After deferring a lease sale for fracking in the Greater Chaco area scheduled for March 2018 due to a need for more cultural study and consultation, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plans to hold another sale this December in the same region, and in expanded drilling areas, despite the fact that no additional study has occurred.
Today, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved construction on the North Carolina section of the controversial fracked gas Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP).
Salt Lake City -- Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is scheduled to visit Salt Lake City tonight where he’ll be participating in Pioneer Day celebrations. His visit comes just a day after news broke that the Interior Department ignored the benefits of public lands in their review of national monuments-- a review that ultimately led to the illegal elimination of Bears Ears National Monument and significant reductions in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. In advance of Zinke’s visit, Utahns are taking to social media to oppose Zinke’s efforts to sell out public lands using #StandwithBearsEars, #SaveGrandStaircase and #zinkesoldout.
Avon, NY. -- Concerned citizens and local organizations gathered on Tuesday to urge Governor Cuomo and the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to quickly finalize a proposed plan that would fully retire New York’s remaining coal plants by 2020. Advocates delivered thousands of petitions requesting the framework of the plan establish a glidepath for communities and workers affected by this transition and ensure the final rule barred these plants from converting to other dirty energy sources like fracked gas, waste, or biomass.
Washington, DC -- The Trump administration is now officially considering a proposal to allow an oilfield services company to conduct destructive seismic exploration across nearly the entire coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Beginning as soon as December of this year, the testing would occur ahead of a planned lease sale for drilling in the coastal plain.
Richmond, VIRGINIA– The Sierra Club hosted the 100th national screening of its new documentary Reinventing Power: America’s Renewable Energy Boom yesterday at the historic Byrd Theatre, an event attended by about 300 people.
Detroit, MI -- In support of the clean car standards, the Sierra Club and leading health and consumer advocates are hosting a public hearing and rally this Thursday to advocate for the critical standards. Andrew Wheeler’s EPA and the National Highway Safety Transportation Administration are expected to release its plan to gut the clean car standards in the near future.
Sierra Club is formally appealing to the North Carolina Supreme Court the decision by state regulators to make customers pay for Duke Energy Carolinas’ multi-million dollar toxic coal ash cleanup
Horsham, PA-- Community Members, Enviros to Call for Federal, State Action on PFAHorsham, PA— On Wednesday, hundreds of community members will call on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PDEP) to take action on the state’s PFAS crisis— an invasion of chemicals that persist in an environment, poison water sources and cause detrimental health effects like immune system breakdown and cancers.