It’s summer, and the Sierra Club says: “This is climate change in action. We are living it.”
The United Nations’ secretary-general declares that “a fossil fuel phaseout is inevitable.” And The Lancet, a respected medical journal, insists that nations must swiftly transition away from hydrocarbons.
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The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been chipping away at the oil, gas and coal industries ever since President Joe Biden took office. Wyoming is an energy state that produces half the nation’s coal, as well as part of its oil and gas output. Since the federal government owns nearly half the state’s land, virtually all oil, gas and coal operations in the Cowboy State are heavily impacted by every rule the BLM throws at fossil fuels.
Although the Biden administration is waging war on fossil fuels, Wyoming is fighting back. The state, along with Utah, filed a lawsuit against the agency last Tuesday over its restoration lease program, and Rep. Harriett Hageman, R-Wyo., is rolling out legislation to fight back against the BLM’s proposed ban on federal coal leases.
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In June 2023, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management proposed a rule that would require stricter financial assurance standards for oil companies operating in the Outer Continental Shelf. This costly rule became final on April 15, 2024, but in the 10 months since its initial proposal, BOEM did nothing to alleviate concerns for smaller companies that comprise of 76 percent of oil and gas operators in the Gulf. As a result, many of these companies could be forced out of business by extreme and unnecessary costs from this rule. The situation threatens an estimated 36,000 jobs, more than $570 million in federal government royalties, and $9.9 billion from our GDP.
Records obtained via the Freedom of Information Act show private meetings between Interior officials and representatives of the major oil companies as they cooperated on this rule. If you think that’s strange, you’re not alone. President Biden made clear in his campaign that he wanted to end oil and gas production on public lands. It’s baffling that Big Oil – among the administration’s most, if not the most, maligned businesses – would stand on the same side with environmental groups such as the Sierra Club who praised the rule. But needless government intervention makes strange bedfellows. Big Oil must think it won’t miss the small competitors the rule will drive from the market.
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The Sierra Club will hold a demonstration at Lipscomb University in Nashville on Wednesday to protest the use of fossil fuels by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which is slated to hold a listening session earlier the same day.
A TVA web page explains the controversial group’s “Rally for the Valley” will feature a musical performance Nashville-based country music artist Jonathan Singleton and remarks by Representative Aftyn Behn (D-Nashville).
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The Sierra Club has experienced major infighting recently after major layoffs and changes left minority staffers feeling snubbed, The Washington Post reported.
Ben Jealous, the executive director of the Sierra Club since November 2022, let go more than two dozen workers, many of whom were people of color, in April and May of 2023 as part of a “reconstruction” effort and relabeled the nonprofit’s “People, Culture, and Equity Department” to just be the “People Department,” according to the Post. Employees at the Sierra Club protested these changes and wrote a letter on Thursday through the Progressive Workers Union, the union for the nonprofit, alleging that the organization’s moves were contrary to its stated goal of diversity.
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by Daniel Turner Although America’s energy producers are already under daily attack from the Biden administration, the eco-left is not content to limit their crusade to Washington DC. They are funding local groups in energy producing states to put in place endless hurdles to responsibly extracting energy. While the tactics may differ by the state, they all share the same goal: stopping domestic production and American energy independence at the source. In Louisiana, known as one of the nation’s worst “Judicial Hellholes,” environmentalists are achieving their goals through countless frivolous lawsuits. For example, last year, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, Sierra Club, and Healthy Gulf filed a lawsuit challenging a permit for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility that exports American natural gas to reduce dependence on Russian energy abroad. Although this lawsuit was ultimately tossed out by a state judge, the costs and headaches of the legal system create delays that can kill vital projects. Activists in Pennsylvania are pursuing a similar strategy. The Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council seeks to “stop using fossil fuels” by suing plants across the Commonwealth to tie them down in endless litigation. This extreme group is funded by the national Energy Foundation, which is the largest recipient of grants from the foreign-funded Sea Change Foundation – a…
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Millions of acres of California forest have been blackened by wildfires this summer, leading to the usual angry denunciations from the usual quarters about climate change. But in 1999, the Associated Press reported that forestry experts had long agreed that “clearing undergrowth would save trees,” and that “years of aggressive firefighting have allowed brush to flourish that would have been cleared away by wildfires.” But very little was done. And now fires of unprecedented size are raging across the Western United States.
