Washington, DC -- Today, Congress is voting on a massive year-end omnibus package that includes government spending, an energy package, and the Water Resources and Development Act while providing some COVID relief.
Congressional Democrats’ efforts on appropriations led to the inclusion of:
$180 million increase in funding for the EPA, the second highest funding level for the Agency ever
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Following Congresswoman Nita Lowey’s retirement announcement, House Democrats elected Representative Rosa DeLauro to take her place as Chair of the House Appropriations Committee.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, as a part of a broader omnibus package, Congress, led by Senator Tom Carper and Congressional Chair Frank Pallone and joined by Senator Schumer and Speaker Pelosi, will pass the American Energy Innovation Act with an amendment to phase out hydrofluorocarbons at a national level. The amendment requires EPA to implement an 85 percent phase down of the production and consumption of HFCs, so they reach approximately 15 percent of their 2011-2013 average annual levels by 2036.
Congress has included $1.375 billion in funding for border wall construction in this year's appropriations package. This request comes just days before President-elect Biden takes office. Biden has publicly mentioned several times his administration will not build another mile of border wall. Border groups are pushing back and calling on Congress to deny all funding for future wall construction, citing harm to communities, landscapes and wildlife. Read the coalition of organizations’ opposition of the funding and call for restoration and mitigation of the borderlands.
On Friday, the Oregon Public Utility Commission denied PacifiCorp the ability to charge its customers for capital expenditures at its Jim Bridger coal plant, ruling that the utility failed to consider more affordable strategies for complying with the federal Clean Air Act, including retiring the plant. Pacific Power customers in Oregon will see a 1.6 percent decrease in their monthly rates as of Jan. 1, 2021 due in part to these avoided costs.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Last night, a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee was quietly removed from the National Statuary Hall Collection at the United States Capitol. The statue was one of two statues in the collection representing the Commonwealth of Virginia. The other statue depicts George Washington. Gov. Ralph Northam announced that Virginia would seek to replace the Lee statue with a statue to civil rights activist Barbara Johns, who as a teenager led a student boycott against school segregation.
INDIANA, PA -- On Friday, the Sierra Club, PennFuture, and the Clean Air Council filed suit under the Clean Air Act to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of Pennsylvania’s inadequate plan to address unhealthy air quality under the federal National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for sulfur dioxide (SO2) limits.
ANNAPOLIS, MD - Late Friday night, GenOn Holdings, Inc. announced the retirement of the company’s Morgantown coal-fired power plant located in Charles County, MD on the Potomac River. The company will deactivate the coal plant in 2027. Prior to Friday’s announcement, the 50-year old Morgantown plant was the largest coal-fired power plant in Maryland without plans to cease operating.
Jackson, WY-- Today, the National Park Service and Wyoming Game and Fish Department reported that an elk tested positive for chronic wasting disease in Grand Teton National Park. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a rapidly-spreading wildlife epidemic that is killing elk, moose and deer herds across the country, particularly in western states. CWD is a neurological ailment that is always fatal and has the potential to wipe out entire herds of elk.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, EPA released new guidance for disposal and destruction of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The Agency’s new 107-page “Interim Guidance” document outlines a long list of unknowns about the ultimate fate of PFAS wastes sent to incinerators, landfills, thermal oxidizers or injected into deep wells for disposal.