The Obama Administration today released the final environmental assessment clearing the way for leasing of federal offshore tracts for site assessment and location of commercial wind farms off the coast of Virginia and other mid-Atlantic states.
Today, Governor McDonnell announced that he will ask the General Assembly not to take any action this legislative session on uranium mining.
Conservation groups today announced a settlement with Duke Energy that will cut pollution by phasing out over 1600 mega watts of dirty, old coal-fired power while still meeting customers’ energy needs.
EPA today provided long overdue and vitally important health protections for American families and children by issuing standards for toxic air pollution from power plants, said the Southern Environmental Law Center.
The state air quality permit for Plant Washington, a proposed 850 mega-watt coal-fired power plant in Sandersville, GA, does not meet national public health standards that even 50 year old coal-fired power plants already meet, according to a court challenge filed today by public interest groups.
The federal government ignored the impact of BP’s 200 million gallon oil spill in its assessment of risks and precautions for the Gulf of Mexico before the first new lease sale since the Deepwater Horizon disaster, according to a lawsuit filed today in D.C. federal court by conservation groups.
Clean energy groups have reached an agreement with Duke Energy and Progress Energy to address concerns the groups raised in a South Carolina Public Service Commission proceeding on the proposed merger of the two companies. If the merger is approved, the newly formed holding company, Duke Energy, will be the largest electric utility in the country. Two subsidiaries, Duke Energy Carolinas and Progress Energy Carolinas, will continue as operating companies in South Carolina and North Carolina.
In a 56-41 vote, a bipartisan majority of the U.S. Senate today upheld EPA rules that protect Tennessee from harmful air pollution emitted by facilities in other states while also creating new, full-time jobs. Senator Alexander (R-TN) voted to support the “cross-state” rule that protects people’s health, saves lives, and creates jobs while Senator Corker (R-TN) voted to dismantle it.
In a 56-41 vote, a bipartisan majority of the U.S. Senate today upheld EPA rules that protect North Carolina from harmful air pollution emitted by facilities in other states while also creating new, full-time jobs. Senator Hagan (D-NC) voted to support the “cross-state” rule that protects people’s health, saves lives, and creates jobs while Senator Burr (R-NC) voted to dismantle it.
In a 56-41 vote, a bipartisan majority of the U.S. Senate today upheld EPA rules that protect Viriginia from harmful air pollution emitted by facilities in other states while also creating new, full-time jobs. Senators Warner (D-VA) and Webb (D-VA) voted to support the “cross-state” rule that protects people’s health, saves lives, and creates jobs.
As state and federal politicians seek to remove or block protections from harmful air pollution, industry-provided data reveals that large polluters put over 34 million pounds of toxic substances and nearly 1.5 million pounds of cancer-causing chemicals into the air North Carolina residents breathed during 2010.
The proposed merger of Duke Energy and Progress Energy to create the nation’s largest electric utility is an opportunity to shape our region’s energy future, according to testimony filed yesterday evening with the N.C. Utilities Commission by clean energy advocates.
Dominion Resources Inc., the Commonwealth of Virginia's largest utility, announced yesterday that it will phase out two of its oldest and dirtiest coal fired power plants. Environmental organizations roundly applauded Dominion's move, but simultaneously called for the utility, which has just released its multi-year Integrated Resources Plan, to invest in renewable energy.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in its overall effort to rein in heat-trapping greenhouse gases, took a major step backwards today with a final decision to ignore carbon pollution from biomass-burning plants for at least three years.
With no public debate at the end of the session and expected to be voted on by the House, Rep. Pat McElraft today introduced, and the House Committee on the Environment approved, an amendment to SB308 to repeal protections provided to the public by North Carolina’s Air Toxic Regulations. These regulations protect citizens from hazardous, toxic, and cancer-causing air pollution from industrial sources.
The federal government illegally authorized new deepwater drilling by claiming that risky operations will cause no significant harm to the environment despite last year’s BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, said four environmental groups in a court filing today. The coalition challenged government approval of Shell’s plan to conduct new deepwater exploratory drilling off Alabama’s coast in waters 2000 feet deeper than the BP Deepwater Horizon even though regulators acknowledge that the operations may result in an oil spill ten times bigger than last year’s disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama ruled that Defenders and SELC may pursue their claims that the government violated the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act in approving at least 221 oil drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico following the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout and oil spill.
Lifting a state-wide ban on uranium mining would threaten the Roanoke River and other rivers as well as drinking water supplies in the region with radioactive pollution and toxic chemicals, American Rivers said today. The threat from a proposed uranium mine in the Roanoke basin earned the river a spot on the organization's annual list of America's Most Endangered Rivers(TM).
Ignoring lessons learned from the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, the U.S. House of Representatives today passed the last of three oil company bills that continues a lax approach to risky oil company activities, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center.
The Keep the Ban Coalition today announced the support of 41 localities and organizations that have joined the growing statewide movement urging the Virginia legislature to resist an industry push to lift the state's ban on uranium mining as early as next year.
Local groups today filed a motion to intervene in the court case over Colleton County’s denial of a special exception for South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. to dump large quantities of coal ash waste from its coal-fired power plant on a 1,700 acre site within the county using dump trucks that would travel through local communities.
As the one-year anniversary of the deadly BP Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill nears, the Southern Environmental Law Center today called on Congress to fix systemic problems with oil drilling and the oil industry that the Presidential Oil Spill Investigation Commission identified as leading to the disaster.
