President Obama addressed a group of small business, labor and industry leaders at a Home Depot in Alexandria, Virginia, yesterday morning to highlight the importance of providing consumers with incentives to invest in energy efficiency.
While negotiators craft an international climate deal in Copenhagen and Congress considers jobs [...]
By: Sarah Lerner, Media Assistant
What a difference a new Administration makes. When Bush was still in office in 2005, the American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO), the biggest copper conglomerate, was able to evade hefty environmental fines by declaring bankruptcy. But just last Thursday, the EPA served some [...]
This is the weekly post from Bruce Nilles, director of Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign.
How many people have to be sickened or killed before we get strong coal ash regulations in the U.S.? I ask this during a week very full of news on coal ash – the by-product [...]
Later today at the White House is a Clean Energy Forum, several of our own Sierra Student Coalition (SSC) folks will be there as part of the Energy Action Coalition. From our SSCers' blog post over on Climate Crossroads:
On Wednesday, December 2, four members of President Obama’s Cabinet will [...]
The Thanksgiving holiday is a great time to share stories. My favorite radio program, National Public Radio’s Story Corps Project, is hosting a National Day of Listening this Friday, November 27th. They are encouraging people to sit down, interview family members, and record their responses. The Sierra Club is also providing [...]
By: Julian Carmona, Intern for the Global Warming and Energy Team
The Chicago public hearing on the Environmental Protection Agency's Big Polluters (tailoring) rule is now underway, and we've got folks tweeting from inside. Follow the #bigpolluters hashtag all day on Twitter to stay up to date on it all. Also, later today we'll have a nice wrap-up from [...]
Our folks are on the ground Tweeting from the EPA's second hearing on their proposed "Big Polluters" rule that would regulate pollution from large polluters - in Chicago, Il. You can contribute to the discussion through Twitter using the hashtag #bigpolluters
<a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&task=viewaltcast&altcast_code=7e54a17f4d" >LiveBlog: Big Polluters EPA Hearing - Virginia</a> [...]This post was written by Jeff Speir, apprentice for the Sierra Club Clean Energy Solutions Campaign.
Following in the wake of the consumer, economic, and environmental success of the "Cash for Clunkers" program this summer, the Obama administration is considering using stimulus [...]That's a photo of Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope (left) testifying at today's Environmental Protection Agency public hearing on the Big Polluters rule. We'll have more of a wrap-up blog post tomorrow, once the Chicago hearing is complete (today's [...]
Our folks are on the ground Tweeting from the EPA's first of two hearing on their proposed "Big Polluters" rule that would regulate pollution from large polluters. You can contribute to the discussion through Twitter using the hashtag #bigpolluters
<a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&task=viewaltcast&altcast_code=7e54a17f4d" >LiveBlog: Big Polluters EPA Hearing - Virginia</a> [...]This is the weekly post from Bruce Nilles, director of Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign.
Wednesday and Thursday of this week are big days if you live in Arlington, Virginia, or Chicago, Illinois. Those are the two days of public hearings on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) “Big Polluters” rule. [...]
By:Julian Carmona, Intern for the Global Warming and Energy Team
A report out this week from the U.S. Green Building Council says that "(d)espite a challenging economic outlook, green building will support 7.9 million U.S. jobs and pump $554 billion into the American economy – including $396 billion in wages – over the next four years (2009-2013)..."
Phew! The report [...]
Tomorrow (Tuesday, Nov. 10th) we'll have two of our folks tweeting from the two very important Senate hearings. Justin Guay, the apprentice for our global warming and energy team, will be twittering with the @SierraClubLive from the Senate Finance Committee hearing on climate legislation and jobs. You can [...]
There is a shocking article in today's Miami Herald about a town in the Dominican Republic being plagued by terrible birth defects. The residents claim all the birth issues are being caused by coal ash that was dumped nearby by a U.S. company. The company denies it.
From the article:
We’re celebrating great news out of Minnesota and South Dakota this week:
“After almost five years of planning and permitting efforts, the participating utilities in the proposed Big Stone II Project announced…Monday that they will end their [...]
There's been a lot of news out about various aspects of the coal industry lately, so I wanted to share the links to get it out there. These are in no particular order, but all are interesting.
First up, last Friday the newspaper Business Lexington in Kentucky published side-by-side editorials on [...]
Saw this video today over on the "It's Getting Hot in Here" blog and had to share. Students at Washington University in St. Louis got tired of seeing the influence coal execs were having on their campus and decided to hold a flash mob protest at an energy summit [...]
By Justin Guay, apprentice for the Sierra Club Global Warming and Energy Team
Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) committee hearings held on the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act last week have built upon the Kerry/Graham op-ed in the New York [...]
It's sad, but it's also not a surprise: Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee are boycotting the mark-up of the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act. We released our thoughts on what we think the Republicans are doing instead of taking part in the [...]
