Washington, DC -- On December 11th, President-elect Joe Biden introduced Tom Vilsack as his intended nominee for Secretary of Agriculture.
In response, Sierra Club Acting Our Wild America Director Chris Hill released the following statement:
“It is critical that President-elect Biden’s cabinet be filled with nominees who will advance bold solutions -- rooted in justice and equity -- at the size and scale needed to address the climate crisis.
Albany, N.Y. -- The New York State Division of Veteran Services has appointed Lt. Col. (retired) Aaron Leonard to co-lead the task force charged with implementing the state’s recently enacted Outdoor Rx Act. Leonard currently serves as a Sierra Club Military Outdoors campaign representative. The law, originally sponsored by Assemblymember Didi Barrett and Sen. Brian Benjamin, seeks to remove barriers that prevent New York veterans from accessing the state’s public lands to heal from service-related injuries and trauma.
Saint Paul, MN – Today, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) announced it will publish its draft Clean Car Standards on Monday, which would require new cars sold in the state to emit less climate-disrupting pollution. The rule also regulates that an increasing percentage of new cars sold in the state be zero-emission vehicles.
At Thursday night’s meeting of the Muscatine Power & Water (MPW) board, Sierra Club presented a new analysis finding that investing in a clean energy portfolio would be cheaper than building a new gas plant, which MPW is considering. MPW made public over the summer its initial plans to phase out coal power, replacing part of the 270 MW plant with 30 MW of solar. MPW is currently weighing whether to replace the remaining coal generation with a new combined heat and power gas plant, based on a power supply study that has not been available to the public.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) finalized a rule change that alters the process for designating critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act. This will weaken the ability to designate critical habitat for at-risk species and prioritize economics over science. The rule gives increased weight in decision making to developers to prioritize oil and gas development and other industries over safeguarding and restoring habitat for endangered species.
ALBUQUERQUE, NM. -- President-elect Biden today nominated Rep. Deb Haaland to serve as Secretary of the Interior. The Department of the Interior manages the country’s national parks and approximately 450 million acres of public lands, oversees wildlife and other conservation efforts, and upholds Federal trust responsibilities to Indigenous communities.
President-elect Biden today nominated Rep. Deb Haaland to serve as Secretary of the Interior. The Department of the Interior manages the country’s national parks and approximately 450 million acres of public lands, oversees wildlife and other conservation efforts, and upholds Federal trust responsibilities to Indigenous communities.
Washington, DC -- Today, it was announced that President-elect Joe Biden intends to nominate Michael Regan to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
For the past four years, Regan has led the North Carolina Department of Environment Quality. Regan assumed this role as the department grappled with a devastated morale following budget cuts and staff reductions, not unlike the current state of the EPA.
JACKSON -- Today the Mississippi PSC held a special meeting and unanimously approved a new order in Docket No. 2018-AD-145, governing Mississippi Power Company’s Reserve Margin Plan. Recognizing that Mississippi Power is generating far more power than is needed by consumers -- and that rate-payers are paying for the extra costs -- the Commission ordered Mississippi Power to present a plan for reducing its electricity-generating capacity by 950 MW by 2027.
On December 15, the news broke that President-Elect Joe Biden will select former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm to be his Secretary of Energy.