Southern Environmental Law Center

The Trump administration’s suspension of a federal program is deeply impacting efforts to expand public access to electric vehicle charging. In Virginia, 51 of 53 planned projects are now on hold. Senior attorney Trip Pollard calls the federal funding freeze problematic and illegal and says it is creating a major roadblock to cleaner transportation. “I think there’s a real issue about the legality of what they’re doing, in addition to it being a very bad policy move,” he said: https://selc.link/4hmhvW5

We’re suing over the federal funding freeze: Since our nation’s founding, the Constitution has made it clear: Congress controls federal spending — not the president. Yet the Trump administration is unlawfully ignoring this fundamental principle. By freezing federal funding, they have blocked critical investments in energy-efficient affordable housing, food access programs, and support for local farmers — funding that is already strengthening our communities. That’s why we’re teaming up with the Public Rights Project to sue the administration on behalf of 17 nonprofits and cities across the nation that have been impacted by the unlawful freeze. This chaotic process is destroying their ability to do important work to create jobs and improve lives — it sends a message that our government can’t be trusted to honor its commitments. The administration’s wave of day-one executive orders not only halted this crucial funding but handed Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency the power to approve much of the future spending of these federal funds — a direct assault on the separation of powers that defines our democracy. We can’t afford this delay: Communities across the South are already grappling with devastating impacts from climate-driven extreme weather, and these funds are essential to providing a livable climate for future generations. The stakes are enormous: the South has received more than $20 billion in federal funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. That investment has spurred an additional $78 billion in private sector growth and supports more than 432,000 jobs in our region. These essential federal funds were enacted by law. Freezing them is illegal and seeks to derail our climate progress and cause harm to our economy.

Rolling back wetland protections harms people as well as the amazing animal and plant life that depend on these special ecosystems. Here in the South, rare and common species alike live in a variety of wetland types that are being left increasingly unprotected.?Thankfully, we have strong Southern advocates standing up for wetland species--including two amazing women (Kat Diersen and Julie Moore) working on opposite ends of North Carolina to protect wetland-dwelling species. Learn more at the link below! https://lnkd.in/edR3TdYy

We've reached capacity for the in-person Reed Awards ceremony, but you can still join us virtually to celebrate some of the year's best environmental writing. Register: https://selc.link/3waMjqF

Late yesterday, the Trump administration’s U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it will take aggressive action to gut bedrock environmental protections at the expense of communities, public health, and climate progress. While the initial proposal still requires EPA to follow the process of getting rid of existing environmental regulations, it signals a fundamental redefinition of the agency’s role from protecting public health and the environment to catering to industrial polluters’ interests. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin stated plans to eradicate critically important regulations, including: ?? The basis for EPA’s efforts to prevent catastrophic climate change by eliminating the agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. ?? Limits on mercury, carbon, and toxic pollution from fossil-fueled power plants. ?? The “good neighbor rule” requiring states to address their own air pollution and ensure that it does not impact downwind states’ ability to meet federal air quality standards. ?? Limits on water pollution from old coal ash dumps at inactive power plants, which leak arsenic, mercury, lead, and many other pollutants into nearby rivers, lakes, and groundwater. ?? Enforcement efforts that protect communities of color and those living in low wealth areas from pollution and the impacts of climate change. Read our full statement: https://selc.link/3RcoCFC

Monopoly utility Duke Energy asked EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin in January to remove common-sense national standards that limit carbon pollution from costly new methane gas plants—shockingly asserting that those standards have no “tangible benefits.” Duke has proposed a massive buildout of methane gas-fired power plants across the Carolinas, a kind of fossil-fueled power plant that warms our climate and worsens air quality for neighboring communities. The request runs counter to Duke’s own commitments to reduce carbon pollution and a bipartisan state law that requires North Carolina’s power sector to reduce carbon pollution by 70% below 2005 levels by 2030. As North Carolinians already experience the devastating impacts of climate change, Duke’s dangerous plans risk locking our communities into the costs and consequences of decades more pollution. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gex9MfHF

GREAT NEWS: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has abandoned its plan to burn plastic pellets at their cogeneration power plant on campus. Thank you, UNC, for hearing students and local community members' concerns about the plan to test the pellets. We look forward to continuing to work with you on clean energy solutions and reimagining the coal train rail line - as a vibrant, connected space that serves the community rather than polluting it. Learn more: https://selc.link/3Dw2Rxu

WEBINAR: The South’s potential data center boom and projected load growth are raising serious questions about how we power these massive facilities, with new proposals for methane gas pipelines and generation promising cheap gas for tech companies — potentially at a high cost (and at significant risk) to southern consumers. Last week, SELC’s Senior Attorney Megan Gibson joined the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy to discuss the key findings of SACE’s new paper, “Southeast Electric Bills Are Paying for a Highway to Export Gas” and examine the relationship between load growth, fossil gas plants and pipelines, LNG export, and consumer electricity bills. Watch the webinar here: https://selc.link/4i8XiE5 #ClimateChange #LNG #MethaneGas

We had an amazing day of advocacy with our Georgia Water Coalition partners during Conservation Day at the Georgia Capitol this week. SELC staff attorney Bob Sherrier led a group of volunteers around the “Gold Dome,” showing them how to find their lawmakers during the busy legislative session. This year we’re advocating for more transparency for industries that use ‘forever chemicals’, energy equity, and more protection for the iconic Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

Duke Energy, which pled guilty 18 times for coal ash crimes in North Carolina, is now asking the federal government to weaken regulations that protect our communities from its toxic coal ash pollution. In North Carolina, SELC fought alongside communities for almost a decade to clean up coal ash pollution from Duke Energy’s unlined, leaking pits next to rivers, lakes and drinking water sources. Fortunately, Duke Energy is required by a court order and settlement agreements with SELC to excavate all its North Carolina coal ash pits and move its coal ash to safer, dry lined storage out of groundwater and away from waterways. But Duke’s letter to the Trump administration requests changes that could affect the company’s obligation to clean up coal ash pollution that it has left behind in North Carolina’s groundwater, as well as removing essential protections against dangerous coal ash pits in other Southern states and across the country. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gex9MfHF Photo of 2014 Dan River coal ash disaster courtesy of the Waterkeepers Alliance.