By: Julian Carmona, Intern for the Global Warming and Energy Team
This post is from Justin Guay, Apprentice with the Sierra Club's Global Warming and Energy Team
The Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) committee wrapped up its three days of hearings on the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act today with one last full day of testimony from multiple panels. [...]
Day 3 of the Senate Environment and Public Works committee hearings on the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act. Witness list here. Away we go! (Today is also the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming hearing investigating the forged letters from coal lobbying firm [...]
Did you see the whoppers yesterday? Click here for a recap - and follow along below for today's liveblog - a lot of witnesses on the books today, so it should be good.
Senate EPW Hearings Day #2 [...]By: Alda Chan, Trade, Labor and Worker's Rights Apprentice
Last week, the Obama Administration released “Recovery through Retrofit,” a report showing that existing energy efficiency techniques and technologies can reduce a home's energy use by up to 40 percent, cut greenhouse gas emissions by up to 160 million metric tons a year and [...]
By: Julian Carmona, Intern for the Global Warming and Energy Team
Somalia has been fighting an 18-year civil war, leading to the displacement of large swaths of its population to refugee camps. Genocide in Darfur has produced millions of refugees and strained the resources that international peacekeeping forces can offer. If [...]
We mentioned the mountaintop removal coal mining hearings that happened two weeks ago, and how tense they were. Well those hearings were about the permits that would allow certain kinds of mountaintop removal coal mining - and today is the last day to submit your comments telling the US [...]
Get ready for some fun this week. Starting tomorrow are the hearings on the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Tomorrow's hearing features secretaries Ken Salazar, Ray LaHood and Steven Chu, of the interior, transportation, and energy departments, respectively, as [...]
By: Julian Carmona, intern for the Sierra Club Global Warming & Energy team
On Wednesday (10/21/09) I attended the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee (ENR) hearing on the economics of the Cap and Trade system in the Waxman-Markey House Energy bill. The witnesses were picked from a mix of non-profits [...]
This post is from Jesse Prentice-Dunn, with the Sierra Club's Green Transportation Program
<!-- function msoCommentShow(anchor_id, com_id) { if(msoBrowserCheck()) { c = document.all(com_id); a = document.all(anchor_id); if (null != c && null == c.length && null != a && null == a.length) { var cw = c.offsetWidth; var ch = c.offsetHeight; var aw = a.offsetWidth; var ah = a.offsetHeight; var x = a.offsetLeft; var [...]What's dirtier than Mud Wrestling at a college party? Well, see the video below to find out (hint: it's black, dirty, and has been poisoning water and our environment since the industrial revolution).
Last month, Sierra Club and Sierra Student Coalition launched the Campuses Beyond Coal campaign. The aim of [...]
By: Julian Carmona, intern for the Sierra Club Global Warming & Energy team
On September 14th, 2001, President George W. Bush stood on the ruins of the World Trade Center vowing to hunt down those who perpetrated the worst attack on United States soil since Pearl Harbor. President Bush presided over [...]
By: Julian Carmona, intern for the Sierra Club Global Warming & Energy team
This weekend an Op-Ed was published in the NY Times that stressed the need for “give-and-take” bipartisanship on a bill to help mitigate global warming and achieve energy independence. The authors put emphasis on reductions in [...]***UPDATE - 9:54am: Well nevermind. Rep. Markey just postponed the hearing because the witnesses did not get their testimony to the committee in time. New date for the hearing TBA. ***
If you're interested in watching today's Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming hearing on those forged letters to' [...]
Coal Country is a documentary that takes an eye-opening look inside the lives of Appalachian residents threatened by Big Coal's destructive practice of mountaintop removal. The movie will be getting a jump-start with house parties the week of Nov. 10, which will have sneak-peek [...]
The most recent round of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations recently wrapped up with a fair amount of controversy. Let’s start with the positive news. Progress was made in several key areas that helped to trim down [...]
By: Julian Carmona, Energy Intern
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has been a leader in sustainable living. Efforts by administrators, students and environmentalists have helped form their success in sustainability. In April 2006, UCLA adopted a Sustainability Charter, stating that a committee will "create a culture of sustainability, in [...]
Much has happened in the past 24 hours - lots of good news stories that deserve a read.
First up, yesterday President Obama signed an executive order that "challenges agencies to lead by example in energy and environmental performance and gives them 90 days to set a 2020 greenhouse [...]
By: Sarah Lerner, Media Assistant
The big climate news this week - Senators John Kerry and Barbara Boxer announced on Wednesday Senate legislation on climate change that will become the Senate's version of the landmark American Clean Energy and Security Act that passed the House floor 217-213 in June. Ardent [...]
The tribal peoples of the American southwest know all too well the horrors of environmental degradation. Often with little say in the manner, they've suffered through decades of poisoned groundwater, air pollution, and sacred land destruction caused by coal mines and power plants.
