Today, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced a much anticipated proposal for sweeping legislation aimed at reforming the state’s energy sector, phasing out fossil fuel use, and investing in initiatives to lower emissions and mitigate the climate crisis. The Consumers and Climate First Act is the latest of several omnibus energy bills, including the Clean Energy Jobs Act, which has won broad support for it’s policy pillars to address the economic and public health crisis, the racial and economic justice crisis, and a crisis of utility corruption.
Press Releases
WASHINGTON -- Today, Senator Joe Manchin re-introduced the RECLAIM Act and legislation to reauthorize the Abandoned Mine Lands fund in the Senate, which builds on the House’s passage of bipartisan legislation last month and President Biden’s recognition of reclamation as a clear opportunity to create jobs and spur economic development.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The White House released a report today outlining how to ensure coal workers and communities home to coal plants and mines aren’t left behind in the transition to clean, renewable energy.
AEP/Indiana-Michigan Power has announced a full retirement of the Rockport Super Polluter coal plant by 2028.
Jackson, MS -- Late last week, Southern Company subsidiary Mississippi Power released its Integrated Resource Plan, which details the utility’s long term plans for providing power to its Mississippi customers.
Des Moines, Iowa -- Today the new CEO of utility company MidAmerican, Kelcey Brown, received a gift basket with a petition signed by over 1300 Iowans and letters from local clean air advocates at Clean Air Muscatine calling on the utility to commit to a plan to go 100% clean energy.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, a broad coalition of 95 environmental organizations and local community groups called on the Biden Administration to fix a glaring environmental justice problem by closing the Startup, Shutdown, Malfunction (SSM) loopholes. The groups sent a letter and filed a legal petition to urge EPA to prioritize closing the loopholes. The SSM loopholes allow polluting facilities like coal plants and oil refineries to release unlimited amounts of dangerous air pollution during routine events, without facing legal consequences under the Clean Air Act. This toxic pollution causes severe health consequences in fenceline and nearby communities and has historically had a disproportionate impact on low-income communities and communities of color that live near polluting facilities.
Richmond, VA-- Today the Sierra Club filed the expert testimony of Rachel Wilson of Synapse Energy Economics with the State Corporation Commission (SCC) opposing Appalachian Power Company’s (APCo) request to charge ratepayers to maintain the Amos and Mountaineer coal plants in West Virginia through 2040 rather than investing in more cost-effective clean energy.
St. Louis, MO -- Tonight, Missourians from throughout the state held a virtual rally to demand that the state’s largest coal polluting utilities quickly transition to clean energy. The rally builds on the The Dirty Truth About Utility Climate Pledges report released by Sierra Club in January.
Illinois -- As part of a settlement agreement with the Sierra Club, Vistra Energy announced today that it would be closing its Joppa coal plant by September 1, 2022 - three years earlier than Vistra had previously announced. The agreement resolves groundwater litigation Sierra Club brought in 2018 before the Illinois Pollution Control Board to hold Vistra Energy accountable for dozens of exceedances of state groundwater standards documented at groundwater monitoring wells surrounding coal ash ponds at the Edwards, Coffeen, and Joppa coal plant sites. The agreement commits Vistra Energy to pay a portion of property taxes for three additional years to local taxing bodies following the closure of Joppa and to install additional groundwater monitors at its Edwards and Joppa sites.