December 12, 2011
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.
August 15, 2011
Conservation groups filed a lawsuit today challenging an Environmental Protection Agency rule that exempts large-scale biomass-burning facilities from carbon dioxide limits under the Clean Air Act for the next three years.
March 1, 2011
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.
September 8, 2010
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.
July 7, 2010
Four environmental groups, representing citizens concerned about climate change and forest resources in New England and the Southeast, filed a joint motion in federal court late yesterday to help defend the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's decision to count emissions from burning biomass when it begins regulating global warming pollution from large power plants and other large industrial facilities. The agency's decision also includes a commitment to continue a scientific evaluation of the true carbon impact of the many forms of biomass energy.
June 10, 2010
The Southern Environmental Law Center applauds action by the U.S. Senate today voting down a proposal that would have prolonged the country's addiction to fossil fuels even as oil continues to spew into the Gulf of Mexico in the worst man-made environmental disaster in U.S. history.
May 12, 2010
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.
April 1, 2010
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.
March 31, 2010
The White House today released an updated plan for offshore oil and gas drilling that includes a three million acre area off Virginia's coast -- the first ever drilling allowed off the U.S. Atlantic coast--and extends potential drilling to the rest of the Atlantic, focusing on the southern states. The Virginia lease sale, just north of North Carolina and at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, puts at risk some of America's richest marine life and coastal resources, which are the backbone of many coastal economies, generating billions of dollars in revenues from tourism, recreation, and commercial fishing.
February 15, 2010
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.
September 30, 2009
SELC welcomed EPA's announcement on a proposal to establish nationwide standards for controlling largest sources of heat trapping gas pollutants.
September 30, 2009
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.
June 26, 2009
Passage of this House bill signals a seismic shift in U.S. policy on climate change—from ignoring the problem to attempting to solve it—but the bill needs strengthening by the Senate.
June 12, 2009
Environmental organizations today reached an agreement with Duke Energy Carolinas and North Carolina Utilities Commission Public Staff under which the company agrees to meet an aggressive energy savings target and cap earnings from energy efficiency programs at levels that protect customers’ interests in fair rates while still encouraging strong performance.
April 9, 2009
The General Assembly has passed several bills promoting energy efficiency, a chief goal of SELC and our Virginia partners. Though the bills don’t include all we had worked for, they represent an important shift toward smarter, more sustainable energy.
March 24, 2009
SELC has challenged a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers go-ahead to fill one of the largest remaining intact wetlands in an area near Murrells Inlet, South Carolina.
February 5, 2009
In a meeting with South Carolina's Congressional delegation today, a state committee failed to put forward solutions to increase South Carolina's access to innovative, clean renewable energy and reduce the costs of climate change.
January 8, 2009
A new report shows that investing in energy efficiency instead of building the Wise County coal plant to meet the same electricity demand would yield hundreds of millions of dollars more annually for the state and create at least 2,600 more jobs than the controversial 585-megawatt coal-fired power plant.
January 5, 2009
The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), the largest environmental advocacy organization dedicated solely to protecting the Southeast, today announced a list of ten special places in the South that face immediate, potentially irreparable threats in 2009.
December 9, 2008
A federal appeals court refused to dismiss a lawsuit challenging South Carolina Department of Transportation studies endorsing a controversial bridge proposed for the Upper Santee Swamp.
December 3, 2008
A federal court ruling today will force Duke Energy to meet stringent Clean Air Act requirements for control of hazardous air pollution
November 17, 2008
The Georgia Supreme Court today issued a ruling in a case against the Coastal Marshlands Protection Committee of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which centered on a permit granted to the developer of Cumberland Harbour.
October 29, 2008
A dozen conservation organizations - including groups from four Atlantic states - joined forces this week to criticize the Navy's analysis of the environmental impacts of a proposed undersea warfare training area and sonar range off the coast of Georgia and Florida.
September 10, 2008
After just one season of limits on beach driving at Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina, several protected bird and turtle species whose numbers were dwindling are making a comeback, according to Derb Carter, Director of the SELC's Carolinas Office.
August 22, 2008
Today a coalition of environmental organizations filed their latest legal challenges to stop Dominion Power from building a coal-fired power plant in Wise County.
July 30, 2008
Legislation that threatens to undermine an agreement on beach driving at Cape Hatteras National Seashore reached among beach drivers, local governments, the National Park Service and environmentalists could also thwart successful recovery efforts of birds and sea turtles, according to testimony given by Derb Carter of the Southern Environmental Law Center to members of the Senate.
July 25, 2008
The Southern Environmental Law Center today submitted three separate court filings challenging the state's actions in granting Dominion Power permission to build a $1.8 billion coal-fired power plant in Wise County, Virginia.
July 24, 2008
After the Southern Environmental Law Center and Altamaha Riverkeeper requested that Georgia’s Office of State Administrative Hearings review a permit for a wastewater treatment facility on a small marsh hammock in McIntosh County, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division reversed course, admitting the permit was issued in error.
