Washington, DC -- Today, the White House quickly walked back reports that Donald Trump will not pull the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement. Following his original decision to withdraw from the Accord in June, Trump was universally condemned by the people he was elected to represent and the world writ large.
Watts, Cali.– Today, hundreds of people in and around Watts will gather at St. John's United Methodist Church, across from the community’s historic Watts Towers to hear about the benefits of electric vehicles, learn about programs that support electric vehicle purchasing and identify the roadblocks that make it harder for low-income families to go electric.
The California Assembly adjourned early Saturday morning without taking up for a vote Senate Bill 100 (Kevin de Leon), a bill designed to get California to 100% clean energy by 2045. SB 100 would have accelerated the state’s existing goals for transitioning to renewable energy and would have set a 2045 goal for all retail electricity in the state to be created without greenhouse gas pollution.
Two public officials who helped secure funding to address the water crisis in Flint, Mich., a photographer who has documented the natural beauty of Nebraska, and a world-renowned conservationist are among those receiving national awards from the Sierra Club this year.
Puget Sound Energy (PSE), the largest utility in Washington State, reached a proposed settlement today to pay down all of its debts on Colstrip by 2027.
Houston, TX -- Today, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner named former Shell chairman and president Marvin Odum as the chief recovery officer to oversee the recovery from Hurricane Harvey.
In response, Sierra Club Organizer Bryan Parras released the following statement:
Houston, TX -- Today, the Texas Tribune reported that Scott Pruitt’s EPA is refusing to publicly share the pollutant levels throughout the region affected by Hurricane Harvey while his agency continues to waive environmental safeguards. There are 449 chemical and toxic facilities and refineries in the 25 counties most affected by the hurricane.
Washington, D.C. -- Today, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted Williams Transco the right to begin construction on the fracked gas Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline despite a faulty water review and a piecemeal permitting process. FERC’s review lacked public oversight and is currently evading judicial review, while the Wolf administration’s review of the project downplayed known impacts to water quality that other states took action on.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission upended Governor Andrew Cuomo’s rejection of the fracked gas Valley Lateral Pipeline. Under section 401 of the Clean Water Act, states must certify that a pipeline will not violate their clean water standards before construction on that pipeline can begin. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation previously refused to give the Millennium Pipeline Company the section 401 certificate it needed and today’s move by FERC overrides that.
St Louis, MO -- Today, ex-St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley was found not guilty in the 2011 shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith. Stockley was violating policy by carrying his own assault rifle, his own DNA was found on the weapon that he claimed was in Anthony’s possession, and video footage captured Stockley proclaiming he intended to kill Smith. This verdict comes just a few years after the police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown in St. Louis was not indicted.