Annapolis, MD - Today, the Sierra Club, along with 21 other community organizations and hundreds of concerned Maryland residents submitted comments urging the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) to finalize a permit update for two of Maryland’s coal plants and establish the earliest possible compliance date for toxic discharge limits in order to protect families and waterways. The covered pollutants include mercury and arsenic both of which can be extremely toxic to humans and pose a serious threat to public health and waterways.
Over 30 local advocates/groups pleaded for Governor Lee to pass a moratorium on utility shutoffs, while furloughed workers continue to get their utilities shut off.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The DC Public Service Commission recently required DC’s electric utility to purchase renewable energy through new long-term contracts. These contracts, also referred to as power purchase agreements or PPAs, provide critical long-term income streams to renewable energy companies, enabling them to build new solar and wind farms to deliver the renewable energy contracts require. These long-term renewable energy contracts will move DC closer to its commitment of cutting carbon emissions in half by 2032 and reaching carbon neutrality by 2050.
Last night, Reuters reported that banks including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Citigroup are planning to take direct ownership of failing oil and gas assets. The banks are reportedly awaiting regulatory waivers in order to move this plan forward.
In response, Sierra Club campaign representative Ben Cushing released the following statement:
Late yesterday, Sierra Club’s legal team challenged EPA’s plan to reopen the Startup, Shutdown, Malfunction (SSM) loopholes in Texas, which would allow dirty industrial facilities like coal plants and oil refineries to release massive amounts of dangerous air pollution into vulnerable communities already suffering from respiratory ailments.
More that 30 faith, labor, environmental and community organizations sent a letter to Governor Bill Lee requesting that he—mayors, utility regulators, and rural electric cooperative, public power and water utility boards—take steps to implement a moratorium on all electricity, water, and telecommunications utility shut-offs, waiver of all late-payment charges, and reinstitution of any services that have already been cut off due to nonpayment.
Montana Governor Steve Bullock is reportedly allowing Canadian pipeline company TC Energy to move forward with construction of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline in Montana despite concerns about the spread of coronavirus among workers and in vulnerable rural and Tribal communities.
TOPEKA, KS -- Earlier today, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that utilities cannot charge customers who generate their own power more than customers who do not. The Court ruled in favor of Earthjustice, the Sierra Club, and Vote Solar, who challenged a 2018 Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) decision approving extra fees (sometimes called “demand charges”) on residential solar customers.
Blanco County, TX -- It was reported yesterday that Kinder Morgan has spilled drilling fluid into local drinking water wells during construction of its Permian Highway fracked gas pipeline.
WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Donald Trump is expected to meet with oil executives tomorrow at the White House to discuss additional aid for the industry in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting comes as Congressional Republicans are throwing cold water on further stimulus that could fill urgent relief gaps and lay the groundwork for clean energy and infrastructure projects to put people back to work as the country emerges from the coronavirus crisis.