By the Numbers

1 billion: Tons of greenhouse gas emissions the Biden administration is eliminating with new standards for heavy-duty freight trucks and buses.

3.6 million: Number of heat pumps American consumers purchased in 2023, the second year in a row that heat pumps outsold gas furnaces.

$857 million: The amount that conservation groups say the US Fish and Wildlife Service needs in order to fully fund endangered and threatened species recovery.

2: The number of times researchers have seen an Atlantic gray whale in US waters in the past 200 years—both in the past two years.

45,000: The (record) number of conservation projects that the Natural Resources Conservation Service, an arm of the US Department of Agriculture, awarded last year.

Alerts

BLM Does the Right Thing

Biden’s Bureau of Land Management has finalized a new rule that puts conservation on a par with oil and gas leasing, mineral withdrawal, and grazing on public lands. It establishes a system in which BLM land can be leased for up to 10 years with the aim of protecting and restoring it.
» Take action: sc.org/thanks-blm

Prevent a Grisly Outcome

Republican leaders in western states are doing their best to get grizzly bears removed from the endangered species list. They argue that the bears have met recovery goals and that the Fish and Wildlife Service needs to hand over management to the states. But as was the case with wolves, when large predators are not federally protected, state leaders allow hunters to slaughter the rare animals. Urge the FWS to keep grizzlies listed.
» Take action: sc.org/protect-bears

Victories

Coal-Free New England

Spurred by a lawsuit filed by the Sierra Club and the Conservation Law Foundation, New Hampshire is ditching coal. In April, Granite Shore Power, the state’s last coal plant operator, announced that its two remaining coal plants would close by 2025 and 2028, respectively. The closures will make all of New England free of coal.

Let the Polar Bears Be

Thanks to a legal challenge from the Sierra Club and other conservation groups, the Fish and Wildlife Service must reassess a rule that allowed oil and gas companies to harass threatened polar bears and downplay the potentially lethal effects of their operations on newborn cubs. The Marine Mammal Protection Act is supposed to protect the bears, but the FWS impermissibly sliced and diced its own modeling results to justify authorizing the harassment. Now the agency will have to review the policy while adhering to the requirements of the law.

No Favoritism for Coal

In Louisiana, two state power companies were giving preferential treatment to coal, even when coal plants were more expensive to operate and renewable energy was easier to acquire. Now the Louisiana Public Service Commission says that the companies must refund ratepayers nearly $300 million for this shady practice, brought to light by a lawsuit from the Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program. Advocates hope the win will set a precedent that can be used in other states.

CHECK IT OUT The Sierra Club is a democratically run organization, and the results of our 2024 board of directors election are in! The new and returning members are Erica Hall, Clayton Daughenbaugh, David Karpf, Karl Palmquist, and Meghan Sahli-Wells. See sc.org/2024-board.

Chapter Corner

Community Outreach

Volunteers in the Utah Chapter are tapping into the Sierra Club’s Community Advocates Program to help Utahns access the billions of federal dollars made available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. In supermajority red states like Utah, federal initiatives such as the Carbon Pollution Reduction Grants Program and the Clean School Bus Program are sometimes the only avenues to address pollution. “As a member of the Community Advocates Program, the Sierra Club will provide resources such as digital tools, one-on-one coaching sessions, campaign templates, and practical training to help community members advocate for funds on issues they care about,” the chapter noted. » Read more: sc.org/cap

Pipe Dream

Operators of the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota are dreaming of a new, region-spanning carbon-capture-pipeline network throughout the Upper Midwest. Sierra Club chapters in the area are banding together in opposition. The Minnesota and Illinois Chapters are supporting a moratorium on the CO2 pipelines. “The pipelines in Iowa are being offered as false climate solutions,” the Iowa Chapter told its members. “We already know the solutions to our climate crisis—we must end our dependence on fossil fuels and invest in solar, wind, battery storage, conservation, and efficiency!”

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Campaign Updates

Friendly Financial Advice

The Sierra Club’s Fossil Free Finance campaign joined 100 other organizations in writing to the leaders of the world’s top banks, demanding they stop funding liquefied natural gas. With the Biden administration limiting the construction of new LNG export facilities, they warned of reputational and financial risks to the banks if new export facilities become “stranded assets.” “With the Department of Energy stopping the rubber-stamping of new LNG export projects in order to consider their full impact on our climate, communities, and economy, it’s time for the financial sector to do the same,” wrote Adele Shraiman, senior campaign strategist. “The message is clear: There is no place for LNG expansion in a net-zero future.”

Hard-Hat Zone

Since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the Sierra Club’s Industrial Transformation campaign has been advocating for public investments directed at the twofer of reducing both greenhouse gases and health-harming pollution. Now the Department of Energy has awarded $6.3 billion in industrial decarbonization grants to greenhouse-gas-intensive industries like aluminum and steel so operators can retrofit and upgrade their facilities. The grants require that participating facilities negotiate a “community benefits plan” with residents. “We are excited for private industries to take a leading role in cleaning up our industrial sector,” said CeCe Grant, the director of the campaign. “We’ll work to ensure that fenceline communities and workers have a real seat at the table to shape the vision for a just transition.”

» Read more: sc.org/industry-cleanup