Press Releases

Today, former coal lobbyist and acting Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler released an unlawfully weak carbon pollution policy that would gut the Clean Power Plan’s life-saving standards and do next to nothing to fight the climate crisis, continuing the agenda of disgraced former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. The Wheeler-Pruitt proposal pales in comparison to the previous Administration’s ambitious policy to work with states to dramatically reduce carbon pollution, promote economic and environmental justice, protect public health, and remove barriers to America’s clean energy economy.

The Sierra Club announced today that it will be launching a five-figure digital advertising campaign against the Trump Administration’s efforts to force taxpayers and electricity customers to pay tens of billions of dollars to bail out uneconomic coal and nuclear plants. The advertisements will run on Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook, and will be geographically targeted to viewers in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest who are likely to bear the most significant costs of a bailout.

AUSTIN, TX – Instead of protecting public health and the environment, EPA has proposed a plan that will continue to allow air pollution to darken skies and threaten communities and national parks, community members and advocates say.

After a tour of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) today, Department of Energy Executive Rick Perry again stated his intention to force electricity customers and taxpayers to spend tens of billions of dollars to bailout uneconomic coal and nuclear plants that cannot compete with cleaner, cheaper competitors like solar and wind.

Baltimore, MD--The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) released finalized water pollution permits for the Chalk Point, Dickerson and Morgantown coal-fired power plants yesterday. The plants have been operating under expired permits since 2014 and the update now requires the plants to install necessary pollution-control measures to reduce dangerous metals that are discharged into the Chesapeake Bay, Potomac and Patuxent Rivers by November 1, 2020. The permits follow EPA guidance but do not completely eliminate the dumping of toxic coal by-product pollutants such as arsenic, selenium and mercury into our waterways.

The Oregon Public Utilities Commission-- the same commission that required PacifiCorp to do an economic analysis of it coal fleet—just decided to keep the results of that analysis secret. Sierra Club had challenged the company’s request to hide the study from the public.

Governor Rauner is scheduled to headline at a rally today alongside coal company executives that have been instrumental in creating Trump Administration policies aimed at reversing many American initiatives to promote clean energy, reduce air and water pollution from coal, and fight climate change. Rauner is to be introduced at the Marion event by billionaire coal baron Joseph W. Craft III, a close confidant of departed USEPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, and staunch proponent of Pruitt's and Trump's efforts to benefit his and other coal corporations.

BOSTON--The Massachusetts House and Senate Conference Committee released a compromise energy bill tonight that includes the following provisions: boosts the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) annual increase to 2 percent from the current 1 percent starting in 2020, but declines back to 1 percent in 2030; authorizes 1,000 megawatt hours of energy storage and 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind; and expands energy efficiency offerings within the MassSave program.

BOSTON--The Massachusetts House and Senate Conference Committee finalized an Environmental Bond Bill last night that did not include language banning single use plastic bags. Such language had been included in the Senate version of the bond bill.

Avon, NY. -- Concerned citizens and local organizations gathered on Tuesday to urge Governor Cuomo and the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to quickly finalize a proposed plan that would fully retire New York’s remaining coal plants by 2020. Advocates delivered thousands of petitions requesting the framework of the plan establish a glidepath for communities and workers affected by this transition and ensure the final rule barred these plants from converting to other dirty energy sources like fracked gas, waste, or biomass.