Today, the United States Forest Service issued a decision to allow the fracked gas Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to cross the Jefferson National Forest. In addition to its role in exacerbating climate change, the Sierra Club opposes this pipeline on the grounds that the need for it does not exist, and there is no need to send it through undisturbed portions of the Appalachian Trail and Jefferson National Forest.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Rep. Gallego today introduced legislation to preserve the Bears Ears National Monument and to expand safeguards for areas important to Tribal Nations that were left out of the original designation. The legislation comes as leaked documents show the Trump administration is planning massive reductions to Bears Ears National Monument, cutting the monument by 85%. Also on the chopping block is Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, which could be cut by half.
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Neil Chatterjee told the American Gas Association’s Natural Gas Roundtable that more focused and sophisticated resistance from environmental organizations was slowing down the approval process for gas infrastructure.
Washington, DC -- Today, E&E News reported that coal executive Bob Murray and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt have had deep discussions about formalizing the disparate attacks on climate science coming from this administration. According to E&E, Murray and Pruitt have discussed the absurd idea that “carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels should no longer be considered a pollutant but instead an essential ingredient in maintaining a global population boom.”
Tomorrow, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke plans to visit Louisiana to discuss coastal restoration. Zinke recently bragged about putting up 77 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico up for oil and gas leasing, the largest offshore oil and gas lease sale in Interior’s history. He is also expected to release a draft plan in the near future that would dramatically expand offshore drilling off America’s coasts and dismantle safety measures implemented in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster.
Boston, MA -- Late yesterday, the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) released an order in Eversource’s rate case that approves the company’s proposal to significantly accelerate the deployment of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in its service territory.
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.