Today, the Platte River Power Authority (PRPA) Board voted to build a new gas-fired power plant as part of its long-term, electric resource plan (ERP), which derails the utility’s 2018 commitment to 100% carbon-free power by 2030. PRPA is now the only utility in Colorado with plans to build new, permanent fossil fuel-powered generation.
Six months after a poorly executed implosion at the former Crawford coal plant, community activists are escalating the demand for answers with billboards calling out the developer, Hilco Redevelopment Partners (Hilco), about continued lack of transparency and cooperation. Since May, the City of Chicago has only hosted one community meeting, with no professional Spanish interpretation, while Hilco has hosted a single meeting only after a mandate from the City. The environmental disaster at the Crawford site blanketed Little Village in a toxic dust cloud and both Hilco and City officials have failed to provide adequate information on the dangers residents may have been exposed to. Hilco is working to redevelop the coal plant site into a truck depot for retail giant Target.
This morning Alliant Energy announced that by the end of 2022, the utility plans to retire the last 275 MW power generating unit at its Lansing coal plant near Lansing, Iowa, and will invest in 400 MW of solar generation by the end of 2023, and up to 100 MW of distributed energy resources, like community solar or storage resources, by 2026. The Lansing plant emitted over 250,000 pounds of sulfur dioxide in 2019 and carbon emissions equivalent to over 100,000 cars. The announcement is part of Alliant’s Clean Energy Blueprint, the company’s “path for accelerating their transition to cleaner energy for customers.” In addition to providing advance notice about retirement, Alliant pledged to provide career assistance and coaching to help prepare workers to transition into other jobs.
In the latest attack on endangered species, the Trump administration today finalized a rule stripping protections from gray wolves across most of the lower 48 states. The politically-driven move will turn wolf management over to historically hostile state agencies
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, October 28, the Department of the Interior announced plans to extend the 2019-2020 Every Kid Outdoors pass into 2021. The move comes after environmental and youth recreation groups launched a campaign for the department to extend the pass for fourth graders and families that could not visit public lands and waters due to closings instigated by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The US Forest Service issued notice for a Final Record of Decision today eliminating the Roadless Rule in the Tongass National Forest. The decision opens vast swaths of irreplaceable old-growth temperate rainforest to clearcut logging, jeopardizing the subsistence culture of Indigenous communities, the forest’s role in fighting the climate crisis, and already imperiled wildlife.
DENVER— Climate groups filed new legal claims today challenging the federal government’s 1.7 million-acre resource-management plan (RMP) to expand fossil fuel development in southwestern Colorado, saying it should be overturned because it was approved during William Perry Pendley’s unlawful tenure directing the Bureau of Land Management (“Bureau”).
On Thursday, October 29 at 10:00 AM, the Clean Power Coalition of Southeast Wisconsin will host an online event remembering the shoreline bluff collapse at We Energies’ coal-fired power plant in Oak Creek which released devastating pollution (coal ash, earth, trucks, and other debris) into Lake Michigan on Halloween 2011. We Energies was implicated in the catastrophe and additional environmental regulation violations were discovered during the response to the collapse. This Halloween will be the 9 year anniversary of the incident and the event will feature speakers who remember the collapse and will also talk about ongoing pollution from the plant that continues to impact neighbors and area residents today.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Over the weekend, the Huffington Post published a story on the newly-appointed deputy assistant secretary of fish, wildlife and parks at the Department of the Interior and connections to racist and white supremacist writings.
Washington, DC -- Following the conclusion of an illegitimate Supreme Court confirmation process last night, Mitch McConnell adjourned the Senate without passing COVID-19 relief. House Democrats passed a relief package more than five months ago.