TAKOKA, MD -- Today, Energy Secretary Granholm and Transportation Secretary Buttigieg signed an agreement authorizing their offices to combine resources to expand electric vehicle charging infrastructure for communities across the country, following yesterday’s announcement of the Biden administration’s
Trees and forests are essential for maintaining healthy communities and ecosystems. The Build Back Better Act’s investments to support forestry programs and initiatives are key to making our communities more resilient to the climate crisis and building up the critical green infrastructure we need to take on the climate crisis. In total, the funding for forestry and related programs included in the Build Back Better Act could plant 38 million trees across the country.
Today, the Virginia State Water Control Board approved a water permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) via a 3-2 vote, finalizing state approval for the MVP to build across hundreds of Virginia waterways.
St. Louis, MO - In a federal court filing today, Ameren Missouri announced its intent to retire its Rush Island coal plant no later than March 2024 following Clean Air Act violations and a court order to add modern pollution controls. Ameren Missouri previously planned to retire Rush Island in 2039 according to the Integrated Resource Plan it filed with the Missouri Public Service Commission in 2020.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Yesterday, the politicians and coal companies who are petitioning the United States Supreme Court in West Virginia v. EPA submitted their initial legal briefs in the case. As the briefs make clear, these petitioners are asking the Court to go far beyond what is needed to clarify the relevant portions of the Clean Air Act. Instead, the petitioners are seeking to redefine the Court’s precedents so as to fundamentally erode the ability of our government to protect the public.
Today marks the close of the public comment period on a proposed rulemaking from the Department of Labor that would restore flexibility to managers of pension funds and retirement accounts to consider the environment, social justice, and corporate governance in making investments and voting on shareholder proposals.
New report finds that if US financial institutions were a country, they would be the fifth worst carbon emitter in the world, or just below Russia, in annual net emissions of CO₂;
Today, a coalition representing thousands of members who live in communities directly impacted by coal mining sent a letter to the White House asking the Biden Administration to prioritize the appointment of a permanent director for the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE). The groups highlight three specific, unprecedented challenges facing the coal mining industry and coal mining communities.
DULUTH, MN -- Sierra Club members and communities from around the Twin Ports continue to voice their opposition to a proposed fracked gas power plant--the Nemadji Trail Energy Center (NTEC)--to be built in Superior, Wisconsin. The proposed gas plant is now a joint effort between Duluth-based Minnesota Power, Wisconsin-based Dairyland Power, and North Dakota-based Basin Electric. NTEC would be built along 31st Ave E, between Grand Ave and E 10th St, close to homes, schools, and businesses, and only a few miles from Lake Superior.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- Today, the the Energy We Can’t Afford coalition--which includes, SP350, MN350, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Vote Solar, Environment Minnesota, Community Power, Fresh Energy, Cooperative Energy Futures, and the Sierra Club--launched a public education campaign to inform Minnesotans that so-called “natural gas” is primarily methane, a dirty and dangerous fossil fuel.