Twenty years after Congress updated the Clean Air Act, the Southern Environmental Law Center welcomed today’s announcement from EPA proposing maximum limits for more than 80 hazardous air pollutants by large power plants and called on the government to follow through implementing strong protections for the American people. Studies estimate that these pollution limits will save 17,000 people each year from premature death and cases of childhood asthma symptoms each year.
A report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today shows that pollution controls for ozone and soot in the 1990 amendments of the Clean Air Act-currently under harsh attack from polluting industries and allies on the Hill-will yield approximately $2 trillion in benefits in 2020 while saving 230,000 people from early death in that year alone.
More than 100 citizens from around the Commonwealth were expected to turn out today for a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) meeting in Richmond to support keeping a statewide ban on uranium mining and milling in Virginia that has been in place for almost 30 years.
Today the EPA changed course and said it will not regulate carbon dioxide from facilities that burn trees and other biomass for at least three years. In the meantime, biomass facilities that come online or upgrade will not have to control for those emissions.
SELC called for systemic reform and better oversight after the oil spill commission’s investigation found the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout resulted from pervasive problems.
Problems in the oil industry by the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling confirms the need for systemic reform and better oversight.
A Georgia state court today rejected Georgia’s air quality permit for Plant Washington, a proposed 850 mega-watt coal-fired power plant in Sandersville, GA. According to today’s ruling, the state permit for the Plant Washington violated Clean Air Act safeguards to limit harmful air pollution.
Environmental Defense Fund and the Southern Environmental Law Center announced this week they are appealing a recent decision by the N.C. Utilities Commission that would allow Duke Energy to get renewable energy credits from harvesting and incinerating whole trees to produce electricity in old coal plants.
The federal agency that oversees offshore drilling today announced it will revise the environmental analysis under which BP’s Deepwater Horizon operated and other oil drilling activities in the Gulf of Mexico continue, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center.
Following are statements by the Southern Environmental Law Center regarding the findings released today by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, with state-by-state rankings for energy efficiency
North Carolina Utilities Commission ruled that Duke Energy can use electricity derived from burning whole trees, rather than just wood waste, to comply with state renewable energy targets.
The Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition lauded Old Dominion Electric Cooperative's announcement today to delay plans for what would be the largest coal-fired power plant in Virginia. The temporary halt will allow the company, its customers, government officials and the conservation community to explore alternatives that will cost less and cause less harm to the environment.
Public interest groups have won a key legal challenge to two state water permits for the proposed 850-megawatt Plant Washington coal-fired power plant in Sandersville, GA.
We welcome a renewed focus in the U.S. Senate on addressing the problem of climate change, and look forward to working with policymakers to improve the effectiveness of draft legislation outlined today by Senators Kerry and Lieberman.
Public interest groups today filed legal challenges to three state water and air permits for the proposed 850 mega-watt Plant Washington coal power plant in Sandersville, GA.
After years of delay, tragedy in Tennessee, EPA proposes regulatory options but stops short of issuing a strict rule
The U.S. Minerals and Management Service (MMS) is holding a public hearing in Norfolk today as it starts the process of reviewing the environmental impacts of conducting seismic studies that would be used to support offshore energy development in the Mid- and South-Atlantic. The Southern Environmental Law Center believes that instead of putting our exceptional coastal resources and communities at tremendous risk in order to extract a minimal supply of carbon-based fuels, we should pursue strong public policies that promote energy efficiency, including reducing transportation fuel consumption through improved vehicle mileage and implementing better land-use development patterns.
The Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation today jointly issued a historic rule on curbing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from light-duty vehicles, which contribute about one-fourth of America's share of the world's climate-change pollution.
More than 150 people attended a symposium in Richmond today to hear from five experts from around the world on the human, environmental and economic impacts of uranium mining. The experts have witnessed first-hand the operations and impacts of uranium mines in the U.S. and around the globe, and have written extensively on issues of water quality and health consequences, as well as economic and community impacts.
At a hearing scheduled to start tomorrow, the Southern Environmental Law Center will urge the State Corporation Commission (SCC) to direct Dominion Power to expand and refine its energy efficiency programs proposed for 2010 and beyond.
Consistent with the latest scientific data about the growing health threat from breathing smog pollution, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today proposed to strengthen the national limit for allowable ozone levels. The move would mean that more areas, such as some mid-size cities, will come under Clean Air Act requirements and deadlines leading to more people breathing cleaner air in the future.
In a year when electric utilities around the country have abandoned plans for 26 coal-fired power plants because of economic and regulatory uncertainties, Virginia clean energy advocates called on Old Dominion Electric Cooperative to save its customers money and protect the environment by scrapping the $6 billion, 1,500-megawatt plant proposed for Surry County.
The U.S. EPA agreed to adopt rules reducing toxic air pollution from the nation¹s coal- and oil-burning power plants by November 2011, according to a settlement agreement reached in a federal lawsuit brought against the agency by a coalition of public health and environmental groups.
The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) released a report today that for the first time provides a comprehensive overview of the multiple pieces of Birmingham’s air-pollution challenge in layman’s terms to better engage the broader Birmingham community in understanding and solving the problem.
SELC welcomed EPA's announcement on a proposal to establish nationwide standards for controlling largest sources of heat trapping gas pollutants.
A permit for a 585-megawatt coal-fired power plant under construction in Wise County, Virginia violates Clean Air Act regulations for carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution, one of the main contributors to climate change, says a coalition of environmental and clean energy groups in an appeal sent today to the Court of Appeals of Virginia.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced it will re-evaluate the national limit for ozone pollution.
SELC hailed today’s unanimous vote by Santee Cooper’s board to suspend permits for the state-owned utility’s proposed Pee Dee coal plant.