Owensboro, KY - Sierra Club today applauded the Owensboro Municipal Utilities Commission for voting to retire the second unit of its Elmer Smith coal-burning power plant. This announced closure will retire the Elmer Smith plant in its entirety prior to 2023, as a 2019 retirement date for Unit 1 was announced in 2015.
WASHINGTON D.C.-- Today, in a vote boycotted by Democrats over unanswered questions by the nominee, Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee changed the rules so that they could force through Scott Pruitt’s nomination to be administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), disregarding Pruitt’s conflicts of interest and hostility to federal public health protections.
Anchorage, Alaska-- PacRim Coal, the company behind the controversial proposed Chuitna coal mine in Alaska, announced on Friday that it suspended all permitting activities related to the Chuitna project. According to Dan Graham, PacRim’s project manager, the permit is being pulled because its financial backers fell through.
LAS VEGAS, NV: NV Energy’s Reid Gardner coal plant has finally stopped burning coal after 50 years of powering -- and polluting -- southern Nevada. The closure of the Reid Gardner coal plant is a remarkable triumph for all Nevadans, but especially for the Moapa Band of Paiutes who mounted an impressive campaign to replace the coal plant that soiled their air and water with clean, sustainable solar power.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the House of Representatives will use an obscure tool, the Congressional Review Act (CRA), to dismantle the Stream Protection Rule (SPR), which protects clean water for communities living near mining sites. The Senate is expected to vote on the House bill tomorrow.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Peabody Energy emerged from bankruptcy on Monday after shedding $5 billion in debt that it accumulated from reckless coal investments it made over the past decade.
WASHINGTON D.C.-- Today, new findings revealed the Environmental Protection Agency programs that will be most affected by the Trump administration’s proposed budget cuts, including a 93% budget cut for the Chesapeake Bay Restoration, which works with federal and state agencies, nonprofits, and academic institutions in six states to restore the watershed area.
Today, Dayton Power and Light (DP&L) submitted a proposal to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to begin development of new wind and solar energy projects, grid modernization initiatives, low-income energy efficiency and bill payment assistance and support for working families and communities.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced today that coal production dropped 18 percent in 2016, putting it at its lowest levels since 1978. The announcement comes at historic levels of clean energy growth in the American energy market, with solar and wind outpacing fossil fuels in new capacity additions for the past two years and clean energy jobs far exceeding fossil fuel jobs in 2016, according to the Department of Energy (DOE).
Lansing, MI - Today, the Michigan Public Utilities Service Commission issued a decision allowing Consumers Energy to increase their customer's electricity bills. In approving that rate hike, the Commission required that Consumers Energy run a cost/benefit analysis on its aging coal fleet and provide that detailed analysis on their next general rate case filing. EarthJustice and Olson, Bzdok, & Howard represented the Sierra Club in this rate case.
This week, Myron Ebell, the former head of President Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) transition team, said he expects the agency to see significant cuts in its budget and workforce-- by up to at least half to begin with.
Washington, DC -- Today, just after Donald Trump signed an executive order meant to undermine U.S. climate policy, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke signed a Secretarial Order cancelling the moratorium on new and modified coal leasing on public lands. The temporary pause was put in place by the Obama Administration in 2016 as taxpayers were losing hundreds of millions of dollars a year while public lands, critical water resources, and the climate were being threatened and damaged.