Electric cooperatives generate just 5 percent of the electricity used in the United States. So why are they so concerned about the cost of environmental compliance?

It's because electric cooperatives depend more on coal for generation than the rest of the industry. Co-op generation equals about 80 percent coal, while investor-owned and municipal systems are about 50 percent coal.

So why not switch from coal to another fuel source? Coal is by far the lowest-priced fuel for generating electricity. The delivered cost to generate 1 megawatt hour from coal (fuel price plus transportation) is $13. The next cheapest source, natural gas, is roughly three times higher, at $47.

When energy costs go up, they hit the poorest Americans the hardest. Those living at the poverty level spend about 33 percent of their incomes on energy. Cooperatives tend to serve areas with income levels 16 percent lower than the national average.

what i want to know is, given one of these older plants -- which is i'm sure what they operate -- how quickly do things like heat-capture pay for themselves? when can you shut down?

Weve been warned.
You been warned.
It aint warm its hot.
COAL aint cheap its too dear for us all.

And instructive that it's a municipal utility, where the interests of utility customers and shareholders are aligned.  The munis and coops are increasingly the places where the most innovation happens on the grid (as compared to the investor-owned utilities that sadly still make up the bulk of the retail sales, and make money by building expensive, inefficient generation.)

Are you saying that Rockport should switch back to coal for energy since it is cheap?