Sierra Club

Partnership Highlights Municipal & County Leadership In Energy-Efficiency

November 12, 2009 -- PHOENIX­­ -- The Sierra Club’s Cool Cities program and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) today announced the launch of the Green Buildings for Cool Cities collaboration. The partnership will leverage Cool Cities’ more than 200 local campaigns and USGBC’s national network of 78 chapters to encourage new and retrofitted energy-efficient buildings, a key solution to global warming and to achieving the transition to a clean energy economy.    » read more »

Sierra Club, Coalition Partners Will Challenge Governor Fortuño's Cancellation of "Nature Reserve" Designation

November 3, 2009 -- San Juan, Puerto Rico -- Sierra Club and its coalition partners will challenge Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuño's proposed cancellation of the "nature reserve" designation held since 2008 by the island's Northeast Ecological Corridor.

Covering more than 3,000 acres in the northeast corner of Puerto Rico, the Corridor had been designated as a nature reserve in 2008 by preceding governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá. But late Friday, Governor Fortuño removed the designation of nature reserve in order to allow for large-scale, unsustainable development in the area, including more than 4,500 residential and tourist units and four golf courses.    » read more »

Inaction, Delay in Changing Bush-era Rule to Protect Streams Put Appalachian Communities at Risk and Put Focus on Environmental Protection Agency

November 2, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. Department of the Interior intends to delay issuing a rule that would protect Appalachian streams and communities from mountaintop removal coal mining, giving even more urgency to the need for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take action to address this destructive practice.    » read more »

October 28, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. - Today, the Obama administration announced a formal Memorandum of Understanding signed between various agencies involved in the siting of large-scale renewable energy projects and transmission lines, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, Council on Environmental Quality, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and Department of the Interior.

Statement of Sierra Club Clean Energy Solutions Campaign Director Alex Levinson    » read more »

Landmark reforms were aimed at halting deforestation, illegal wood products

Washington, D.C. (Nov. 3) -- The Sierra Club and the United Steelworkers (USW) today voiced concerns over a decision by regulators to grant special exemptions for pulp and paper from the Lacey Act reforms of 2008.

These landmark reforms aim to protect the world’s forests and communities by halting the import and sale of illegally-sourced wood products in the U.S. Under the Lacey Act reforms importers must declare the country and harvest of origin for their products, an essential step to creating transparency in a previously unregulated market where US demand was driving deforestation around the world.

The concerns were submitted in joint comments to the Federal Register on Nov. 2.    » read more »

Retrofitting Plan Will Create Jobs, Save Money, and Combat Global Warming

October 19, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. -- Vice President Biden announced the release today of the "Recovery through Retrofit" report, which lays out a federal plan for capturing energy savings by retrofitting homes.

"This report represents a huge step forward," said Sierra Club Clean Energy Solutions representative Allison Forbes. "By committing to ambitious residential energy efficiency measures, the Obama administration can help create good, family-supporting jobs, save families money on their energy bills, and combat global warming."    » read more »

Statement from Sierra Club Director of Environmental Quality Ed Hopkins

Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today moved to veto a Clean Water Act permit for the nation’s largest proposed mountaintop removal coal mining site, the Spruce No. 1 Mine in Logan County, West Virginia.

In response the Sierra Club's Director of Environmental Quality, Ed Hopkins, issued the following statement:    » read more »

October 15, 2009 -- Washington, DC: Reports in the Associated Press and Politico this morning revealed more findings related to Chairman Ed Markey’s investigation into those at the center of widening scandal involving forged letters sent to Congress.

The letters sent by Bonner and Associates, on behalf of a group contracted by American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, purported to come from veterans, senior, minority and women’s groups urging members of Congress to vote against clean energy legislation in the House earlier this year. A hearing on the issue, scheduled for this morning, has been postponed.

Statement of Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director:    » read more »

October 14, 2009 -- Washington, DC - The Sierra Club, with the Sierra Student Coalition today launched the second in its series of online video ads, part of its nationwide campaign to kick coal off campuses. With organizers on the ground in several of the more than 60 campuses with on-site coal plants, the Campaign is working to transition schools to 100% clean energy.

The second ad takes the stereotypically “dirty” college behavior of the first ad and bumps it up a notch. Though college life allows for leniency in the socially acceptable, coal still crosses the line. Watch the ad here: http://www.2dirty4college.com/    » read more »

Transition to Clean Energy Would Bring More Jobs, Economic Sustainability

October 13, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. -- The Sierra Club today released a groundbreaking new report that reaffirms the economic benefits of ending mountaintop removal coal mining and transitioning to clean energy sources in Appalachia. Conducted by Synapse Energy Economics, Inc., the report comes on the heels of the Obama administration's praiseworthy decision to review 79 permits for new mountaintop removal coal mining permits citing water quality concerns.    » read more »

Petition Seeks Greater Attention to Environmental Justice Considerations in Review of Mining Permits

October 5, 2009 -- Washington, D.C.: Today a coalition of Appalachian residents and community organizations submitted a petition to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) citing the need for the agency to address the environmental justice tragedy of mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia. The petition urges EPA to incorporate environmental justice considerations into its review of pending applications for mountaintop removal coal mining permits, among other actions.    » read more »

October 1, 2009 -- Flagstaff, Arizona -- As Hopi and Navajo leaders in the American Southwest evaluate their energy policies, the Sierra Club and other environmental groups remain committed to working with their tribal partners to find clean energy solutions that work for everyone.

"We are proud of our longstanding partnerships with tribal leaders in the Southwest, and we are committed to supporting efforts to transition from dirty coal to clean energy solutions," said Sierra Club President Allison Chin. "Together, we can rekindle our economy, reduce greenhouse gases and support people who have been left in the dust by a dangerous and dirty, coal-based economy."    » read more »

September 30, 2009 -- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson is announcing today a new proposal to reduce global warming emissions from the country's largest polluters. The proposal would require new coal plants and other large facilities to install global warming pollution controls.

Existing facilities would have to upgrade global warming pollution controls when the rest of the facility is modified or expanded to increase emissions by more than 10,000 tons. The proposed rule would only apply to sources emitting at least 25,000 tons of greenhouse gases each year, exempting small businesses, churches and apartment buildings, while still addressing the bulk of the nation's global warming pollution.    » read more »

September 30, 2009 -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today reasserted its concerns about the potential environmental harm that would be caused by the issuance of dozens of new mountaintop removal coal mining permits in Appalachia.

The EPA, which announced on September 11, 2009 that all 79 of the mountaintop removal coal mining permits currently under agency review would violate the Clean Water Act, today formally announced that it would conduct an enhanced review of all 79 permits.

In response Mary Anne Hitt, Deputy Director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign, issued the following statement:    » read more »

Statement of Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director

September 30, 2009 -- Washington, DC -- The Sierra Club applauds the introduction of the Clean Energy Jobs & American Power Act by Senators Kerry and Boxer today. It is time for American to again take charge and make sure that we have less pollution, more jobs and greater security.

This bill is an important step forward to the clean energy economy that works for everyone. It makes America more energy independent creating new jobs with safer, cleaner energy sources that are made in America and work for America. We are pleased that the Senate bill sets a strong short term target for carbon pollution reductions and retains EPA's authority to regulate global warming emissions.    » read more »