Climate Recovery Partnership News and Events

Even “Coal Country” Opposes MTR

The results of a poll indicate that voters in Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and Tennessee oppose mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining by wide margins.

The poll, commissioned by the Sierra Club, Appalachian Mountain Advocates, and Earthjustice, found that 57 percent of voters oppose MTR. Only 20 percent support the destructive practice of mining coal through topographical alteration, which causes biodiversity loss and human health impacts.

The survey also revealed that attitudes towards MTR crosses typical political boundaries. More than 50 percent of respondents from each political affiliation—Democratic, Independent, and Republican—opposed MTR.

These surprising findings grabbed the attention of several outlets, such as the Associated Press, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Charleston Gazette, Grist, Register Herald, and Greenwire/EE News.

Check out the polling document here and the polling memo here. Read Sierra Club’s press release about the poll here.

Sierra Club Announces “Clean Air Week”

The Sierra Club declared the second week in August "Clean Air Week," as activists and spokespeople intensified calls for clean air protections from the EPA. In particular, Beyond Coal supporters demand that the EPA introduce its long-awaited air quality standards to reduce smog, one of the most dangerous forms of air pollution. Smog, which originates from coal-fired power plants and from vehicles powered by dirty fuels, threatens the health of all Americans.

Our support for immediate protections from smog resonated with media outlets throughout the country. Fox21 in Duluth, Minnesota, covered our cry for clean air while Daily Kos published a post written by Sierra Club Conservation Director Sarah Hodgdon and Beyond Coal Campaign Director Mary Anne Hitt. Another blog post by Hitt was featured on the front page of Grist, which was re-posted by dozens of other national blogs. And Sierra Club writer Javier Sierra’s column about moving beyond coal with the help of Bloomberg Philanthropies was featured in New York's El Diario, Miami's El Nuevo Herald, the Huffington Post, My Latino Voice, La Opinión (America's largest Spanish-language daily newspaper), and more!

Attack of the Giant Fish Blenders!

The Sierra Club released a comprehensive report in August detailing the impacts of outdated cooling systems used by power plants. According to the the report, and as demonstrated in this popular animation by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Mark Fiore, once-through cooling processes kill billions of fish and other aquatic organisms each year in the Gulf of Mexico, Mississippi River, Hudson River, New York Harbor and Long Island Sound, California Coast, Great Lakes, and Chesapeake Bay.

The EPA has proposed new standards for power plant cooling water systems, under the Clean Water Act. Unfortunately, these fall far short of protecting fisheries and waterways and the Sierra Club is pushing for the EPA to enact stronger standards that curtail giant fish blenders.

Our report received coverage by mdeia outlets nationwide, including in Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Jersey (here and here), and Ohio. The story even appeared in the Italian Green Report!

Victory in the Land of Enchantment

After working for years to protect public health from the threats posed by the dirty and dangerous San Juan Generating Station near Farmington, the Sierra Club in New Mexico celebrates the EPA announcement requiring the installation of industry-standard pollution controls.

The new pollution controls will substantially reduce hazardous air pollution from the aging coal-fired power plant, protecting public health, air quality, and tourism revenue at nearby national parks such as the Grand Canyon and Mesa Verde.

This great news, and the Sierra Clubs involvement, received loads of local media attention. The Summit County Citizens Voice, Indian Country Today Media Network, Associated Press, and Public News Service were among the outlets that covered the significant victory.

800,000+ Demands for Clean Air

In August, Sierra Club members and our allies from groups such as the Union of Concerned Scientists and Environment Illinois gathered outside the EPA office in Chicago to deliver the final 1,000 public comment cards in support of the EPA’s proposed mercury and air toxics rule.

The gathering, where local activists held signs to support clean air, also drew attention to the importance of regulating toxic emissions from coal-fired power plants—including mercury, lead, and arsenic—to reduce respiratory illnesses, birth defects, and developmental problems.

This last batch of public comments brings the total number to more than 800,000 in support of the rule! As a bonus to generating so many comments, the Associated Press covered our gathering and helped spread the word about the importance of moving beyond coal.

Thumbs-Up for Clean Air

On Wednesday, the Sierra Club teamed up with University of Pittsburgh students and local environmental activists in Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park to rally for strong EPA safeguards against dangerous smog pollution. Our news conference came in response to the EPA’s Tuesday decision to delay adopting stricter anti-smog rules.

