"Even if a utility wants to retire an unprofitable coal unit, they might not be allowed to do so (by the state) if they're still paying it off." 'sell' it to a

"Even if a utility wants to retire an unprofitable coal unit, they might not be allowed to do so (by the state) if they're still paying it off." 'sell' it to a subsidiary and bankrupt it. Or act like a bani and pretend it's too big to fail. There are many ways to ditch an asset if you want to. "Let's also say they want to retire their entire fleet and go to renewables as you suggest. Will they be allowed to raise rates to pay for the millions of dollars necessary to do so?" If they can't afford it then they should have looked at the coming markets and ideals of the users. :Note I read the rest of your comment and agreed with your sentiment. To an extent. But you cannot argue in good faith that the companies that have been making bank without caring a single whit about the environmental cost are somehow the good guys when they have to start considering it. We have seen recently that bp knew in the 80's of the effect of excessive fuel consumption on global warming. To think that they were the only large company in a similar industry to realise this is just sticking your head in the sand. Shit has to change. We are running out of options, and frankly if some of these companies go under because they didn't prepare based on knowledge they more than likely knew, well stiff fucking shit. I'm in a world where my son has to deal with the consequences of the previous generation, and to an extent my own actions before I had learnt enough to know. It's time to own up, act in the best interest of everyone as a whole. If you don't, well, don't come crying to me when people start taking drastic action. Edit: a few words, on a mobile.