fuss as it was a long time coming. (Earlier we batted around the "coal dilemmas" in Pasadena and Truckee on this site.)

The half-hearted response from the coal industry lobby was kind of comical: A spokesman trotted out the same old line about inflationary energy costs, but then argued that, because India and China use so much coal, we should too because the global environment is screwed anyway! (That's a winner sound bite!)

California power companies barred from buying dirty power [San Diego Union Tribune]