Great Falls, MT – A federal judge in Montana District Court ruled today to reinstate a moratorium halting all coal leasing on federal lands until the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) completes a more sufficient environmental analysis.
GREAT FALLS, MT — A federal judge late yesterday struck down two U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) resource management plans that failed to address the public health consequences of allowing massive amounts of coal, oil, and gas production from public lands and minerals in the Powder River Basin, including approximately 6 billion tons of low-grade, highly polluting coal over 20 years.
St. Louis, MO - In a surprise outcome last week, the Missouri Air Conservation Commission (MACC) failed to advance the new regional haze plan proposed by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which the MACC oversees. Missouri will miss its new deadline of August 15, 2022, to submit a plan to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), even though the federal agency gave states an additional three years to comply when it amended the Regional Haze Rule in 2017.
ATLANTA, GA -- Today, the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) made its final decision in Georgia Power’s 2022 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) by unanimously voting to approve an amended stipulation agreement between Public Service Commission Staff and Georgia Power (owned by Southern Company).
The final, approved plan includes:
ATLANTA, GA -- Yesterday, the Georgia Supreme Court denied Sierra Club’s petition to review a 2019 Public Service Commission (PSC) decision that gave Georgia Power almost unlimited power to collect fees from customers for coal ash clean up, despite the utility’s prior knowledge that coal ash contaminates groundwater.
ARIZONA – Today the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) heard from clean air advocates calling for strengthened pollution reduction measures to restore clean skies in Arizona’s national parks like Grand Canyon, Saguaro, and Petrified Forest National Parks, and to protect vulnerable communities that often live in close proximity to polluting facilities that degrade air quality and exacerbate the climate crisis.
Sierra Club, represented by Earthjustice, and supported by environmental justice advocates and community members from Northeast Texas, joined the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in New Orleans to present oral argument at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals defending EPA's final sulfur dioxide (SO2) nonattainment designation for the area around Martin Lake, a coal-burning power plant in Northeast Texas.
KANSAS CITY, MO - Yesterday, just hours after the Supreme Court of the United States released its decision to eliminate EPA’s most effective tool for reducing harmful climate pollution from existing power plants, the City of Kansas City, Missouri moved closer to formalizing a plan to drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions city- and region-wide.
Sierra Club and Clean Wisconsin filed an appeal today with the Wisconsin Court of Appeals to challenge the decision made by Dane County Circuit Court, rejecting their arguments that the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) failed to adequately consider environmental impacts for the $700 million Nemadji Trail Energy Center (NTEC) gas plant proposed by Dairyland Power, Minnesota Power, and Basin Electric in Superior, Wisconsin.
Today, the Michigan Public Service Commission approved a settlement in Consumers Energy’s Integrated Resource Plan that secures 2025 as the retirement date for Consumers Energy's J.H Campbell coal plant, 15 years earlier than previously planned. The settlement helps ensure that Consumers Energy will replace most of that capacity with clean energy and battery storage, instead of with fossil fuels as previously proposed. $30 million in shareholder funds (not ratepayer funds) will also be allocated to low-income bill assistance by Consumers as a result of this settlement.
St. Louis, MO – Late yesterday, Ameren Missouri submitted a mandated long-range energy plan with state regulators that calls for the massive expansion of burning fracked natural gas.
This morning Alliant Energy and We Energies announced near-term delays in the retirement of multiple coal units in Wisconsin, while reiterating continued intentions to follow through with its climate commitments. Alliant has made clear that both near term and long term clean energy commitments remain unchanged.