St. Louis, MO -- Ameren Missouri’s appeal of a lower court ruling that required the utility to add pollution controls to its Rush Island and Labadie coal plants was partially successful. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit confirmed that Ameren violated the Clean Air Act, but overturned a lower court order that would have required Ameren to fully remedy the effects of its unlawful pollution.
On August 11, the Sierra Club filed a petition for reconsideration of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decision to omit Ottawa County from the agency’s list of areas across the country that are out of attainment with health-based federal ozone (smog pollution) standards. Sierra Club won a court order in 2020 requiring EPA to revisit the agency’s 2018 decision to designate Ottawa County as an attainment area. EPA announced its decision to maintain that designation in June. A nonattainment designation triggers stricter rules for permitting new sources of pollution in the area, and requires that the state come up with a plan to bring the area back into attainment. The Clean Air Act makes clear that any county with pollution that has monitored violations of an air standard, or is contributing to monitored violations of an air standard, should be designated nonattainment. Local concern about health risks is especially high because of the COVID-19 pandemic and increased outdoor time due to social distancing.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, the Department of the Interior announced it will restart an analysis of the climate, health and economic impacts from mining and burning coal from public lands -- a review that began during the Obama administration.
In response, representatives of Sierra Club released the following statements:
Today, activists from Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign and Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (Iowa CCI) rallied in Cowles Commons Park before marching to occupy the lobby at MidAmerican Energy Headquarters in Downtown Des Moines. MidAmerican is the number one carbon polluter in Iowa. It owns and operates 5 coal plants across the state that have no public plans for retirement.
As the third-ranked state in the U.S. in terms of carbon pollution from electricity generation, Indiana is critical to building climate solutions.
Consumers Energy filed its electric and gas energy efficiency (referred to in Michigan as “energy waste reduction”) plans to reduce energy waste in the service territory with the Michigan Public Service Commission on August 2.
Maple Grove, MN -- Great Rivers Energy (GRE) was successful in its sale of the Coal Creek power plant to Rainbow Energy in a process that lacked transparency and engagement. Instead of receiving clarity from Great River Energy, member-owners have been forced to hunt for details in public reporting about the potential sale. Individual customers didn’t even know this deal was happening.
El Administrador de la Agencia Federal de Protección Ambiental, Michael Regan, anunció que reconsiderará formalmente uno de los peores debilitamientos de los estándares de toxicidad del agua de la era de Trump.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- EPA Administrator Michael Regan has announced that the Biden EPA will formally reconsider one of the most toxic clean water rollbacks of the Trump era.
FirstEnergy entered into a deferred prosecution agreement for its role in the criminal endeavor behind the passage of the Ohio House Bill 6 and nuclear bailout (HB6), a scheme federal prosecutors referred to as likely the largest bribery, money-laundering scheme ever perpetrated against the people in the state of Ohio.
New Orleans, LA -- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must reject Louisiana’s Regional Haze plan if it is not fundamentally changed to comply with the Clean Air Act. The plan is insufficient in many ways, including a failure to review environmental justice impacts for communities disproportionately impacted by air pollution. That is the message Sierra Club and National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) sent to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) and EPA on Monday as the public comment period for the draft plan expired.
ATLANTA, GA -- Southern Company is greenwashing its climate commitment, and a new ad campaign by Sierra Club seeks to hold the utility accountable for its promises and alert ratepayers to the utility’s role in preventing a transition to clean energy.