Just as CLF helped to lead the passing of landmark laws in almost every New England state, we must now watchdog their implementation. Because the consequences if these laws languish are too dire to be ignored.
The Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia is a setback, to be sure. But it is also a reminder of the importance of action at the regional, state, and local levels – action that we have been leading here in New England for more than a decade as we waited – and waited – for federal climate rules to come into play.
Slashing polluting emissions from medium- and heavy-duty vehicles is a critical part of our climate fight.
To fight climate change – and power outages – we need a strong and committed power grid operator that makes cleaning up our power generation mix its first priority. All six New England states have put ISO on notice.
“It’s clear that the state is lagging behind where we need to be in slashing climate-damaging emissions,” said Caitlin Peale Sloan, Vice President of CLF Massachusetts. “This Administration and the next one need to prioritize real movement in existing policies to match the analysis in this plan, which relies heavily on vague proposals for programs yet to be developed. We need focused and sustained leadership to ensure that systemic change can be achieved in time, as incremental steps will no longer cut it. Any efforts also need to be anchored in equity and justice, and we’ll be pushing officials to improve the plan released today.”
“The Supreme Court’s new majority has hobbled EPA’s ability to reduce pollution from power plants, expanding an obscure doctrine into an all-purpose tool for the Court to stop agencies from acting on the most significant threats to human health and the environment,” said CLF President Bradley Campbell. “By arbitrarily limiting EPA’s explicit and broad authority under the Clean Air Act to require the use of less polluting systems, the Court has consigned millions of Americans to more illness, shorter lives, and greater poverty in an overheated climate, while giving itself nearly unlimited authority to invalidate protections and safeguards intended by Congress.”
“This law signals the next step in the death of fossil fuels in Rhode Island,” said CLF Senior Attorney Meg Curran. “Requiring all of our electricity to come from renewable sources is a major win for our health, our economy, and the planet. Now is the time to step up production of wind and solar resources.”
With pressure from CLF’s lawsuit mounting, the oil giant closed its polluting facility. But that won’t allow them to escape responsibility for it.
“Exxon giving up on the Everett site is a major win,” said CLF President Bradley Campbell. “But this sale will not allow the company to escape responsibility for its toxic legacy of contamination and the ongoing pollution that will continue while the sale is pending. Our case continues and we will not allow the company to skip town and leave the community at risk.”
“Strong vehicle emissions standards are critical to tackling the climate crisis given that transportation is the nation’s largest source of polluting emissions,” said CLF attorney James Crowley. “Toxic tailpipe pollution wreaks havoc on our health, air quality, and climate. It’s time we act. The Biden Administration made the right call in restoring California’s ability to set stricter standards, and we’re defending the rights for other states to follow suit”
