The Sierra Club translated

Environmentalists have such power when it comes to formulating public policy and influencing what elected officials (and bureaucrats do) that, environmentalists often speak like bureaucrats, hiding their true intentions. This article on the shutdown of half of the generation capacity at San Juan Generating Station which quoted an environmental leader at length gave me pause due to the stark differences between stated views and intentions and reality.

The following includes actual quotes from the Sierra Club representative followed by explanations of their real intentions in bold.

The Sierra Club rep. is quoted as saying, “Of course, what we’d like to see is New Mexico transition off of fossil fuel.” In other words,
“We really want to use government force to stop PNM from using cost-effective and reliable coal to fulfill consumers’ demand for electricity no matter what consumers want.”

“We’re looking at more ways to push renewables. We see this as a prime opportunity for PNM to invest in renewables. There’s plenty of opportunity potentially for PNM to really launch New Mexico into the clean energy future.”
“We at the Sierra Club have zero at stake financially (being neither major electricity consumers, nor having capitol at stake) have all the answers and should be able to use government force to tell PNM how to supply electricity to their customers.”

“Coal plants face tremendous uncertainty, and the remaining units at San Juan are no exception. State authorities and ratepayers should carefully analyze the potentially costly commitment PNM may be making in any coal contract.”
“The Sierra Club and our radical allies both in and outside of government will do everything we can to increase both the political and economic costs of coal and other reliable fossil fuels to the point that you will simply give in in to our demands.”