environmental-law

March 27, 2024

BOW, NH. – Today, following negotiations with Sierra Club, The Conservation Law Foundation, and EPA, Granite Shore Power has committed to ending the era of coal in New England by retiring the coal-burning units at Merrimack and Schiller Stations in New Hampshire, by 2028 and 2025 respectively. In total, 560 megawatts of dirty power are set to go offline. After tireless advocacy work from local Sierra Club staff and volunteers, New Hampshire is the 16th coal-free state, the 12th to go coal-free since the Beyond Coal campaign launched in 2010.

March 21, 2024

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must correct legal errors with a regulation that allows oil and gas companies to harass Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears on the North Slope of Alaska.

March 13, 2024

Final Rule Significantly Curtailed Emissions Disclosure Requirements Despite Widespread Support

March 12, 2024

Today, Sierra Club and allies filed legal responses to American Petroleum Institute and Commonwealth LNG requests for rehearing of Department of Energy’s pause on review of new applications for methane gas exports, or LNG. The groups make clear that the industry requests “should be denied as procedurally improper because there is nothing to seek rehearing of.”

March 1, 2024

Washington, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld in part and vacated in part a landmark 2015 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule requiring that 36 states close loopholes polluters use to emit vast amounts of harmful air toxins during a facility’s start up, shut down and malfunctions (SSM).

February 28, 2024

Following a lawsuit from the cryptocurrency mining industry, Sierra Club attorneys filed an amicus brief addressing the Department of Energy’s (DOE) efforts to collect information on the energy usage of cryptocurrency mining operations.

February 26, 2024

Washington, D.C.: The Southwest Power Pool (SPP), once again, submitted a discriminatory accreditation plan with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). SPP was required to go back to the drawing board following a challenge by environmental advocates last year who challenged the unfair treatment of renewable energy. 

February 8, 2024

Lansing, MI – Environmental and housing advocates, Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) staff, the Attorney General’s office, and Consumers Energy reached a new agreement that will expand energy efficiency – referred to as energy waste reduction (EWR) – programs and investments following approval by MPSC Commissioners today.

January 23, 2024

Phoenix, AZ -- In a disheartening verdict, today the Maricopa County Superior Court ruled to uphold the Arizona Corporation Commission’s (ACC) decision to approve Salt River Project’s (SRP) revised proposal to expand the gas-fired Coolidge Generating Station in Pinal County, Arizona.

January 17, 2024

Detroit, MI – The Sierra Club filed a brief in its lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) unlawful approval of Michigan’s request to move the Detroit area from nonattainment to attainment for ground-level ozone pollution.

January 12, 2024

In a critical step to ensuring that the Martin Lake coal plant must reduce its harmful pollution, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s designation that two rural East Texas counties do not meet national air quality standards for sulfur dioxide.

January 10, 2024

Conservation groups sued the U.S. Forest Service today for failing to protect streams in the Cherry River watershed from the harmful effects of coal hauling in the Monongahela National Forest.