July 16, 2008
Environmental organizations will sue Duke Energy Carolinas today over Duke’s construction of a new coal-fired power plant at the Cliffside Steam Station that was not designed to meet legal limits on its emissions of hazardous air pollutants, such as mercury, arsenic and dioxins.
June 13, 2008
At the urging of the North Carolina Division of Air Quality, Duke Energy today announced that it will perform an assessment of the Maximum Achievable Control Technology for mercury and other hazardous pollutants.
June 2, 2008
The U.S. Senate today began much-anticipated debate on the Climate Change Security Act of 2008, also known as the Warner-Lieberman bill. The U.S. has lagged well behind other industrial nations in addressing the threat of global warming.
June 2, 2008
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division’s decision to allow a wastewater treatment facility as part of a residential development on a small marsh hammock in McIntosh County has come under the scrutiny of the state.
June 2, 2008
The North Carolina Division of Air Quality (DAQ) today notified Duke Energy Carolinas that the new unit recently permitted at Duke’s Cliffside power plant near Shelby must incorporate the most stringent emissions limitations achievable for mercury and other hazardous air pollutants as required by the Clean Air Act.
June 2, 2008
A decision that will provide strengthened protection for forested wetlands throughout the United States and will protect Georgia’s coast from an abuse of tree harvesting operations was handed down recently by U.S. District Court Judge B. Avant Edenfield.
May 29, 2008
Tennessee's four largest metro areas rank among the top 25 in the country for having the highest level of global warming emissions per capita, according to a report released today examining the carbon footprint of U.S. urban centers.
May 23, 2008
Later today, the Army Corps of Engineers is expected to release the final Environmental Impact Statement on Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (PCS)’s request to expand its Aurora phosphate mine.
May 8, 2008
Citizens from Wise County, where Dominion Power proposes building a controversial coal-fired power plant, and from across Virginia rallied in Richmond today to urge the company to drop the project and instead invest in energy efficiency and other clean sources of power.
May 6, 2008
On behalf of four environmental groups, the Southern Environmental Law Center will put Duke Energy Carolinas on notice today that the company is violating the law by constructing a new unit at its Cliffside power plant without complying with Clean Air Act standards for mercury and other hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and that continuing to do so could result in a lawsuit.
April 30, 2008
Yesterday, six regional and national environmental and historic preservation organizations and one local government in Virginia filed a petition for judicial review of the Department of Energy's final designation of the Mid-Atlantic and Southwest National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (NIETC's or National Corridors) in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, where similar petitions challenging this decision have been consolidated.
April 30, 2008
U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle today approved a consent decree offered by the three parties involved in a lawsuit to regulate beach driving along Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
April 21, 2008
A preliminary mercury pollution permit proposed for Dominion Power's coal-fired power plant in Wise County contains a built-in "out clause," drafted by the company, that would allow it to routinely exceed limits on emissions of the heavy metal - a neurotoxin linked to developmental damage in fetuses, children and adults.
April 16, 2008
The Southern Environmental Law Center, representing Defenders of Wildlife and the National Audubon Society, joined attorneys for the National Park Service, Dare and Hyde Counties, and the Cape Hatteras Access Preservation Alliance in filing a proposed consent decree today in U.S. District Court, that, if accepted, will resolve a lawsuit challenging an interim NPS plan to protect wildlife from the impacts of beach driving along Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
April 2, 2008
As the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality prepares for a public hearing this Thursday in Wise County on Dominion’s controversial plans to build a coal-fired power plant there, opponents are debunking the company’s claims that the plant would be cutting edge and would meet or exceed the highest environmental standards.
March 31, 2008
On July 13, 2007, Dominion Power applied to the State Corporation Commission for approval of a coal-fired power plant in Wise County it promised would be "carbon capture compatible."
March 27, 2008
On behalf of four environmental groups, the Southern Environmental Law Center will file a legal challenge today against the state of North Carolina for its issuance of an illegal air quality permit that allows Duke Energy to build a polluting new coal-fired unit at the company's Cliffside power plant.
March 12, 2008
Dominion Power is playing fast and loose with projections about air pollution impacts of its proposed coal-fired power plant in Wise County, a coalition of groups said today in a filing with the Department of Environmental Quality.
March 7, 2008
In a motion to the State Corporation Commission made earlier this week, Dominion Virginia concedes that its proposed 585-megawatt power plant in Wise County is not “carbon-capture compatible.”
March 5, 2008
In light of a pivotal federal court ruling last month, 19 environmental groups are urging the North Carolina Division of Air Quality to reopen the air quality permit it finalized for Duke Energy’s proposed new unit at its Cliffside power plant earlier this year.
February 8, 2008
A federal court ruling today will mean that the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) must re-evaluate Santee Cooper’s plans to control mercury at the utility’s proposed Pee Dee coal plant near Pamplico, SC.