Press Releases

November 14, 2019

Last night, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed House Bills 4069, 4465, and Senate Bill 47 which eliminate property tax increases for residential, commercial, and industrial customers who install rooftop solar, moving Michigan one step closer to dismantling a key disincentive for distributed solar. The Michigan House and Senate approved these bills across bipartisan lines in near-unanimous votes.

November 13, 2019

Denver, CO-- Today, the Bureau of Land Management announced it will defer all acres up for auction in its December oil and gas lease sale in Colorado due to a court-ordered preliminary injunction. On Monday, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from easing safeguards on sage grouse habitat land-- blocking hundreds of thousands of acres from fossil fuel development in Western states. 

November 13, 2019

Las Vegas, NV-- Yesterday, the Sierra Club joined with members of the Western Shoshone Nation and community members to rally and demand the Trump administration’s Bureau of Land Management halt their oil and gas lease sales-- one that took place yesterday and upcoming sales through the year-- that target hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands in the state for drilling. The November sale originally included over 500,000 acres of land for sale, but the agency downsized the average significantly due to political pressure.

November 13, 2019

United States District Judge Joe Billy McDade approved today a settlement agreement between the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Respiratory Health Association (RHA), and Vistra Energy to resolve the Clean Air Act lawsuit brought by environmental organizations in 2013. The settlement includes the retirement of the E.D. Edwards coal-fired power plant by the end of 2022 and $8.6 million in funding for workforce development and public health and environmental projects that benefit Peoria-area communities.

November 12, 2019

In an interview with the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, Acting Bureau of Land Management Director William Pendley made clear his ambitions to remove the “acting” from his title and assume the role of BLM director.

November 12, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Yesterday, Reuters reported on the Sierra Club’s new report “Rev Up Electric Vehicles: A Nationwide Study of the EV Shopping Experience,” which shows that the U.S.

November 12, 2019

Oakland, Calif., — Today, eighteen months after Judge Vince Chhabria struck down the City of Oakland’s ban on handling and storage of coal at the former Oakland Army Base, the case was argued on appeal before three Ninth Circuit judges. They heard oral arguments on the appeal by the City of Oakland, Sierra Club, and San Francisco Baykeeper. 

November 12, 2019

Nov. 12, 2019 (Tacoma, Wash.)Today, a coalition of public health and environmental groups challenged federal approvals for Northwest Innovation Works’ massive fracked gas-to-methanol refinery proposed for Kalama, Washington. 

November 12, 2019

Late yesterday, the New York Times reported that former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler is preparing to significantly limit the scientific and medical research that the government can use as it sets public health safeguards.

November 12, 2019

Washington, DC-- Today, eighty two public health and environmental organizations sent a letter to Sen. Inhofe, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, signaling concern about  proposals to remove critical provisions related to per- and poly- fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)  from the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).