Conservation groups filed a federal lawsuit today challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ illegal approval of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline to be constructed through hundreds of rivers, streams, and wetlands without evaluating the project’s impacts as required by the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act. The groups also sent notices of their intent to sue President Donald Trump, the Army Corps, and the companies seeking to build Keystone XL and its power-line infrastructure over the project’s lethal threats to endangered species, including the whooping crane.
Oakland, CA— Sierra magazine’s July/August edition is now on newsstands and arriving at subscribers’ homes. Among other articles, the latest issue includes:
Una corte federal bloqueó hoy permanentemente los intentos de la administración Trump de usar $2.500 millones en fondos militares para construir el muro fronterizo que el Congreso había denegado y lo consideró ilegal. La construcción del muro usando estos fondos iba a comenzar el próximo lunes.
A federal court today permanently blocked the Trump administration from accessing $2.5 billion in military funds for the president’s border wall, ruling that the administration’s attempt to transfer funds for a border wall Congress denied is unlawful. Wall construction using the funds, which the administration announced it would divert under counterdrug authorities, was set to begin as soon as Monday.
The Trump administration released a resource management plan today that would expand federal fossil fuel development across a huge swath of southwestern Colorado, threatening a growing organic agriculture hub and undermining the state’s new climate law. The federal administration’s plans directly contradict Colorado’s new law calling for steep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, a 50 percent cut by 2030 and a 90 percent reduction by 2050.
As expected, economic analysis for this plan—called an “Integrated Resource Plan,” or IRP—showed that adopting renewable energy, especially solar and battery storage, are consistent with a least-cost approach for keeping electricity prices low. One gigawatt of solar can power more than 100,000 homes.
MIAMI, FL - Two nights of democratic debates organized by the DNC included less than 10 minutes each dedicated to discussing the climate crisis.
GENEVA -- Today, the World Trade Organization (WTO) sided with India in response to the country’s 2016 WTO complaint against U.S. buy-local policies in eight state-level clean energy programs.
RICHMOND, Virginia – Today, the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) accepted Dominion Energy’s refiled Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), after rejecting it in its entirety in late 2018. The SCC is also requiring several changes in future plans, including an update due in September, that will more accurately assess the costs and benefits of energy options, such as:
Battery storage, using the most updated cost estimates available
Compliance with climate pollution limits through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)
Gas transportation costs
Solar power purchase agreements as 25% and 50% of the solar generation capacity
Estimating capacity value for future solar PV tracking resources by using past performance or 25%, higher than the 23% used previously
Washington, DC-- Today, the Senate passed a National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)-- which includes several pieces to address the nation’s growing PFAS contamination crisis. Included is the Senate’s package and a ban on military purchasing and use of all PFAS for fire fighting by 2022 and 2023.
In response, Sonya Lunder, Senior Toxics Advisor for the Sierra Club released the following statement: