WASHINGTON, DC -- The U.S. House of Representatives today passed a bill undermining bedrock environmental safeguards protecting the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, as well as the Superior and Chippewa National Forests. The bill, HR 3905, would automatically grant mineral leases near the Wilderness boundary in perpetuity, while undermining guarantees for public process and water quality among others.
In response Lena Moffitt, senior director of Sierra Club’s Our Wild America campaign issued the following statement.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Earlier today, reports indicated that the Koch brothers’ planned acquisition of the State Department is well underway with Trump’s imminent replacement of Secretary of State and former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson with Koch-backed CIA Director Mike Pompeo by the end of the year. Senator Tom Cotton is allegedly in line to replace Pompeo as the head of the CIA.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, North Carolina applied for funding to invest in clean transportation solutions from the Volkswagen dieselgate settlement funds. With North Carolina’s application, all 50 states plus Washington, DC and Puerto Rico have applied for these funds one day ahead of the December 1 deadline.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a rich history of improving air and water quality throughout the US, but the Trump Administration has proposed slashing the Agency’s budget by 31 percent. These cuts would cause significant harm here in Nevada. This Friday, former EPA staff and clean air advocates will speak to defend the Agency, which was created 47 years ago on December 2nd, 1970, by Republican President Richard Nixon.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, the EPA announced it will maintain the current renewable fuel volumes for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) through 2018 and biomass-based diesel volumes through 2019.
WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Today, Sierra Club joined Congressional and Gwich’in tribal leaders to decry the current attempt to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling as part of the tax scheme. The effort would attempt to offsets tax cuts for the wealthy and corporate polluters with revenue from drilling in one of the country’s last wild places -- a move that the Senate Parliamentarian has said violates Senate rules.
Little Rock, Arkansas - The Arkansas Public Service Commission is currently considering recommendations regarding Arkansas's "net metering" rules and regulations (Docket 16-027-R). Net-metering customers refer to Arkansans who generate their own electricity via renewable energy systems like solar power.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission ordered Citizen Energy to cut pressure and volume at an oil well near Yukon, OK on Monday following a series of earthquakes believed to be caused by Citizen’s fracking operations.
Boston, MA—Boston is on its way to becoming the largest city on the East Coast to pass plastic bag regulations today. Similar to that of Cambridge’s, which went into effect in March of 2016, Boston’s comprehensive law requires recycled content in paper bags, and that reusable bags be durable by having a minimum thickness. The Boston regulations also include a modest 5¢ fee on all single-use bags to encourage shoppers to bring their own bags. The retailer keeps the fee making this a minimum price not a tax.
WASHINGTON D.C.-- Today, the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee voted to advance the nominations of Kathleen Hartnett-White for Director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Andrew Wheeler for Deputy Administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) along party lines.