By the Numbers

100: The number of environ­mental organizations urging President Joe Biden to use his authority under the Antiquities Act to designate Avi Kwa' Ame, the Mojave name for Nevada's Spirit Mountain, as a national monument.

40: The percentage by which greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced (below 2005 levels) by 2030 as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act, according to the US Department of Energy.

373,268: The number of acres the Interior Department is proposing to lease to wind-energy producers off the California coast, the first sale of its kind in the Pacific Ocean.

$2.8 billion: The amount of money the Biden administration is awarding manufacturers to boost electric-vehicle battery production in the United States.

Alerts

Anti-wolf Montana
Wolves are under attack in Montana with methods that haven't been used since the 19th century. Chokehold snares, wolf bounties, and permission to kill pregnant females are all on the table in a state that has historically been a beacon of responsible wolf management. Following a raft of new laws that reduced protections in the past two years, over 300 wolves have been killed.
» Take action: sc.org/mt-wolves

Stop Line 5
A lease for a pipeline that is more than half a century old expired last year, but the company that owns it is determined to keep it running. Native American nations have tried to force Enbridge to remove the pipeline, but it has refused. Now the company is trying to create a new route for Line 5, which poses a huge risk to the Great Lakes region. It's clear that the pipeline needs to go.
» Take action: sc.org/line-5

Wildlife Crisis
Most state-level conservation funding comes from hunting revenue, which leaves conservation efforts for nonhunted species underfunded. While states can compete for grants to help support these species, the funding is not guaranteed. That could change if Congress passes the Recovering America's Wildlife Act, which would set aside $1.4 billion a year to protect wildlife and keep them off the endangered species list.
» Take action: sc.org/pass-rawa

Victories

Green Voters Blunt "Red Wave"
In the lead-up to the midterm elections, the Sierra Club and allies like the League of Conservation Voters pushed hard to get environment-minded voters to the polls. It worked. Young voters who are motivated by climate change concerns helped to keep the Senate in the hands of climate-action champions and reelect pro-environment governors. The Sierra Club mobilized 450 volunteers in 42 states, who together carried out 15,000 conversations with voters.
» Read more: sc.org/mobilize

Pause on Plastic Pollution
Frontline communities in St. James Parish scored a win in September: A Louisiana court vacated the decision by the state's Department of Environmental Quality to issue air permits for Formosa Plastics' petrochemical complex. Earthjustice filed a lawsuit on behalf of several environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club. If built, the facility could have tripled levels of cancer-causing pollutants in an area infamously known as Cancer Alley.

Public Land Protected
The Sierra Club and its partners reached agreements with the Bureau of Land Management that will protect 3.2 million acres of public land in Colorado and California from oil and gas extraction. Conservation groups sued the agency because it failed to adequately consider the environmental impacts of drilling. The BLM must now develop new environmental analyses and oil and gas leasing alternatives before any new leasing takes place.
» Read more: sc.org/co-blm

Chapter Corner

ZOMBIE PIPELINE
The Virginia Chapter's New River Valley Group is continuing its campaign against the 300-mile fracked-gas Mountain Valley Pipeline, which threatens to devastate portions of Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina while locking in climate-warming gas infrastructure for decades to come. In the fall, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia attempted to push the pipeline through by lumping it in with a catchall spending bill, but the outcry from environmentalists in the affected states and beyond forced him to withdraw it.
» Take action: Sign the New River Valley Group's petition to stop the pipeline once and for all

Campaign Updates

THE DIRTY TRUTH
Fossil fuel companies have promised to decarbonize for years. The reality is that very few are following through on their pledges, says the report The Dirty Truth About Utility Climate Pledges, produced by the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign. The report includes an interactive tool that lets you see if your local utility is meeting its climate goals. Coauthored by Leah Stokes of the University of California, Santa Barbara, The Dirty Truth found that of the 50 parent companies most reliant on fossil fuels as a source of energy generation, 37 received a D or F grade on progress to reach the goal of 80 percent clean electricity by 2030. "We desperately need our utility companies to stop greenwashing and sowing climate denial and to get serious about clean energy," said Holly Bender, the Sierra Club's senior director of energy campaigns.
» Read more: sc.org/dirty-truth-utilities

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SIERRA CLUB TURNS 130!

Happy birthday to us! In 2022, the Sierra Club turned a venerable 130 years old. We've been through a lot in that time, expanding from a hiking club into a groundbreaking environmental-activist organization and becoming a champion of environmental equity and social justice with millions of members and supporters and a vibrant grassroots structure. Here are some highlights from just the past decade.

2013: For the first time in Sierra Club history, leaders and supporters practiced civil disobedience, risking arrest outside the White House to demand that President Barack Obama reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

2015: The Sierra Club delegation worked closely with the Obama administration to finalize the Paris Agreement.

2016: President Obama established Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, a major goal of the Sierra Club and the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition.

2017: The Sierra Club, flush with new members in the wake of President Trump's election, spearheaded resistance to Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and the shrinking of Bears Ears.

2018: The Sierra Club played a key role in uncovering incompetence and malfeasance by Trump EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, leading to his resignation.

2019: Sierra Club members mobilized for the Global Climate Strike, joining millions of people in the streets worldwide to demand action on climate change.

2020: After decades of Sierra Club lobbying and activism, every major US bank ruled out funding oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

2021: The decade-long fight against Keystone XL ended when TC Energy abandoned its plans to build the 1,200-mile-long pipeline.

2021: An agreement to shutter Indiana's Rockport coal plant marked the 350th coal plant retired since the start of the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign.

2022: Grassroots pressure from the Sierra Club and a broad range of allies led to the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, an enormous legislative package to address the climate crisis and lower US greenhouse gas emissions.

» Read more: sc.org/sc-130