Today, a coalition of environmental and community groups brought a challenge to a Trump Administration rule designed to make it harder for communities impacted by coal mining to hold state regulators and mining companies accountable for violating environmental protections. The Trump rule inserts a new process which, at best, will significantly delay actions to address violations and, at worst, will allow regulators to avoid addressing these violations entirely.
Hastings, NE – Following President Joe Biden’s executive action on the proposed TC Energy Keystone XL pipeline announced on Wednesday, the unlikely coalition of Indigenous groups, affected landowners, and environmental groups that have been fighting the proposed project for more than ten years released the following statements:
Washington, DC -- Today, President Joe Biden will begin taking immediate action on the climate crisis, including rescinding the “presidential permit” for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, killing the controversial proposed project once and for all.
Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated the ‘Affordable Clean Energy’ rule and remanded it to the EPA.
CHICAGO, IL -- Save Our Illinois Land (SOIL), the Sierra Club, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), and area landowner William Klingele filed an appeal this week of the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) decision to approve the expansion of the pump stations for the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipeline (ETCOP), which will enable the pipelines to nearly double the amount of crude oil they transport.
DEQ Refused To Evaluate Full Scope Of Project And Admits Failure To Meaningfully Review Public Comments
Richmond, VA -- Last week, the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) rejected Appalachian Power’s proposal to increase the basic service charge and pre-charge then stockpile consumers money to subsidize the retirement of its uneconomic coal plant’s even though Appalachian Power has not locked in retirement dates. The Sierra Club actively fought against the proposed coal amortization rider, providing key witnesses arguing that the increase would result in consumers pre-paying for undetermined early coal retirements.
A new lawsuit filed yesterday evening challenges the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s approval of a key water quality permit for Enbridge’s Line 3 tar sands pipeline.
Natrium, WV -- Today, the Sierra Club and Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition entered into a proposed consent decree settlement agreement with Eagle Natrium, LLC that would resolve the groups’ claims that the company violated its permit limits for discharges of mercury into the Ohio River from its chlor-alkali facility located in Natrium, West Virginia.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Supreme Court today stated it will hear arguments in a challenge to the Trump administration’s diversion of $2.5 billion from military pay and pension funds for border wall construction that Congress explicitly denied. The order came in Sierra Club v. Trump, a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the Sierra Club and the Southern Border Communities Coalition.