The coal-fired power station at Mount Tom in Holyoke, Western Massachusetts, generates 146 megawatts of electricity, provides around 50 jobs, and contributes almost $2 million to the community in taxes. But it also dumps approximately one million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year, making our climate less stable and our kids' futures less secure.

Tighter regulations and rising prices are pushing power companies away from coal, so almost every week somewhere in America a coal-plant is shutting down. If the company that owns Mount Tom (GDF Suez) follows the national trend, the plant’s days may be numbered. And if the jobs and taxes disappeared, Holyoke would suffer, and neighboring communities would feel the knock-on effects.

We need to keep our power stations open, minus the coal. Moving from coal to renewable energy is an urgent priority. Climate change is starting to bite – the outgoing year, 2010, was the second hottest since records began – and coal makes up about one-third of our country’s output of the main cause of human-made climate change, CO2.

So we can get serious about tackling climate change, or we can carry on burning coal; but we can’t do both.

It's time to repower from coal to cleaner energy, and that's what the Act to Phase Out Coal Burning in Massachusetts requires. It gives power companies a choice and a deadline: By 2020, close the coal-burning facilities or convert them to cleaner energy. They can even convert to natural gas so long as the upgraded plant uses the most efficient technology and meets stringent CO2-emissions standards.

Repowering would create more jobs. But in case a company chooses to retire a facility instead, our bill creates a Community Repowering Fund to help workers and affected communities make the transition.

For cleaner energy and green jobs, let's move Massachusetts beyond coal.