WASHINGTON, DC -- Yesterday, the New York Times reported on plans from President Biden’s advisers for an economic recovery package designed to reduce carbon emissions, invest in manufacturing and high-tech industries, and upgrade infrastructure.
Conservation groups in the Pacific Northwest filed a legal challenge to reinstate federal protections on more than 3.4 million acres of federal old-growth forests, which are essential for the survival of the threatened northern spotted owl. The lawsuit asks the court to reject a rule issued in the last days of the Trump administration that eliminated one-third of the critical habitat protections for the species. The nonprofit law firms Earthjustice and Western Environmental Law Center represent Audubon Society of Portland, Cascadia Wildlands, Center for Biological Diversity, Conservation Northwest, Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Oregon Wild, Sierra Club and The Wilderness Society in the lawsuit.
CARSON CITY (Mar. 23, 2021) — Assemblywoman Lesley Cohen (D-29) introduced the Responsible Energy Planning bill (AB380) today. This bill, which has already garnered support from local clean energy and business advocates, would require Nevada’s gas utilities to avoid wasteful and unnecessary gas spending and consider clean energy alternatives that meet the state’s goals of 100 percent clean power and zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.CARSON CITY (Mar. 23, 2021) — Assemblywoman Lesley Cohen (D-29) introduced the Responsible Energy Planning bill (AB380) today. This bill, which has already garnered support from local clean energy and business advocates, would require Nevada’s gas utilities to avoid wasteful and unnecessary gas spending and consider clean energy alternatives that meet the state’s goals of 100 percent clean power and zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Fresno, Calif.— Conservation groups sued the Bureau of Land Management today over the Trump administration’s rushed sale of seven oil and gas leases on public lands in Kern County, California.
Washington, D.C. -- On Monday, 10 people were tragically killed in a mass shooting while at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado. According to authorities, the suspect was apprehended at the site of the crime and has been charged with 10 counts of murder in the first degree. Cases of gun violence are on the rise as the country begins to reopen in accordance with public health and safety policies.
New Orleans, LA -- Last week, the Sierra Club announced its endorsement of Karen Carter Peterson in the special election for Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District.
Trenton, New Jersey - The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) released an analysis of potential massive cost impacts to New Jersey consumers as a result of the Trump-era federal meddling in the PJM capacity market. The federal rule, known as the Minimum Offer Price Rule (MOPR), essentially bails out uneconomic fossil fuel companies at the consumer’s expense by forcing them to needlessly pay twice for generation capacity.
Brownsville, TX -- Today, news broke that Annova LNG has abandoned its plans for its LNG fracked gas export terminal when it filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to withdraw its certificate.
Annova LNG, backed by Exelon, Black and Veatch, Enbridge, and Kiewit Energy group, was one of three fracked gas export terminals proposed for the Rio Grande Valley. If built, Annova LNG would have destroyed wetlands, blocked a wildlife corridor threatening the survival of endangered wildlife, and put communities needlessly at risk.
This afternoon, a bankruptcy court issued a ruling that allows the Blackjewel coal company to immediately abandon cleanup obligations at 33 coal mines in Kentucky. An additional 171 Blackjewel permits in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia will be placed into a legal limbo to potentially make them available to new ownership. Any of those permits that do not transfer to new owners in the next six months will also be abandoned. Since Blackjewel failed to complete reclamation at these mines, and the regulators failed to require adequate reclamation bonds, these abandonments mean millions of dollars in outstanding costs may fall on taxpayers and local communities. This is a potentially precedent-setting ruling at a time when several coal mining companies are nearing bankruptcy amid declining demand for thermal coal.