WASHINGTON D.C.-- Today, the House, led by Representative Sewell and House Leadership, passed the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (VRAA) after it was reintroduced last week. The passing of the VRAA will restore and strengthen the full power of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and will restore and expand Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which was gutted by the Supreme Court for the second time earlier this summer.
WASHINGTON, DC -- This afternoon, the House passed a $3.5 trillion budget resolution, a crucial step toward delivering bold investments at the scale of the crises our communities face. Sierra Club emphasizes that any vote on the bipartisan infrastructure proposal must be preceded by passage of the reconciliation bill.
Responding to continuing pressure from community groups, the U.S. Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and Enforcement (OSMRE) announced its formal determination that West Virginia is violating the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) by failing to ensure that funds will be available to reclaim coal mines in the state.
The State Corporation Commission of Virginia released its final order in the Appalachian Power Company (APCo) rate case. The Commission denied Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELG) costs for both the John E. Amos and Mountaineer coal plants, both are West Virginia power plants that provide power to Virginia.
St. Louis, MO -- Ameren Missouri’s appeal of a lower court ruling that required the utility to add pollution controls to its Rush Island and Labadie coal plants was partially successful. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit confirmed that Ameren violated the Clean Air Act, but overturned a lower court order that would have required Ameren to fully remedy the effects of its unlawful pollution.
On August 11, the Sierra Club filed a petition for reconsideration of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decision to omit Ottawa County from the agency’s list of areas across the country that are out of attainment with health-based federal ozone (smog pollution) standards. Sierra Club won a court order in 2020 requiring EPA to revisit the agency’s 2018 decision to designate Ottawa County as an attainment area. EPA announced its decision to maintain that designation in June. A nonattainment designation triggers stricter rules for permitting new sources of pollution in the area, and requires that the state come up with a plan to bring the area back into attainment. The Clean Air Act makes clear that any county with pollution that has monitored violations of an air standard, or is contributing to monitored violations of an air standard, should be designated nonattainment. Local concern about health risks is especially high because of the COVID-19 pandemic and increased outdoor time due to social distancing.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, the Department of the Interior announced it will restart an analysis of the climate, health and economic impacts from mining and burning coal from public lands -- a review that began during the Obama administration.
In response, representatives of Sierra Club released the following statements:
La Casa Blanca anunció hoy que el Presidente Biden seleccionó a Charles F. Sams III para servir como el decimonoveno director permanente del Servicio Nacional de Parques (NPS).
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, the White House announced that President Joe Biden selected Charles F. Sams III to serve as the nineteenth permanent director of the National Park Service. Sams currently serves as a council member to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, a position he was appointed to by Oregon Gov. Kate Brown. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Sams would be the first Indigenous person to lead NPS.
Sams has an extensive background working with Tribal Nations throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Today, activists from Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign and Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (Iowa CCI) rallied in Cowles Commons Park before marching to occupy the lobby at MidAmerican Energy Headquarters in Downtown Des Moines. MidAmerican is the number one carbon polluter in Iowa. It owns and operates 5 coal plants across the state that have no public plans for retirement.