Our work to close the Merrimack Generating Station began in 2019. When we started we said our goal was to “close the last big coal plant in New England without a shutdown date.”
And how times have changed.
The last smaller coal power plant, Schiller, has closed. And the only other operating coal plant, the Bridgeport Harbor Station (in Connecticut) quit burning coal in June 2021. Here’s some of what we’ve been up to since we kicked off our campaign to close, what is now, the last coal plant in New England.
2019: Announcing the Campaign
On August 20, 2019, we kicked things off by delivering coal to decision makers at the New Hampshire State House, laying responsibility for the continued burning of coal at the feet (er, steps) of government officials who have taken no action to clean up the mess on the Merrimack. Where’d the coal come from? Why, the Merrimack Generating Station of course. It’s important to use authentic material in communicating your message.
2019: Bucket by Bucket
In conjunction with youth-led climate strikes across the region and the world, hundreds gathered at the gates of Merrimack Station on September 28th, 2019 to demand the closure of the plant and ensure it isn’t converted to burn fracked methane gas. We didn’t just talk about it, we took direct action to solve the problem ourselves; heading into the grounds to remove the coal from the fires of climate catastrophe. And we were ready to do it bucket by bucket if we had to. Now, we didn’t make it out with any coal and 67 people were arrested for the attempt, but we demonstrated exactly the sort of boldness and determination that is required from all of us, wherever we are in the system, to up-end the fossil fuel status-quo and place us on a more just trajectory.
2020: Train by Train
We had anticipated that the plant would be re-fueled with coal over the course of that winter and into 2020. And we knew that we did not need to be bringing more coal to be burned, here or anywhere. In the snow on December 6, No Coal No Gas activists blockaded a single coal train bound for Bow, New Hampshire, three separate times over the course of 24 hours. What started as a blockade of four people in West Boylston, MA, was followed by a big group in the wee hours of the morning blockading in Ayer, MA, concluding with a six-hour blockade on a bridge over the Merrimack River in Hooksett, New Hampshire. Three other blockades were effected on subsequent trains into January, including a blockade in Worcester and an eight-hour blockade on a scaffolding in Harvard, MA.
2020: Strike Down Coal, Build Up Justice
A global pandemic with no end in sight upended our campaign plans in April of 2020, and we embarked on a new strategy: redistributive direct action that people could take from home. We launched the New England Utility Strike during the summer of 2020 to move money, and put pressure on policy makers, away from the fossil fuel subsidies of “forward capacity payments” and towards those on the front lines most affected by the pandemic and historic systemic oppression. People around the region didn’t pay their electric bills, and instead sent their electric payment to Black and Indigenous led groups across the region.
2020: Coal Bucket Challenge
As part of the New England Utility Strike, many ratepayers and supporters also sent small packets of the coal we’d removed from the Merrimack Generating Station to their utility companies and the ISO (our regional grid operator). Enclosed with personal letters explaining their commitment to striking, reparations, and nonviolent direct action, the coal shipments were a reminder that when those in power fail to act, we will take action ourselves. As the New England Utility Strike ramped up, dozens of supporters mailed coal, and several affinity groups made in-person coal deliveries to their utility companies. On the day of the ISO Forward Capacity Auction, we delivered several wheelbarrows of coal to the gates of the ISO headquarters itself.
2021: All FERC’d Up
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) oversees regional electric grid management, and oversees ISO-NE. In the spring of 2021, we organized nearly 100 individuals to navigate the bureaucratic and complicated filing system of FERC to submit public comments and ask that FERC reject ISO-NE’s forward capacity auction results because of their continued support for dinosaur fossil fuel infrastructure like Merrimack Generating Station.
In the fight for climate justice, our work is everywhere! Answering the call for support, many of us have traveled to Minnesota to help fight the expansion of Line 3, a tar sands pipeline. In June, over 70 No Coal No Gas went to be in solidarity with the Anishinaabe people fighting Line 3 as part of their Treaty People Gathering. We echoed their call to stop this Enbridge pipeline project that threatens tribal lands, wild rice, and waterways.
