Clean air experts sounded the alarm today as the New York Times reported that former coal lobbyist and EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler plans to abandon peer-reviewed science in order to sell the Trump Administration’s Dirty Power Plan, its attempt to roll back the Clean Power Plan.
Today, Sierra Club, Fresh Energy, Union of Concerned Scientists, Center for Energy and Environment, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, Clean Grid Alliance, LIUNA (Laborers’ International Union of North America) Minnesota and North Dakota, and Xcel Energy filed an agreement with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MNPUC) that proposes retirement dates for Xcel’s remaining coal units and includes historic investments in solar energy and energy efficiency.
Albany, N.Y.— The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) signed a finalized regulation today that will fully eliminate coal in New York by 2020. This regulation, years in the making and overwhelmingly supported by the public, is the first of its kind in the nation. The removal of coal-fired power is a critical step for the state to reach its goal of a 100 percent greenhouse gas emissions reductions in the electric sector by 2040.
The Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign reached two major milestones this week with the announced retirements of the CD McIntosh coal plant in Lakeland, Florida and the Utah Power Plant in Magna, Utah.
SEATTLE, WA—Today, Senate Bill 5116 was signed into law in Washington by Governor Jay Inslee after passing the state legislature earlier this month. This bill cuts out coal power by 2025 and requires an equitable transition to 100 percent clean electricity for the entire state by 2045.
Today, Colorado lawmakers approved legislation that would reauthorize and modernize the way the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) oversees our utilities.
A group of WEC Energy Group shareholders, customers, and climate advocates will gather prior to the holding company’s annual meeting to demonstrate and make statements about their concerns over the financial liabilities of burning coal and other fossil fuels. The WEC Energy Group annual shareholders’ meeting is Thursday, May 2, from 10:00-11:00 am in the R. John Buuck Field House at the Concordia University-Mequon campus. Those going to the annual meeting have been instructed to park at nearby Marcus North Shore Cinema and take a shuttle provided by WEC. Participants in this public demonstration event will gather on the sidewalk in front of the northwest corner of the parking lot at 8:30 am and then demonstrate along the shuttle route.
Former coal lobbyist and EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler delivered his draft plan today to the federal register to reopen the Startup, Shutdown, Malfunction (SSM) loopholes in Texas, which would allow dirty industrial facilities to release massive amounts of dangerous pollution generally not allowed under the Clean Air Act onto vulnerable communities. The SSM loopholes have been decried by public health and environmental justice organizations as an irresponsible and dangerous giveaway to polluters that threatens the health of low income and communities of color.
On Thursday, the Milwaukee County Board voted unanimously in support of a resolution opposing We Energies’ request to the DNR for a mercury variance in their discharge water from the Oak Creek-Elm Road coal plants. The proposed variance in the DNR’s draft permit would allow We Energies to discharge water tainted with mercury at up to three times the state standard into Lake Michigan.
This week, the Sierra Club filed three expert reports with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC), opposing an attempt by Oklahoma Gas and Electric (OG&E) to hike its customers’ electricity bills.
On Thursday, the Sierra Club will be hosting a press conference in support of a Milwaukee County Board resolution calling on the DNR to reject We Energies’ request for a mercury variance in their discharge water. The proposed variance in the DNR’s draft permit would currently allow We Energies to discharge water tainted with mercury at three times the state standard into Lake Michigan. Mercury is a well-known neurotoxin that has harmful effects on nervous systems, digestive and immune systems, lungs and kidneys, and other parts of the body. The resolution is sponsored by Supervisors Steven Shea, Patti Logsdon, Willie Johnson Jr., Sylvia Ortiz-Velez, and Deanna Alexander. The Intergovernmental Relations Committee unanimously recommended that the full County Board adopt the resolution.
OLYMPIA, WA—Today, the Washington State legislature officially passed Senate Bill 5116, a bill that mandates an equitable transition to 100 percent clean electricity generation for the entire state by 2045.