LOS ANGELES – The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) voted unanimously today to adopt a Railyard Indirect Source Rule (ISR), a measure aimed at reducing harmful pollution from trains, trucks, cargo handling equipment, transport refrigeration units and railyards in Southern California. The vote delivers a major victory for clean air advocates.
BOSTON, MA. – Today, the State Legislature ended the 2023-2024 session without the passage of a climate omnibus bill, S.2838 An Act Upgrading the Grid and Protecting Ratepayers. Negotiations fell apart when the Massachusetts Senate and the Massachusetts House of Representatives could not reconcile an abridged bill that would expedite siting and permitting issues for companies building electrical infrastructure. House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka made inflammatory public statements yesterday, blaming each other for waiting until the last month of a two year legislative cycle.
Sutherland, NEBRASKA – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) that will require the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) to install a scrubber on its Gerald Gentleman Station coal plant in order to address the plant’s major contributions to haze pollution.
The Sierra Club Military Outdoors campaign released a report surveying the military community’s experiences with the outdoors, including a set of recommendations for the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Task Force on Outdoor Recreation for Veterans to improve outdoor accessibility for the veteran and the military community. The report was developed in partnership with the University of Kentucky’s Community and Economic Development Initiative of Kentucky.
Today, the US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources passed the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024, dubbed the “Dirty Deal,” sponsored by Senators Joe Manchin and John Barrasso. The legislation would open up federal lands and waters to more leasing and drilling and unnecessarily rush the review of proposed gas export projects, forcing decisions to be based on flawed, outdated studies.
Today, a coalition of environmental organizations and an impacted landowner backed by eight state Attorneys General and the New Jersey Ratepayer Advocate won their challenge to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) approval of the Regional Energy Access Expansion (REAE) project, which would allow a massive and unneeded expansion of gas capacity into New Jersey.
The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit vacated, or invalidated, a decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that allowed the construction of the Regional Energy Access Expansion project to expand the Transco pipeline to bring additional fracked gas from Pennsylvania to, primarily, New Jersey and Maryland.
Reno City Council is scheduled to consider a resolution opposing a rate hike proposed by NV Energy. The resolution is a big next step in preventing NV Energy's contentious proposal to escalate the Basic Service Charge (BSC) from $16.50 to $45.30 for residents in Northern Nevada. This proposed surge, changing the rate structure for ratepayers and disincentivizing energy conservation, has sparked widespread concern among the region's residents.
Groups submitted a request for rehearing to challenge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of Venture Global’s proposed methane gas export facility, CP2 LNG. FERC made the highly controversial decision at its June meeting with a slim 2-1 vote and a strong dissent from former commissioner Allison Clements. Niskanen Center submitted the request on behalf of Sierra Club and a coalition of environmental organizations and impacted community members.
WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Valerie Foushee (D-NC) and Congressman Max Miller (R-OH) introduced a groundbreaking bill aimed at transforming the cement, concrete, and asphalt industries by promoting the research, development, and implementation of cutting-edge technologies to reduce emissions.