Des Moines, Iowa -- Today the new CEO of utility company MidAmerican, Kelcey Brown, received a gift basket with a petition signed by over 1300 Iowans and letters from local clean air advocates at Clean Air Muscatine calling on the utility to commit to a plan to go 100% clean energy.
New York, NY — Today, JPMorgan Chase announced a goal to finance and facilitate $2.5 trillion into climate solutions and sustainable development over the next ten years, but the bank failed to make any new commitments to reduce its financing of fossil fuels and overall climate impact.
ST PAUL, MN -- One week ahead of Earth Day, a coalition of Minnesota environmental, worker, Indigenous and progressive groups released a mid-term climate report card grading Governor Walz on his actions to ensure a sustainable and equitable future for Minnesota. Unfortunately, the report card found that Governor Walz’s actions fall short of the bold and decisive measures needed to respond to the climate crisis. Of the nine areas identified in the report card, Governor Walz received mainly F’s and D’s.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The annual National Park Week returns from April 17–25. The event celebrates our national parks and encourages everyone to get outdoors and explore the history, culture, and landscapes of these treasured places. The event kicks off Friday, April 16 with a Twitter chat for a conversation about National Park Week, ways to recreate responsibly, connected conservation, and other outdoors topics.
More than Century-Old BP Whiting Refinery Released Deadly Microscopic Soot-Like Particles Above Permitted Limit
Hammond, Ind. – A federal judge today ruled that the more than century-old BP Whiting Refinery on Lake Michigan, one of the nation’s largest refineries, repeatedly violated legal limits on deadly soot-like particulate air pollution.
WASHINGTON—More than 200 climate, Native American, religious, business and conservation organizations today called on the Biden administration to do a comprehensive environmental review to align federal fossil fuel programs with U.S. climate goals to curb global warming.
WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, in advance of the new US Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the Paris Agreement, the Sierra Club released a fact sheet showing a path for the US to reduce emissions at least 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. The fact sheet -- which offers a sector-by-sector analysis of the coal, oil, fracked gas, clean energy, and clean transportation industries -- underscores how advocates have created emissions reductions that outweighed what analysts predicted. Ultimately, the fact sheet shows that it is achievable and necessary for the US to commit to an NDC of reducing emissions at least 50 percent by 2030.
Minneapolis, MN -- Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune and Minnesota Sierra Club North Star Chapter Chair Kamau Wilkins issued the following statement on the murder of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, MN. This officer-involved killing of a Black man occurred in the same metropolitan area as the site of George Floyd’s death in 2020, all while the trial of former officer Derek Chauvin is nationally televised. In July of 2019, the Sierra Club joined a coalition of environmental justice to release a just and equitable national climate platform that centers racial, climate and environmental justice to improve the public health and well-being of all communities.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, a broad coalition of 95 environmental organizations and local community groups called on the Biden Administration to fix a glaring environmental justice problem by closing the Startup, Shutdown, Malfunction (SSM) loopholes. The groups sent a letter and filed a legal petition to urge EPA to prioritize closing the loopholes. The SSM loopholes allow polluting facilities like coal plants and oil refineries to release unlimited amounts of dangerous air pollution during routine events, without facing legal consequences under the Clean Air Act. This toxic pollution causes severe health consequences in fenceline and nearby communities and has historically had a disproportionate impact on low-income communities and communities of color that live near polluting facilities.