Coal Blooded: Putting Profits Before People

their plants is relatively high, but the plants that they own are sited in sparsely populated areaswith low proportions of low-income people and people of color.It is important to acknowledge that higher grades have been assigned to some companies thatgrassroots activists have long been campaigning against. This evaluation by no means is meantto undermine the merit of criticisms raised by those campaigns; rather, this is specifically acorporate environmental justice performance (CEJP) ranking, which exists as a separate andequally important tool alongside overall corporate environmental performance (CEP) rankings.As Ash and Boyce argue, “the joint measurement of total impact (CEP) and disparate impacts(CEJP) provides the most robust picture of corporate environmental performance. Althoughcorrelated, neither measure adequately conveys information about the other. Both dimensionsare relevant, and both should — and can — be incorporated into the assessment of corporatesocial responsibility.” 79Key Finding: Corporations that Receive an “F” on their CEJP Score Own aMajority of the Worst Offending Coal-Fired Plants in the U.S.The 12 companies that received a grade of “F” as their CEJP score own 39 of the 75 failingplants — including all of the twelve worst plants. Out of the 5.9 million Americans who livewithin three miles of a coal-fired power plant, 3.6 million live within three miles of a coal plantowned by one of these 12 companies. Listed below are the 12 U.S. coal power companies thatreceived failing CEJP grades. (For the complete ranking, see Appendix 2).CompanyGrade1. Edison International F2. FirstEnergy F3. Unisource Energy F4. Public Service Enterprise Group F(PSEG)5. GenOn Energy F6. Dominion Resources F7. Duke Energy F8. Wisconsin Energy F9. Cogentrix/Goldman Sachs F10. Xcel Energy F11. Southern Company F12. DTE Energy FDiscussion of Select Company PerformanceAmong the 12 worst performing companies, according to EJ standards are several that warranta more detailed review. Below is a discussion of the policies and practices that resulted incompanies being listed as “worst offenders” on environmental justice issues.Page | 33