December 2020
What will a Biden presidency mean for environmental protections and public lands — in Washington and beyond?
By Megan Burbank, Seattle Times features reporter
(Greg Gilbert / The Seattle Times)
Citing similar curtailments, Alex Craven, an organizer with the Sierra Club, says Biden and the new administration will have their work cut out for them.
“The Biden-Harris administration will come into office facing an urgent need to reinstate safeguards, from endangered species protections to those governing public input,” he said. “Among the most vital shifts, though, will be a need to change how public lands are used and managed. It’s time public lands and forests are managed as part of the climate solution, rather than contributing to the problem.”
August 2020
Natural Gas Industry Misleads, Environmental Groups Say
By Eric Tegethoff, Public News Service (WA)
(Photo: creativenature.nl/Adobe Stock)
SEATTLE 
-- The natural gas industry has launched a major campaign in the Northwest to tout the fuel source as a reliable way to fight climate change. Environmental groups say it's as harmful as other dirty sources for the planet.
August 2019
Seattle eyes its own 'green new deal'
By: John Ryan
(Photo by KUOW PhotoMegan Farmer)
August 1, 2019
In Washington state, cars and trucks are the biggest source of climate-altering pollution. “We really have to re-imagine our city as a place built for buses, bikes, pedestrians, and not a car-centric place and way of life,” said Brittany Bush Bollay of the Sierra Club.
July 2019
The Company You Pay for Natural Gas Is Paying to Flip Your City Council
By: Nathalie Graham
(Photo by Sasacvetkovic33/Getty Images)
July 23, 2019
"They’re building this massive fracked gas facility in LNG," Piedfort told The Stranger. "Meanwhile, we're trying to get gas out of our homes and buildings and we're actually concerned that PSE is trying to preserve their ability to build more fracked gas infrastructure."
April 2019
Want less traffic and pollution in the U-District? UW workers say free transit will help
By: Josh Cohen
(Photo by Dorothy Edwards/Crosscut)
April 23, 2019
“One of the most important things any institution can do for climate is make it easier for people to spend less time in their cars,” Sierra Club Washington Chapter director Jesse Piedfort said at Monday’s event. “We’re in a time of climate crisis, and we know bold action is required of us and soon. … We need to be making transit more affordable and more accessible to more people."
March 2019
Editorial: What look at Snake dams can mean for orcas, us
By: The Herald Editorial Board
(Elaine Thompson / Associated Press file photo)
March 17, 2019 at 1:30am
"A closer look at what the dams provide, however, questions the dams’ actual utility and speaks to the potential benefits for salmon, orca and even the economic health of Eastern Washington if the dams were removed."
February 2019
Los Angeles Sets a Clean-Energy Example That Washington Hopes to Follow
By: Nathalie Graham
(KAMILPETRAN/Getty Images)
Feb 12, 2019 at 2:45 pm
"Yesterday, Los Angeles announced that it would not be funding a multi-billion dollar rebuilding project for three natural gas plants in the area. "It shows that the future is clean energy and that the future isn’t going to be defined by fracked gas," said Jesse Piedfort, the WA director of the Sierra Club. "It shows that it’s possible..."
January 2019
Washington state to regulate federal dams on Columbia, Snake to cool hot water, aid salmon
By: Lynda V. Mapes
(Nicholas K. Geranios / AP)
January 31, 2019 at 6:00 am
"Dams and climate change are the leading cause of high temperatures in the Columbia and Snake rivers that are killing salmon, according to an EPA draft analysis. Now the state wants to get involved."
'Fish flush' could be part of orca and salmon recovery
By: Joel Connelly, SeattlePI
(Army Corps Of Engineers)
January 30, 2019
"The state Department of Ecology is unveiling a proposal that would increase water spilled over Columbia and Snake river dams, to assist downstream migration of young salmon and ultimately help endangered killer whales...The Sierra Club's point person on salmon, Bill Arthur, says spill is "essential for both salmon and Orcas," Arthur argued in a Facebook post."
Climate activists' PR problem: How to scare people into action without making the fight seem totally hopeless
(Robin W. Baird/Cascadia Research photo)
January 24, 2019
"The challenge," says Jesse Piedfort, Washington chapter director for the Sierra Club, "is figuring out how to connect with people about the urgency of the problem in a way that inspires them instead of gets them to pull away."
December 2018
Gov. Jay Inslee wants $1.1 billion to help save Puget Sound’s critically endangered orcas
By: Lynda V. Mapes, The Seattle Times
(Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times)
Originally published December 13, 2018 at 10:30 am
"We have not had a robust discussion on how to replace services by the dams,” Inslee said. “We just need to get the facts … I know this is a controversy, but I believe the times demand a discussion.”
Methane Leaks Plague Natural Gas Facilities—Why Are They So Underreported?
By: Nathalie Graham, The Stranger
(Sasacvetkovic33/Getty Images)
Originally published Dec 12, 2018 at 6:24 pm
"In Washington, we are positioned to be a leader on climate change, but not if we lock ourselves with dirty fracked gas. We will miss every mark we set to be true climate leaders." -Stephanie Hillman, a campaign representative for the Sierra Club's Dirty Fuels campaign.
November 2018
Urgent, controversial orca whale recovery steps go to Inslee
By: Joel Connelly, SeattlePI
(Photo: Elaine Thompson/Associated Press)
Originally published: November 16, 2018
Click here for Sierra Club Press Release
"The science is clear and the public strongly supports increased spill at the federal dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers and removal of the lower Snake River dams," said Bill Arthur of the Sierra Club.