Governor Jared Polis of Colorado signed seven major new bills into law today that will significantly transform Colorado’s energy and environmental landscape, and guide the state towards the Governor’s 100% clean, renewable electricity goals.
Press Releases
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK -- Following a weekend of heavy storms and record flooding, the Oklahoma chapter of the Sierra Club has formally requested that both the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conduct a field investigation as soon as possible to determine whether unpermitted discharges of coal ash are occurring.
Monday the Illinois Legislature passed SB9, the Coal Ash Pollution Prevention Act, which now heads to the Governor’s desk. The groundbreaking bill addresses the many waste pits filled with coal ash, the toxic byproduct of burning coal, located all over the state. Illinois is now the third state in the country to pass legislation providing significant coal ash protections above and beyond federal requirements.
Rockville, MD -- A Maryland Circuit Court ruled in favor of local community members and environmentalists on a power plant owner’s efforts to block safeguards protecting clean water in the state at the Chalk Point power plant in Prince George’s County.
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK -- At noon on Tuesday, May 28, 2019, the Sierra Club will hold a rally opposing OG&E’s proposed rate hike. OG&E is requesting to force ratepayers to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for excessively costly work on OG&E’s Sooner coal-burning power plant. The rally will take place prior to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission's (OCC) hearing on the rate increase, the afternoon of Tuesday, May 28, and there will be space for media.
Ohio Clean Air Program” anything but clean
esterday, media outlets reported that former coal lobbyist and EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler sent a memo to several EPA offices, directing them to change how they calculate cost and benefits for environmental protection in an effort to undercut the agency’s use of peer reviewed science in the development of new rules.
Albany, N.Y.— Eleven various organization submitted comments today supporting the Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) efforts to decrease dangerous smog pollution downstate. Last week, DEC hosted three public hearings in Albany, New York City and Long Island on new nitrous oxide (NOx) pollution limits for over 40“peaker” gas plants, located across Long Island and New York City. “Peakers” only run during times of peak energy demand a handful of days a year, but they emit enormous amounts of toxic pollutants into our air -- harming New Yorkers health and leaving downstate New York with some of the worst air quality in the country.
Activists rallied this afternoon outside BP’s US headquarters to call on the oil company to pledge not to drill in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The rally took place as the company prepares to face shareholders at its annual meeting in Scotland and in the wake of new reporting on BP’s lobbying efforts to see the delicate area opened to destructive drilling.
Recently reported by E&E and Nature, the Environmental Protection Agency is zeroing out funding for a network of research centers focused on environmental threats to kids, leaving several ongoing studies about the impacts of pollution on child development in limbo.