Now, things are finally changing. Sierra Club has [...]
Today was a big rally at the Capitol Building for the release of the brand new "Clean Energy Jobs & American Power Act" bill from Senators John Kerry and Barbara Boxer.
Lots of folks turned out, including plenty of veterans and clean energy activists - [...]
This post was written by Global Warming and Energy Apprentice, Justin Guay
Let’s start by framing the situation. We now have 15 days of actual negotiations left before Copenhagen and we have made little to no progress on a host of divisive issues. Substantially, hell- overwhelmingly, [...]
We'd been telling you about the big clean energy rally last night in Pittsburgh, and some news stories are now in. The rally was a big success, with thousands gathering to hear some great speakers and bands - and all happening right before [...]
Today the Senate debates amendments that could strip Environmental Protection Agency authority to regulate global warming pollution from power plants and that could "defund" the White House Council on Environmental Quality head Carol Browner. Phew - it's an all out assault on protecting the environment, that's for sure.
And [...]
Advocates for economic growth through clean energy - including environmentalists, innovative small businesses and labor unions - were eager to greet a report released by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) last Wednesday. The report called for improvements to the legislation under consideration by the Senate [...]
by Justin Guay Global Warming and Energy Apprentice
The opponents of climate change legislation in the Senate smell blood and are now circling their victim – clean energy legislation. The bait – Yesterday’s Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee hearing “to explore potential costs and price [...]
This is a guest post from Jesse Prentice-Dunn of the Sierra Club Green Transportation Program
Today at the White House, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson and Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Ray LaHood took the first step towards making President Obama’s vision for cleaner, more efficient cars a [...]
Our own Sierra Club Global Warming and Energy Team Apprentice Justin Guay will be twittering from today's Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee hearing "to explore potential costs and price volatility in the energy sector as a result of a greenhouse gas trading program." That's the title!
The hearing has [...]
Investigators have found yet another forged letter from lobbying firm Bonner & Associates (hired by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity) to Congressman Tom Perriello (D-VA). This time the faked letter speaking out against the American Clean Energy and Security Act was "sent" from a veterans group.
The details are [...]
Alstom Power is joining Duke for similar reasons. From the [...]
Yesterday came the announcement of a great new coalition called "Clean Energy Works." It's comprised of more than 60 groups spanning environmental, union, veteran and religious organizations - and the coalition is aimed at passing strong clean energy legislation.
You can follow along with Clean Energy Works via its Twitter [...]
While there is considerable concern about the speed of our green economic recovery (it just can't happen soon enough), public expectations for green job creation are high.
Key players are stepping up to help expand clean energy industries and maximize the benefits of federal recovery dollars: [...]
By Natalie Gaber, Media Intern
As the oil and coal industries and their lobbyists become increasingly ensconced in a cloud of a shame and deception, a coalition of interest groups who are in support of clean energy legislation and against fraudulent lobbying tactics have launched a tip line to [...]
By Justin Guay
Wu-Tang unwittingly summed up one of the central problems preventing international action on climate change with their hit song: Cash Rules Everything Around Me (CREAM). The rap giants whose famous financial advice was to “diversify your bonds son!” is well heeded when it comes to the [...]
Here I was about to type up a post on the interesting energy news of the day, and then this big news came down. Duke Energy is leaving the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE). This news was tacked on as an update in that article:
Duke Energy left [...]We already know that streams don't matter to the coal industry. Clean Water? Overrated. Mountains and natural beauty are similarly torn apart, removed, for the sake of black gold, the desecrated landscape someone else's problem. Most often, it's the locals who pay the price, folks who usually have little say [...]
From Natalie Gaber, Sierra Club Media Intern
I don’t know about you, but I really hate being lied to. It bothers me almost as much as when I see someone put a plastic bottle in the garbage can when there is a recycling bin literally 2 feet away. So, needless to [...]
This is the weekly post from Bruce Nilles, director of Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign.
A massive new rail line planned to move millions of tons of low-grade coal from northeastern Wyoming to the Midwest has been stopped. For more than 9 years Sierra Club and our allies have [...]
This is a guest post by Jesse Prentice-Dunn of the Sierra Club Green Transportation Program.
Cash for Clunkers ended with a bang this Monday, finishing a frantic month for dealers and consumers alike. Now that the dust is settling, lots of people are asking “What [...]
In today's news there are some good examples of people taking energy and global warming issues into their own hands. First, in Los Angeles, residents have taken enough measures to reduce energy usage by the amount it would take to power 53,000 homes. That decreased power usage also equates [...]
Here is some energy news making the rounds today. First up, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is getting a little ridiculous on its crusade against clean energy and climate legislation. They're now asking the Environmental Protection Agency to hold a large public trial about the science of global warming. [...]
Compass Team, Heather Moyer, Nithin Coca, Allison Forbes, Christina Yagjian
