Falls short on climate; restores critical funding for water infrastructure

NW Natural seeks to increase profits and expand its gas system at ratepayers’ expense

Assembly kills NY HEAT Act in final budget deal, the leading policy to address energy affordability and climate change

Climate, environmental justice and community-led social justice organizations filed testimony on April 18, 2024, detailing a litany of cost, climate and equity objections to a proposed rate hike from NW Natural, Oregon’s largest gas utility.

Devin McDougall, Attorney, Clean Energy Program: “The more PGW expands its distribution infrastructure, the more expensive it will become for the city to achieve its commitment to decarbonization by 2050, and the harder it will become for the city to protect its most vulnerable residents from climate impacts that will grow in severity as greenhouse…

Peter Lehner, Managing Attorney, Sustainable Food & Farming Program: “Consumers are beginning to be aware of the fact that meat, and particularly beef, has a very, very high climate impact. JBS is fully aware of this, and trying to get ahead of that by telling consumers, ‘Oh, don’t worry, we’ve got it under control.’ But…

Liz Moran, Policy Advocate, Northeast Office: “Last year we really saw a remarkable sequence of events, where we had the wildfire smoke from Canada that made the air quality in New York unsafe to breathe, smoky for days. Not long after that, we had unprecedented flooding that led to the shutdown of the MTA and…

The fossil fuel industry is backsliding on its climate pledges. Earthjustice is filing lawsuits to keep pushing for the clean energy transition that science demands.

Liz Moran, Policy Advocate, Northeast Office: “Every provision of the NY Heat Act is an affordability provision. Because right now, we are subsidizing the expansion of the gas system.”

Earthjustice is in court fighting the state of Alaska and industry representatives as they try to undo the safeguards that keep the Tongass standing.

The Line 5 pipeline has leaked over 1 million gallons of oil to date and threatens the Great Lakes.

Sierra Club and the Sierra Club Foundation, represented by Earthjustice, filed a lawsuit against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit over its final rule requiring public companies to disclose climate-related risks to their businesses and plans to manage or mitigate them.

Final rule significantly curtailed emissions disclosure requirements despite widespread support

Hana Vizcarra, Attorney, Earthjustice: “We are saying not only does the SEC have the authority to require these types of disclosures, in fact they made a mistake by dropping some very crucial disclosure requirements that were in the proposal — and a mistake that just is fundamentally wrong.”

EPA’s oil and gas methane standards are firmly rooted in science and the law

Peter Lehner, Managing Attorney, Sustainable Food & Farming Program: “A big potential indirect impact is a bit of education of policymakers. Congress gives special exemptions to animal ag in part because they don’t know, or don’t want to believe, the real climate and pollution impact. So I hope this will get a few more policymakers…

Assembly Members Jeffrey Dinowtiz and Karines Reyes, and Senator Sepúlveda rallied with union leaders, community members, and advocates to urge Governor Hochul to include the Green Transit, Green Jobs, Bill in Budget

A new EPA rule protects nearly 180 million people at risk of chemical disasters.