The General Assembly failed to act on Governor Pritzker’s clean energy and climate proposal, despite broad legislative and public support and months of negotiations and working group discussions. A vote to create jobs and economic opportunity in clean energy and clean transportation, particularly for communities that need them most, was indefinitely postponed after continued objections from Illinois’ largest polluter, the Prairie State Energy Campus.
Press Releases
JACKSON, MS -- Yesterday, the Sierra Club, with assistance from Synapse Energy Economics, Inc., filed comments with the Mississippi Public Service Commission (MS PSC) in Mississippi Power’s 2021 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) demonstrating the utility’s IRP is not a useful document and did not incorporate stakeholder involvement as the Commission intended.
La cumbre de tres días del G7 culminó ayer con declaraciones sobre atacar la crisis climática. La sección sobre medio ambiente y clima del comunicado final anunció acciones conjuntas para acabar con el apoyo público a la generación eléctrica por carbón para 2022.
ANNAPOLIS -- Earlier this week, GenOn Holdings, Inc. announced that it plans to retire units 1 and 2 at the Morgantown Generating Station by June 2022, five years earlier than the company previously announced late last year.
On Tuesday, June 15th, the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources will host an oversight hearing focused on the unfulfilled coal reclamation obligations that threaten coal communities across the country.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The EPA announced today that it will reconsider the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter, a key clean air safeguard. Fine particulate matter (PM 2.5), or soot, is an extremely dangerous pollutant that is responsible for over 100,000 premature deaths each year in the United States. In December 2020, despite robust scientific evidence and the recommendations of public health experts, the Trump administration declined to strengthen the standard, leaving the outdated and insufficient standard in place and putting hundreds of thousands of Americans at risk for serious health problems including asthma, heart attacks, stroke, and infant mortality.
HARTFORD -- Today marks the end of session for the Connecticut General Assembly. Sierra Club members and supporters have taken over 2,700 actions to advocate for climate and environment bills since January. Several priority bills are now law, which promise cleaner air, water, and a brighter climate future for all residents of Connecticut.
A brief overview of top Sierra Club issues and bills passed in the 2021 legislative session include the following:
Avon Lake Coal Plant slated to burn its last coal on Sept. 15th, as First Solar announces massive solar panel factory expansion near Toledo.
PITTSBURGH – For 51 years, the coal-fired Cheswick Generating Station has polluted the air and water northeast of Pittsburgh. Last night GenOn Holdings, Inc. announced that the plant will retire in September of this year.
On May 31, negotiations on a groundbreaking climate bill for Illinois broke down after Illinois’ largest climate polluter, the Prairie State Energy Campus (PSEC) coal plant, demanded a total exemption from pollution limits that would apply to Illinois fossil fuel power plants. PSEC is the single largest carbon polluter in Illinois, and the seventh largest carbon emitting power plant in the United States.