SALT LAKE CITY and LARAMIE, Wyo. - Last night, clean energy advocates and community members rallied at hearings in Utahand Wyomingto speak out against Rocky Mountain Power's latest energy plan, known as an Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). The 2025 IRP, filed by the utility's parent company PacifiCorp, identifies the resources the company will use to meet customers' energy needs for the next 20 years - in this case, prioritizing unaffordable, volatile fossil fuels. Infuriated residents are criticizing the plan for its lack of clean energy solutions and calling on state regulators to reject the IRP, which can affect everything from customers' electricity bills to local job growth and public health.

Utah regulators held a public witness hearing at the Heber Wells Building in Salt Lake City. Utahns rallied outside with Frankenstein-inspired signs and costumes, calling on the Utah Public Service Commission to reject PacifiCorp's "monstrous" plan that locks Utah and Wyoming into decades of burning coal while overlooking the clear economic and environmental benefits of renewable energy resources like wind and solar. Alyssa Chamberlain, a Sierra Club volunteer dressed as "Dr. Frankenstein," got into character and gave a satirical speech for her hearing testimony.

"Rocky Mountain Power calls it their 2025 Integrated Resource Plan. I call it my monster," said Chamberlain. "If approved, it will keep Utah's Hunter and Huntington coal plants alive past 2040. The sky will glow a lovely, suffocating shade of gray, the bills will stay high, and profits will line shareholders' pockets forever. Truly - a marvel of modern regression!"

In Wyoming, where regulators have yet to schedule a hearing, Sierra Club and partners organized a people's hearing at the Lincoln Community Center in Laramie. Local residents gathered to advocate for their needs - clean energy development to lower bills, provide good-paying jobs, and boost local economies. Comments from the hearing are being compiled to submit to Wyoming regulators.

"Wyoming has the potential to be a leader when it comes to the energy transition, and a higher renewable portfolio from PacifiCorp would provide thousands of high-paying, safe jobs for Wyomingites," said Emma Jones, Climate and Energy Organizer for the Sierra Club Wyoming Chapter. "But if PacifiCorp continues with its plans to double down on fossil fuels, Wyoming communities will be harmed by a lack of opportunity in the long run."

In the 2025 IRP, the utility company has opted to ignore reliable, affordable renewable energy sources by:

• Burning coal indefinitely at deadly coal plants that happen to be some of the dirtiest in the country, like Hunter and Huntington in Utah, and Wyodak and Dave Johnston in Wyoming
• Continuing to pursue risky and failed technologies like carbon captureand nuclear
• Severely limiting clean energy acquisitions, leaving nearly $2 billion in savings on the table, as well as more than $100 million in local tax revenueand thousands of new jobs.

The timeline for a decision will vary, but the public can continue to submit comments to Utahand Wyomingregulators at least through Nov. 24.

Photos from the hearings are available here,and video recordings are available upon request.

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org.