WASHINGTON, D.C. -- With the coal industry’s lobbying wing paying big bucks to Donald Trump’s business interests to take up quarters in the Trump Hotel in DC for a conference this week, the Sierra Club offered a bright, shining welcome to those arriving for the festivities. Messages about climate action, the dangers of fossil fuels, and a just and equitable recovery for Puerto Rico were projected on the outside of Trump Hotel last night for all the participants to see -- including the coal executives who’ve been reaping the benefits of the Trump Administration’s assault on clean air, clean water, and climate safeguards and the Administration officials like Rick Perry who have been carrying out those assaults and are joining the conference.
Press Releases
Today, the House Agriculture Committee passed Rep. Westerman’s “Resilient Federal Forests Act,” a piece of legislation that would make clear-cutting forests significantly easier and undermine environmental review. Movement on the legislation follows a directive from Interior Secretary Zinke to land managers across the country to adopt “aggressive and scientific fuels reduction management” and “pre-suppression techniques” to slow Western fires.
Washington, DC -- In a document that is expected to be officially filed in the Federal Register tomorrow, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will propose a one year delay of a rule designed to limit methane pollution from oil and gas operations on public lands. The rule has already withstood legal challenges, as well as an attempted repeal in Congress.
This morning, as Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan testified before the US Senate Banking Committee about the bank’s recent scandals, DC residents urged elected officials to hold Wells Fargo accountable for financing projects that threaten our communities and climate.
Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator, Scott Pruitt, flouted a significant legal deadline yesterday, declining to implement new, stronger clean air protections against smog pollution by October 2nd - as required by the Clean Air Act.
Tomorrow, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works will hold a full committee hearing on Michael Dourson, Matthew Leopold, David Ross, and William Wehrum, Trump’s nominees to be Assistant Administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as well as Jeffery Baran, Trump’s nominee to be a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Instead of protecting public health and the environment, a new rule will only serve the coal industry, community members and advocates say. After the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) unreasonable request to delay the long overdue deadline for the final Texas Regional Haze plan, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is doubling down and putting the health of Texas and Oklahoma’s families and public lands at risk for the benefit of Texas coal plants. While claiming to address sulfur dioxide pollution from Texas coal plants, the final rule issued by EPA today actually allows more pollution from these plants than they produced in 2016. By failing to finalize and implement the 2016 proposed plan that required actual pollution reductions in Texas, Administrator Pruitt is putting the interests of polluters over public health in Texas, Oklahoma and across the central United States.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Scott Pruitt’s schedule is packed with meetings with the fossil fuel industry and chemical companies, according to hundreds of pages of his schedule uncovered by open records requests filed by the nonprofit group American Oversight. According to reporting by the New York Times, the revelations “for the first time, create a direct link between Mr. Pruitt’s meetings and actions that the industry wants him to take.” Among the lowlights of Pruitt’s schedule:
OAKLAND, CA -- Last night, the worst mass shooting in modern American history occurred at a music festival in Las Vegas, Nevada. At least 59 people were killed and more than 500 were wounded. The Sierra Club is with all who were affected by this terrible act.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, the Volkswagen (VW) Settlement Agreement Environmental Mitigation Trust has been approved, starting the process whereby billions of dollars of trust money can be allocated to states for clean transportation efforts. States must identify a lead agency (“Beneficiary”) to supervise the distribution of settlement money no later than Friday, December 1, 2017, which is 60 days after the Environmental Mitigation Trust Effective Date.