WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, after repeated failed attempts, the Senate voted for a motion to proceed to move health care to the floor for debate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has failed to inform not only the American people, but also the other 99 Senators what they will ultimately be voting on, a straight repeal of the Affordable Care Act or repealing and replacing the ACA with what House Republicans forced through earlier this year.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, The U.S. Transportation Department announced it may revise auto fuel efficiency requirements starting with the 2021 model year and could adopt lower standards through 2025. Among other options, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) noted it will consider including continuing the 2021 requirements through 2025, rather than requiring yearly increases previously set under the Obama Administration.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Senate today voted to confirm David Bernhardt for Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Interior, despite his close ties to the oil industry, past ethics troubles, and personal financial stake in pending Department of the Interior decisions.
Harrisburg, PA-- The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) hosted a public hearing today officially marking the close of the comment period on the updated water permit for the Brunner Island coal-fired power plant. Dozens of local residents and organizations urged the DEP to strengthen protections in the draft permit, forcing the plant to stop discharging toxic pollutants now instead of allowing a four to six year grace period to comply with the updated limits.
Columbia, S.C.—Today, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt was in South Carolina to promote the Trump Administration’s environmental agenda, including rollbacks to the federal Clean Water Act—a bedrock protection against dangerous pollution contaminating America’s waterways and drinking water supplies.
In response, Christopher Hall, chair of the Sierra Club’s South Carolina Chapter,
Washington, DC -- Today, the Department of the Interior moved to rescind the Bureau of Land Management’s safeguards for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on public lands.
The fracking rule, put in place by the Obama administration, was enacted after years-long process and would be the first safeguards for the fossil fuel extraction process on tribal and publicly-owned lands.
WASHINGTON — For six years, National Drive Electric Week has inspired drivers to ditch the gas station. The seventh annual National Drive Electric Week (NDEW) is on track to boast more events than ever before. Still two months away from National Drive Electric Week, there are more than 175 registered events across the globe featuring plug-in electric vehicle (EV) ride-n-drives and related activities from Sept. 9 to 17, 2017 with more registered events coming in every week.
ATLANTA, GA.—The Sierra Club today served a notice of intent to sue Georgia Power to block the company’s plan to drain its ash ponds at 11 coal-burning power plant sites without getting updated permits that would protect waterways and the public’s health.
Harrisburg, PA--Governor Wolf allowed Senate Bill 624 to pass in to law today. The bill creates an exemption to an 80 year old law that protects streams and water supplies and will allow mining companies to predictably damage or pollute streams based on a promise to clean them up later, instead of preventing the damage in the first place.
HOLLISTER, CA -- The Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society (collectively the “Environmental Groups”), the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), and Panoche Valley Solar LLC (a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison Development, Inc.), have entered into a settlement agreement concerning the size and location of a solar project currently under development in California’s Panoche Valley. The agreement will help advance renewable energy in the state, create local jobs, and protect the environment.