By the Numbers

Transportation produces nearly 30 percent of all US greenhouse gas emissions.

Fifteen states and the District of Columbia—a market that accounts for over one-third of US vehicle sales—have adopted clean-car standards that, cumulatively, will reduce US greenhouse gas emissions by over 650 million metric tons in the next 15 years.

In 2011, solar was just 1.6 percent of California's electricity mix; in 2020, it reached 26.4 percent.

According to the Political Economy Research Institute, a green federal economic-renewal plan that invested $1 trillion per year for 10 years would create over 15 million good jobs and cut climate pollution nearly in half by 2030.

Every dollar spent on parks and green space saves up to $3 in health-care costs. Increasing green spaces in urban areas can lower local temperatures by 10°F.

Alerts

Drowning in Oil
In California, the Kern County Board of Supervisors voted in favor of a plan to allow the permitting of tens of thousands of new oil and gas wells over the next several decades. With 78,000 existing oil and gas wells, Kern County already has some of the most polluted air in the country.

• Take action: sc.org/people-first

Sneak Attack
In Puerto Rico, Sierra Club activists and coalition partners are asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to halt operations at an unpermitted methane gas import terminal. The facility was built without FERC approval or an environmental impact review and without notifying nearby residents.

• Take action: sc.org/ditch-dirty

Remiss Regulators
The Sierra Club and the Greater-Birmingham Alliance to Stop Pollution are demanding that Alabama stop Plant Barry, a coal and natural gas facility, from emitting levels of sulfur dioxide that exceed federal standards. Nearby communities, made up largely of Black and Indigenous residents, experience high rates of cancer.

• Take action: sc.org/barry-air

Victories

Going Wild
The House of Representatives passed the Protecting America's Wilderness and Public Lands Act, which, if approved by the Senate, will designate almost 1.5 million acres of public land as wilderness. It will also expand national monuments and national recreation areas and fund the construction of new hiking trails.

• Read more: sc.org/lands-bill

Water Not Oil
The Delaware River Basin Commission, which includes the governors of Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, voted to permanently ban fracking in the Delaware River's 13,539-square-mile watershed.

• Read more: sc.org/drbc

Wind Power
The first large-scale offshore wind farm in the United States has received its final environmental review from the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which means that construction could begin as soon as the end of this year. Located 15 miles off the coast of Massachusetts, Vineyard Wind 1 will provide enough clean electricity to power more than 400,000 homes.

Get Plugged In

Get the latest environmental journalism from Sierra delivered straight to your in-box—along with priority actions from Sierra Club campaigns.
Sign up today! sc.org/the-latest

Check It Out

Listen to an episode of the podcast Outside Voices about Black veterans who found solace in nature while participating in the Sierra Club's Military Outdoors program: bit.ly/outside-voices.

Chapter Corner

Welcome to the Clean-Car Club
In spring, Virginia became the first southeastern state to adopt clean-car standards. Signed into law by Governor Ralph Northam, HB 1965 requires a low-emission and zero-emission vehicle program for motor vehicles with a model year of 2025 or later. The Virginia Chapter played a critical role in the multifaceted campaign, hosting a virtual lobby day with over 200 participants, publishing op-eds, and running social media ads and email drives to get constituents to write their legislators. Those who live near interstate highways and suffer from pollution caused by diesel- and gas-powered engines will benefit most from the bill. "The sooner those vehicles have no tailpipe emissions," volunteer leader Daryl Downing says, "the better for everyone, but especially for those neighborhoods that have been historically disadvantaged."

Energy Education
When Jane Cronin was an environmental science teacher, she always appreciated the free teaching materials she received from the Oklahoma Energy Resource Board, a state agency funded by the oil and gas industry. But she noticed a glaring omission: None of the materials covered renewable energy. After she retired in 2016, she teamed up with two other former science teachers and Sierra Club members, Tara Baker and Dr. Doug Weirick, to start the Oklahoma Renewable Energy Education Program. With support from the Oklahoma Chapter, they developed lesson plans, training materials, and workshops to help science instructors teach their students about clean energy. Cronin estimates that their curriculum has reached about 10,000 students. "We had a lot to compete with," she says. "I'm really happy with what we've been able to accomplish."

Campaign Updates

Stop the Flow
The Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign, coalition partners, and communities in the Rio Grande Valley celebrated the news that Annova LNG had abandoned its efforts to develop a liquid natural gas terminal in the Port of Brownsville. But plans for 21 new LNG export facilities are still in progress around the country. The bulk of these are slated for the Gulf Coast, near communities that are already overburdened by fossil fuel infrastructure. "While we transition to renewable energy in the US, the gas industry is looking for new ways to make money by exporting their dirty fracked gas overseas," says Catherine Collentine, the associate director of Beyond Dirty Fuels. "The work of this team is to try and ensure we're not just exporting our pollution."

• Take action: sc.org/stop-flow

Under Pressure
In the five years since the Paris Agreement, the world's 60 largest private banks have poured $3.8 trillion into the fossil fuel industry. That's one of the key findings of the recently released report Banking on Climate Chaos, produced by the Sierra Club and five other organizations. For the fifth year in a row, JPMorgan Chase was the world's top fossil­fuel-supporting bank, funneling $51.3 billion into oil and gas projects in 2020 alone. Wells Fargo, Citibank, and Bank of America also appear near the top of the list. The good news is that within the past year, all major US banks have made commitments to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. "We know that these commitments are not going to cut it on their own," says financial-advocacy campaign director Ben Cushing. "But it is clear that the pressure from activists is moving these Wall Street firms to take action. A couple of years ago, their stance was 'This isn't our problem.'"

• Read more: sc.org/bank-greenwash
• Take action: sc.org/dirtybanks