Aided by Sierra Club’s 18-foot-tall inflatable hand holding an inhaler, which has been making its rounds in Club events across the country, the news conference provided a valuable chance to educate the public about the dangers of dirty air. In Western Pennsylvania alone, smog sends 10,000 people each summer to the emergency room and harms on a daily basis more than 78,000 adults and 25,000 children living with asthma.

Our efforts to make our voices heard grabbed the attention of local media, garnering coverage in outlets such as Central Public Radio, NewsRadio 1020 KDKA, and this excellent piece in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Darrell Sapp/Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Hands Across the Sand Returns

On June 25, one year after the BP oil disaster, Sierra Club organizers from four ecoregions—the Gulf Coast, Adirondacks to Acadia, Pacific Northwest, and Arctic—brought hundreds of participants throughout America together once again for Hands Across the Sand.

Working with several organizations, such as Oceana, Florida Wildlife Federation, and 350.org, we generated great turn-outs in key states, including the 555 people who joined hands in Florida to support a move beyond oil.

We also received great high-profile media coverage, like this TV spot from New Orleans NBC affiliate WDSU, that bolstered our successful efforts to raise awareness about the dangers of dirty fuels and offshore drilling nationwide.

Good, Green Jobs in Vermont

This month, leaders of Sierra Club’s chapter in Vermont sent a strongly worded letter to Vermont's Governor and the Vermont Department of Public Service. Citing the Sheffield wind farm, which was being built without using local labor, the letter makes a strong case for approving only those alternative energy projects that create jobs in Vermont and provide livable wages and benefits to construction workers.

Governor Peter Shumlin received the letter in advance of a meeting between his administration and the Vermont Iron Workers, where he referred to our letter and committed to ensuring that green construction jobs are both good jobs and Vermont jobs.

Since sending the letter, Vermont Iron Workers Local 7 and the company responsible for the Sheffield wind farm project have come to an agreement. Iron Workers from the Union will now be working on the First Wind Sheffield wind farm project. “We would expect that this gesture of goodwill will serve as an example for future in-state renewable energy projects,” stated David Van Deusen, Conservation Organizer for the Vermont Sierra Club.

Kicking Coal Ash

Yesterday Sierra Club’s Georgia Chapter sponsored “Kickin’ Coal Kickball,” a creative and fun event to promote clean energy in the Peach State. At Forsyth Park in Savannah, local residents and Club supporters turned out to play kickball and educate the public about Georgia’s need to move beyond coal.

The game provided a unique twist for the schoolyard pastime: fielders wore different colors to represent different sources of energy. Fielders wearing black represented coal, and some wore red for nuclear power; those with other colors represented clean energy. If a player kicked the ball to a fielder in black, she was out. If she kicked it to a clean energy fielder, she could round the bases and score.

State Senator Lester Jackson was also on hand to play the game and offer his support for clean energy in Georgia. The state already ranks 37 out of the 50 states in energy efficiency, and it is in the midst of an extreme drought—so residents can’t afford to have any more resources wasted on dirty, coal-fired power.

The energetic kickball game attracted the interest of local television news, which gave us some great coverage in outlets like WSAV and WTOC.

 

 

Kentucky Dirty

The Sierra Club has been very active working with the Louisville community near Cane Run where residents suffer from soot and coal ash blowing into their homes and affecting their water. After tests by state agencies and Louisville Gas & Electric  revealed that coal ash was contaminating homes in the area and putting families at heightened risk of cancer, asthma, and birth defects, the utility called a meeting with impacted citizens to try to explain the problem. Public radio in Louisville did a three-part series on the controversy, and the Louisville Courier-Journal also covered it extensively (see links below).

Following the incessant drumbeat of local media highlighting the health hazards posed by the Cane Run power plant and its toxic coal ash dump, LG&E announced in September that it will retire the 645MW coal boiler within five years. Our job, however, is only half done as we will continue to press LG&E to fix the coal dust problem and to cancel plans to expand the neighboring landfill to accept coal ash waste from other coal plants.

The Courier Journal has both a great story as well as video of LG&E trying to spin its way out of trouble.

Louisville Public Media covers the issue here and here, and has also published an excellent series devoted to exposing the truth of the coal plant’s disastrous health effects. See parts one, two, and three.