WASHINGTON DC – The states participating in the 2016-17 Program Review of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) hosted the first meeting of the year today to determine the future course of carbon pollution reductions in the region. Representatives from the nine participating states, and key stakeholder groups, discussed the latest assumptions for modeling of scenarios for reducing carbon pollution limits 2.5 to 3.5 percent annually from 2020 to 2030, along with other changes to the program’s structure.
LOS ANGELES-- Today, the Trump Administration issued an executive order gutting President Obama’s Clean Power Plan (background below), which cuts climate altering pollution by asking states to set clean energy generation goals.
Oklahoma City, Ok. -- Oklahoma Governor Fallin proposed a 0.5 cent per kilowatt hour tax on wind production and is invested on fast tracking the phasing out of tax incentives for the wind industry.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Congress used the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to scrap the Stream Protection Rule (SPR) today, putting the health of thousands of Americans living near coal mining sites at serious risk.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Late yesterday, Donald Trump’s EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt, proposed suspending deadlines for new clean water protections against coal plants dumping massive amounts of industrial sludge into America’s waterways.
San Francisco, CA - The American Lung Association (ALA) released its 2017 "State of the Air" report today, which found continued improvement in air quality due to enforcement of the Clean Air Act, but an increase in dangerous spikes in smog (ozone) and particle (soot) pollution that are putting many Americans’ health at risk.
Charleston, WV-- Today, a coalition of environmental groups filed a federal suit to challenge the discharge of pollutants from mountaintop removal coal mine sites currently operated by the Fola Coal Company in West Virginia. This is the second time that legal action has been taken against Fola for water pollution at this site. Fola’s parent company, Consol, recently paid Southeastern Energy to take ownership of the mine because the reclamation and treatment liabilities were too high.
DETROIT, MI – Today, Detroit Edison announced a plan to shutter all remaining coal powered generation in their fleet by 2050 and invest $15 billion in a combination of renewable energy and gas-fired energy generation.
In response, Regina Strong, Director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign in Michigan, released the following statement:
Philadelphia, P.A.--The state of Connecticut filed suit against the Environmental Protection Agency today for its failure to address a Good Neighbor Petition filed by the state in July of 2016. Both Connecticut and Delaware filed Good Neighbor petitions stating that the Brunner Island power plant, located in Pennsylvania, is interfering with the downwind state's ability to comply with the ozone (or smog) safeguards in the Clean Air Act.
CHARLESTON, WV – Today, West Virginia committed to a schedule for treating mining pollution generated from seven former mine sites now owned and managed by the WV Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP).