By the Numbers

• Thirty-five to 55 percent of US voters say they would support a requirement in their state that by 2030 all new cars sold must be electric.
• Sixty-nine percent of US adults now believe that climate change is happening, and 60 percent believe that oil and gas companies are "completely or mostly responsible."
• Eighty-two percent of US adults have a "very or somewhat favorable" view on solar energy; on wind energy, it's 76 percent. The three least-favored energy sources are oil (45 percent), nuclear (40 percent), and coal (36 percent).
• USC researchers analyzed 32 TV shows from the 2019–20 season (64 total episodes) and found that an average of 28 single-use plastic items appeared on screen per episode.
• According to a 2020 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, 87 percent of Americans trust scientists to act in the public's best interest.

Alerts

Not a Good Look
President Joe Biden backed a Trump-era rule that prohibits the Clean Air Act's Regional Haze program from helping to reduce coal-plant pollution near national parks in Utah, the fourth-most-haze-polluting state. At Canyonlands and Arches National Parks, views are obscured by smog and haze 83 percent of the time, largely from the Hunter and Huntington coal plants.
» Read more: sc.org/utah-pollution

Up in Flames
A massive explosion involving the flammable carcinogen ethylene dichloride occurred at the Westlake Chemical facility in Southwest Louisiana. The plant sits next to residential neighborhoods, many of which are made up of low-income households and temporary FEMA housing for people who are still recovering from Hurricanes Laura and Delta.

Victories

Twice Blocked
The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit vacated the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management approvals for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, preventing construction on a 3.5-mile stretch of federal land. Then it vacated the US Fish and Wildlife Service approval for the pipeline, which should stop construction on the full 304-mile route. Sierra Club attorneys Nathan Matthews and Elly Benson argued the cases.

Good Argument
Astoria Generating Company abandoned its plans to restore a gas-fired power facility on barges moored in Brooklyn. The decision is the result of years of grassroots opposition and work by lawyers in the Sierra Club's Environmental Law Program, who argued that the facilities did not align with New York climate legislation.

Cancel Culture
The Biden administration canceled two leases for highly toxic and polluting sulfide-ore copper mining next to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota, which the Trump administration had green-lighted.
» Read more: sc.org/sulfide-ore

Not for Sale
The DC District Court canceled oil and gas leases on more than 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico, ruling that the Interior Department did not sufficiently consider the greenhouse gas emissions that would result from the lease sale. "The Biden administration's failure to adequately evaluate the climate impacts . . . wasn't just out of step with their stated commitment to climate action; it was also illegal," says Sierra Club senior attorney Devorah Ancel.
» Read more: sc.org/lease-auctions

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Check It Out

Go to sierraclub.org/board/elections to learn about the 2022 Sierra Club Board of Directors election and read the candidates' statements. As a member-driven organization, the Sierra Club needs you to vote and make your voice heard! Your vote plays a major role in determining the strategic priorities of the organization. Ballots are due April 27.

Chapter Corner

No Way to Go
The Florida Chapter is resisting the state's planned Northern Turnpike Extension—330 miles of new toll roads from the Georgia border to the suburbs of Tampa Bay. The proposed corridor would cross the Hálpata Tastanaki Preserve, the Rainbow River recharge basin, and other natural areas and perpetuate urban sprawl, according to chapter organizer Michael McGrath. "We need to protect that mosaic of private and public lands to create habitat connectivity," he says. The roads would also impact the West Indian manatee, whose habitat could experience salinity changes and seagrass die-offs. At a recent hearing about the project, local residents and chapter representatives spoke for over five hours. "People want to fight for the land, for their heritage, and for things they hold sacred and special," McGrath says.

Early Retirement
Ameren Missouri announced plans to retire its Rush Island coal plant no later than 2024, 15 years earlier than scheduled, after a court ordered it to install modern pollution controls. The coal-fired power plant, located south of St. Louis, is the nation's sixth-largest emitter of sulfur dioxide and caused an estimated 800 premature deaths over a nine-year period. The decision comes after intensive grassroots organizing by the Sierra Club's Missouri Chapter, the Beyond Coal campaign, and other partners, starting in 2017 with the push to install scrubbers at the plant. "This is a major decision point for whether Ameren Missouri will act on climate, which it acknowledges is due to human activity, or whether it doubles down on fossil fuels in spite of the science it says it supports," says Andy Knott, the campaign's interim central region director.

Campaign Updates

Clean Trucking
Six states—Oregon, Washington, California, New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts—have adopted the Advanced Clean Trucks rule, which, beginning in 2025, will require truck manufacturers to provide an increasing number of zero-emission vehicles (40 to 75 percent of their fleet) to these states by 2035. In New Jersey alone, the ACT rule will save the state $72 billion in health care costs and $113 billion in climate costs. Thousands of Sierra Club members and supporters helped the measure gain traction, says Hieu Le, a campaign representative with Clean Transportation for All. "We view this as an incredible moment that will bolster the future electric truck market and address climate impacts from diesel trucks and buses," he says. The six participating states are home to close to 20 percent of the country's truck fleet.

Bigger Picture
While best known for its domestic work, the Sierra Club also engages in international advocacy, largely through its International Climate and Policy campaign. One of the campaign's objectives is to push the US government to help finance the global phaseout of fossil fuels and the transition to renewable energy. "From a purely selfish standpoint, if we don't help other countries, we are never going to achieve 1.5°C," campaign director Cherelle Blazer says. "A lot of fossil fuel projects that would not be green-lit in Europe and the US are being pushed into the Global South, and that's not a win for climate change." In preparation for this year's UN climate summit in Egypt, COP27, the campaign is concentrating on Africa, where unpredictable rainfall, droughts, and floods brought on by climate change are already wreaking havoc. Blazer envisions a political movement across the African diaspora to support activists on the continent who are working to stop dirty fossil fuel projects (read about one such activist, Omar Elmawi). "Our advocacy here has an effect on the ground in African countries," she says.