Washington, DC -- In a document that is expected to be officially filed in the Federal Register tomorrow, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will propose a one year delay of a rule designed to limit methane pollution from oil and gas operations on public lands. The rule has already withstood legal challenges, as well as an attempted repeal in Congress.
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.
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.
Anchorage, AK -- Over the weekend, Hilcorp, the company responsible for an ongoing three-month long methane leak, announced that it had spilled oil in the Cook Inlet. The cause of the spill continues to be investigated, and the layer of ice over the Inlet makes it difficult to investigate and impossible to fully clean up.
This spill comes as Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans are looking at ways to circumvent President Barack Obama’s designation to permanently protect the Arctic Ocean from offshore drilling.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Eight leading environmental, energy, and science organizations urged Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, on Friday to uphold auto emissions standards that would deliver a new-car fleet averaging better than 50 m.p.g. in 2025.
MONROE COUNTY, OH - Yesterday, the US Geological Survey reported an earthquake in Monroe County with the epicenter located at 39.6663º N, 81.244º W. The 3.0 magnitude earthquake was located in the Marietta Unit of the Wayne National Forest. Approximately 40,000 acres of the forest are slated for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) by the Bureau of Land Management.
WASHINGTON D.C. -- As a result of an Open Records Act request and lawsuit filed by the Center for Media and Democracy, on Tuesday night the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office released a batch of more than 7,500 pages of emails and other records it withheld prior to Scott Pruitt’s nomination as EPA Administrator last Friday.
Washington, DC -- Today, the Sierra Club, Northern Plains Resource Council, Bold Alliance, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, and the Natural Resources Defense Council filed a federal lawsuit in Montana, challenging the State Department’s border-crossing permit and related environmental reviews and approvals for the Keystone XL pipeline.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Yesterday, the Auto Alliance, a trade association representing Ford, General Motors, DaimlerChrysler, Volkswagen AG, and eight other automakers sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt requesting the withdrawal of an Obama administration decision to lock in vehicle emission rules through 2025.
This letter follows an earlier letter sent by the Auto Alliance asking Trump to roll back the same standards.
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.
Today, President Donald Trump will scrap key aspects of former-President Obama’s climate leadership, as he reportedly plans to sign Executive Orders to move the the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline forward.
Minneapolis, MN -- Yesterday, the Department of State’s comment period for environmental review of Canadian company Enbridge’s Alberta Clipper pipeline concluded with high public participation. Nearly 90,000 comments in opposition to the project were submitted, with Americans sharing their serious concerns with the current draft environmental review.