2021: Treaty People Gathering
2021: Tear it Down, Plant our Future
Back in New Hampshire, we went by water and by land to the Merrimack Generating Station in October 2021 to rally for a shutdown date. Over 150 people arrived in support, some in kayakes and others by road, to being modeling the clean-up process needed to combat the plant’s polluting effect on the soils, water, and air. With gardening tools in hand, we began to tear up the pavement to make way for a garden. We planted native plants and sang songs, as cops in riot gear arrested 17 of our friends who put their bodies on the line to stop the continued harms from the coal plant.
2021: Connecticut Meet & Greet
Who’s keeping the Merrimack Generating Station afloat you might ask? Well, none other than the co-owners at Atlas Holdings and Castleton Commodities (along with some funding from the ISO). In November we went to Connecticut to say hello to these financiers of New England’s last coal-fired power plant. In a meeting with Atlas Holdings, we demanded they shut down Bow and cease their gas-powered bitcoin mining project in Seneca Lake and were promptly ejected from the room. At their doorstep, we gifted them a delivery of coal to remember us by. Castleton Commodities refused to meet with us entirely, and so we sang to them outside their offices. By the end of the week, we hand-delivered our demands to ISO New England’s President and CEO Gordon Van Welie at his home, to consider for himself what a plan for rapid grid decarbonization could look like.
2022: Smokestack Action
With the Forward Capacity Auction coming up, we went to Bow in January to call for the plant to be delisted. Two of us scaled the smokestack, while others locked down at the base below. Unfurling a banner that read “Shut it Down”, we demonstrated our commitment to shutting down coal in New England. An immediate delist bid would have shuttered the ratepayer subsidies that the plant receives each year through the ISO’s auction.
2022: All FERC’d Up Pt.2
For the second year in a row, we organized a massive public comment campaign to influence the results of ISO New England’s forward capacity auction. Over 150 comments were submitted asking for FERC to consider the impact of climate change when deciding our energy policy.
2022: Hooksett Climate Trial
In December 2019, we blockaded a coal train in three different locations - including a train bridge in Hooksett, NH. Five defendants took their case against coal to a jury trial. Our friends gave heartfelt testimony about their motivations to stop the climate crisis and build a strong community that stands up to injustice. While some charges were dropped, four of five friends faced sentencing for trespassing.
2022: NEPOOL Taking Us Seriously
We were invited to participate in an ISO stakeholder group gathering of the New England Power Pool (NEPOOL) in April 2022 in Worcester, MA. This group was meeting to review the ISO’s “Pathways Study” which outlines pathways to decarbonizing the power grid. In support, we rallied outside he meeting to urge action from the ISO stakeholders. Another group went to the railroad trestle nearby to leave a message for immediate climate action.
2022: Electing our Consumer Liaison Group
We elected six of our friends and six allies to ISO New England’s “Consumer Liaison Group (CLG) Coordinating Committee.” Over a hundred No Coal No Gas activists packed the November meeting of the CLG to vote on our candidates. In doing so, we kicked out fossil fuel interests and made sure ISO-NE would take us seriously. We will work with the CLG in the coming year to push ISO-NE to take more meaningful steps towards renewable energy and climate justice.
2022: Winter Coal Train Blockade
Granite Shore Power (owners of the coal plant) ordered deliveries of coal to Bow yet again. In December 2022, No Coal No Gas activists safely stopped a coal train and locked themselves onto the freight rail tracks in protest of the continued shipment of coal and the mistreatment of workers at CSX Rail (the railroad company transporting the coal).
Merrimack Station did NOT pass ISO-NE’s 2023 forward capacity auction! This means they are not guaranteed ratepayer funds for 2026-2027. This is HUGE! Our continued pressure on the coal plant is working, and cutting their funding off means it’s time to ramp up pressure to shut that coal plant down.
2023: No More Coal Funding
2023: Retirement Party
In June, right before a period of time when ISO-NE could give out a retirement offer to the coal plant, we decided to throw a big retirement party! There was dancing, cake, community, and a speaker posing as the “coal plant” even gave an exit interview. Without guaranteed forward capacity payments from ISO-NE, Merrimack Station will have a harder time maintaining their greedy, polluting venture. It’s time for this coal plant to close for good.
