The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection filed a motion in federal court to invalidate its earlier approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Under section 401 of the Clean Water Act, individual states must certify that interstate gas pipelines will not have significant effects on water quality before construction can begin.
Today, President Elect Donald Trump held his first press conference since July 27, 2016 while the Senate Foreign Relations committee held a hearing on his nominee for Secretary of State, former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order instructing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to rewrite the midterm review determination on vehicle emissions made earlier this year by the Agency.
Harrisburg, PA -- Today, a report prepared by Key-Log Economics for the Sierra Club and Appalachian Mountain Advocates was released, detailing what it calls the true costs of the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline. The proposed fracked gas pipeline was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on its former chair’s final day -- just before the commission lost its quorum.
Washington, DC -- Late yesterday evening, news broke that TransCanada, the company behind the formerly rejected Keystone XL pipeline, will not be required to use U.S. steel to construct the dirty tar sands pipeline from Alberta, Canada through the U.S. to refineries in the Houston area.
DURHAM, NC—A plan to build a gas plant on the Duke University campus will not move forward for approval in May by the university’s board of trustees.
A special subcommittee of Duke University’s Campus Sustainability Committee, which had been charged with studying the feasibility of building a 21-megawatt combined heat and power plant on a 1-acre site on campus, today said it will not seek a board vote on the plant.
Washington, DC -- Today, TransCanada announced that is has suspended its $15 billion NAFTA complaint against the U.S. over the rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline. The project, which was rejected by President Barack Obama, was recently revived by Donald Trump.
In response, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune released the following statement:
Oklahoma City, OK -- Today, the Western Oklahoma District Court announced, after the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC), the state agency tasked with regulating oil and gas operations, took several steps towards tackling the earthquake epidemic, that it planned to dismiss without prejudice a landmark lawsuit against three of the largest fossil fuel companies in Oklahoma. The week after the notice of intent to sue was filed, the OCC announced a volume reduction plan for several dozen disposal wells in western Oklahoma.
Washington, DC -- Today, Donald Trump rescinded a Office of Natural Resource Revenue rule that prevented companies from selling fossil fuels extracted on public lands to a subsidiary at a low price, paying royalties on that initial sale, and then reselling the fuel at a far higher price without paying royalties on the second sale.
In response, Sierra Club Lands Protection program Director Athan Manuel released the following statement:
Boston, MA -- Seventy-four city and town conservation commissions across Massachusetts today urged Governor Charlie Baker to drop his support for wasteful and costly fracked-gas pipelines in Massachusetts.
Ina joint letter, the conservation commissions say new pipelines impede the state’s greenhouse gas reduction goals in the Global Warming Solutions Act and Baker’s Integrated Climate Change Strategy.
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.