Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway operates the dirtiest set of coal-fired power plants in the US
Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett urged readers to come «inhale the air, drink the water» and attend the company's annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, his hometown.
The letter, a document pored over by shareholders, analysts and press every year for insights into the legendary investor's thinking, playfully sought to link the success of his conglomerate with the setting of the heartland city, in eastern Nebraska along the Iowa border.
One detail omitted: Federal emissions data show that Omaha's air quality ranks in the bottom third of U.S. cities, fouled in part by coal-fired power plants owned by Berkshire in neighboring Iowa. A modeling tool of the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, shows that pollution from the plants each year causes up to seven premature deaths, $104 million in healthcare expenses and 1,800 lost school days in the metropolitan area of Omaha, with nearly 1 million people.
The calculations, performed by Reuters using the EPA's modeling data for 2023, were reviewed and confirmed by three outside emissions scientists consulted for this report. The scientists are all independent research experts with no affiliation with the news agency or the electricity industry.
The air over Omaha, and other areas near Berkshire's dozen coal-fired power plants nationwide, casts a pall over the environmental record of a company that touts itself at the vanguard of clean energy. Despite investments to date of $41 billion in renewable energies, mostly wind and solar power, Berkshire operates the
