Salt Lake City, UT-- Last night, the Salt Lake City District School board passed a resolution unanimously establishing the goal of transitioning the school district to 100% clean electricity by 2030, and off of fossil fuels for heating and transportation by 2040. This effort was led by students from Salt Lake's three major high schools, in collaboration with Utah Sierra Club and Sierra Club's Climate Parents program.
Reporting from Reuters reveals that the Trump administration has chosen this moment -- in the midst of historic economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic that’s decimating the clean energy industry -- to squeeze clean energy companies for millions of dollars.
While the report shows that Duke, the largest investor-owned electric utility in the country, is aware of the need to increase the use of renewable energy, the utility is falling short on addressing its role in the climate crisis: Duke plans to still have 9 gigawatts of dirty coal online in 2030; to expand its fracked gas buildout through 2030, including the over-budget, unnecessary Atlantic Coast Pipeline; and to make only minimal commitments to energy efficiency and demand side management programs, which would immediately lower costs for families and businesses.
Today, the Sierra Club and its environmental allies filed their opening brief in federal court to challenge the Trump Administration’s so-called “ACE” rule—also known as the Dirty Power Plan. Concocted by former coal lobbyist and current EPA chief Andrew Wheeler, this reckless and unlawful rule will allow fossil fuel-burning power plants to keep dumping carbon dioxide pollution into our air with essentially no restraints, driving dangerous climate change to ever more catastrophic levels.
TOPEKA, KS -- Earlier today, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that utilities cannot charge customers who generate their own power more than customers who do not. The Court ruled in favor of Earthjustice, the Sierra Club, and Vote Solar, who challenged a 2018 Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) decision approving extra fees (sometimes called “demand charges”) on residential solar customers.
INDIANAPOLIS — The Sierra Club this week launched a statewide radio ad campaign urging residents to demand that the state Senate reject HB 1414, a piece of dangerous and unnecessary legislation that would slow the retirement of Indiana’s aging, polluting coal fleets, lead to higher bills for families and businesses, and worsen the climate crisis.
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana House today passed HB 1414, a bill that would require the state’s utility regulatory commission to approve coal plant closures. The bill would also let electric utilities recover the costs for more coal, thereby incentivizing them to buy more coal and pass that cost onto customers.
TOPEKA, KS -- On Thursday, Evergy--which serves approximately 1.6 million customers in Kansas and Missouri-- announced goals of “reducing carbon emissions'' and becoming “more environmentally sustainable.” While the addition of 660 megawatts of wind power is encouraging, the utility’s plan also includes continued operation of the utility’s large fleet of coal plants until between 2040-2050 if not longer.
Sierra Club applauds and fully supports the special resolution Indianapolis City-County Council members passed unanimously tonight, calling on local electric provider Indianapolis Power & Light (IPL) to update its 20-year energy plan filed with state regulators in December to include the full retirement of the Petersburg Super Polluter coal plant by 2028.
Georgia families and business will pay more on their monthly electric bills, and have less control of their energy costs, after the state’s Public Service Commission today approved a rate hike request from Georgia Power.
Today, the Sierra Club released the Building Electrification Action Plan for Climate Leaders, which advises policymakers on how to clear greenhouse gas emissions out of California’s homes and buildings. More than 20 cities have already adopted ordinances to begin phasing gas out of buildings, which release roughly 17 percent of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions and account for more pollution than all of the state’s power plants combined.
Indianapolis Power & Light (IPL) today released its plan for how the utility will generate electricity for its more than 470,000 customers over the next two decades with a proposal to retire two units at the Petersburg Super Polluter coal plant, but will keep burning coal until 2042 at the two remaining units.