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Environmental group. The Sierra Club, pledged to examine its “substantial role in perpetuating white supremacy” and to remove or rename monuments of founder John Muir, Fox News reports.
According to the organization’s website they plan future blog posts to talk more about the struggles Indigenous people, people of color, and their white allies went through to get this organization to evolve on issues like immigration and environmental justice. The posts will also include the viewpoints of its founder, famed conservationist John Muir. In an open letter entitled “Pulling Down Our Monuments,” Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said it was time for the Sierra Club to reckon with the words of Muir and other early members.
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The Trump administration on Monday announced reforms to the Endangered Species Act that it says will “increase transparency and effectiveness” in the law’s implementation.
One of the reforms removes a blanket rule which treats protections for threatened species the same as endangered species. It will also require the same standards be used when officials consider delisting or reclassifying species.
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by Kevin Daley Environmental groups and House Democrats urged the Supreme Court not to disturb a lower court order blocking the reallocation of military funds for border wall projects. The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to put that ruling on hold while litigation continues July 12. Granting that request — called a stay — would give the government an irreversible victory, a coalition of environmentalists led by the Sierra Club warned. “If a stay is granted and wall construction begins, there will be no turning back,” the green groups told the justices in court papers. U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam barred the administration from using $2.5 billion in military funds for border wall construction. The trial court’s injunctions stalled border barrier construction projects in Arizona and New Mexico. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the administration’s request to stay Gilliam’s ruling while litigation continued by a 2-1 vote July 3. The government filed a stay application with the Supreme Court on July 12. Environmentalists fear ‘irrevocable victory’ Stays are supposed to preserve the status quo among litigants while a lawsuit proceeds through court. If the justices grant the administration’s request, the government can begin construction on several border wall projects the courts…
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by Michael Bastasch Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s decision not to run for president in 2020 has at least one group very excited — the Sierra Club. That’s because Bloomberg promised to “expand” his support for the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign, and the former mayor pledged to start a new climate activism venture to move the U.S. “Beyond Carbon.” Bloomberg’s goal is to close every U.S. coal plant in the next 11 years, a goal the Sierra Club reacted quickly to embrace. Bloomberg has already donated $110 million to the Club’s anti-coal campaign, and his op-ed suggests more funding is on the way. We’re proud of our partnership with @MikeBloomberg on @BeyondCoal — and we’re excited about his focus on moving beyond ALL fossil fuels to 100% clean energy. https://t.co/9bPfIS2LWK — Sierra Club (@SierraClub) March 5, 2019 Sierra Club leaders were quick to praise Bloomberg’s decision as well. Beyond Coal’s Director Mary Anne Hitt praised Bloomberg’s “partnership” and “leadership in pushing to move beyond all fossil fuels.” .@MikeBloomberg is right. We can, and we will, retire every coal plant in the country in the next eleven years — just like we can move to 100% clean…
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by Michael Bastach Environmentalists kicked off the new year with a campaign to derail the nomination of Andrew Wheeler, President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “Make no mistake — to protect our health, planet, economy, and national security we must #StopWheeler from being permanently confirmed as @EPA administrator,” the Sierra Club tweeted Monday. Make no mistake – to protect our health, planet, economy, and national security we must #StopWheeler from being permanently confirmed as @EPA administrator. https://t.co/CMhvJBHlkY — Sierra Club (@SierraClub) January 7, 2019 The tweet linked to an Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) blog post calling Wheeler “unfit to lead EPA.” “Andrew Wheeler has ramped up Scott Pruitt’s relentless attack on public health and environmental safeguards,” EDF’s Martha Roberts wrote in her Jan. 3 blog post. Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist, took over as EPA’s acting administrator in 2018 after former Administrator Scott Pruitt resigned. Wheeler was confirmed by the Senate in April 2018 as EPA’s deputy administrator, making him Pruitt’s number two at the time. Pruitt resigned in July amid a slew of ethics allegations and negative media coverage. Democrats and environmentalists also opposed Pruitt’s pushing Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda. Wheeler, so far, has continued Pruitt’s…
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