Latest news with #SouthernEnvironmentalLawCenter
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Conservation group sues to stop toxic pollution in Cape Fear River Basin
CHAPEL HILL — On behalf of Cape Fear River Watch and Haw River Assembly, the Southern Environmental Law Center recently filed a lawsuit in federal court against the city of Asheboro and PET plastics manufacturer, StarPet Inc., to stop their discharges of toxic 1,4-dioxane into the Cape Fear River Basin. The city of Asheboro is allegedly dumping a cancer-causing chemical into rivers upstream of drinking water supplies for nearly 900,000 North Carolinians. Much of Asheboro's 1,4-dioxane pollution comes from StarPet, a plastics manufacturer that pays the city to accept its industrial waste, according to the complaint. Asheboro and StarPet's chemical dumping occurs upstream of the drinking water supply for Sanford, Fayetteville, Wilmington, Brunswick County and Pender County, as well as Pittsboro, Holly Springs and Fuquay-Varina, which have arranged to buy drinking water from Sanford. 'Not only have StarPet and Asheboro done nothing to stop their toxic chemical pollution into the drinking water for North Carolinians living from Sanford to Wilmington—they have the nerve to increase it,' said Jean Zhuang, attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center. 'Over the past year, StarPet and the city of Asheboro have doubled down on their cancer-causing 1,4-dioxane pollution, putting thousands of North Carolina families at risk.' In January, StarPet caused Asheboro to release 1,4-dioxane at levels above 3,500 ppb, more than 160 times what is protective of downstream drinking water, a release states. In April, after the Southern Environmental Law Center notified StarPet and Asheboro that their pollution violated federal law, StarPet again allegedly caused Asheboro to discharge 1,4-dioxane at levels above 820 ppb into downstream drinking water sources. StarPet and Asheboro's toxic chemical releases are not random. Following a North Carolina administrative court decision overturning DEQ's attempts to control the city's 1,4-dioxane, Asheboro gave StarPet permission to stop using part of its 1,4-dioxane treatment system, allowing the industry to release untreated waste through the city's wastewater plant and into downstream drinking water. The Clean Water Act requires Asheboro to control industrial pollution before it reaches the wastewater utility, but the city is refusing to do so, according to the release. Stopping pollution at the source so industrial polluters pay is more cost-effective than treating pollution at municipal wastewater treatment plants or downstream drinking water utilities. It also avoids placing the burden of contaminated drinking water on nearby and downstream communities. 1,4-Dioxane is a manmade chemical that is harmful to people at extremely low levels and has been linked to cancers and liver and kidney damage. 1,4-Dioxane is not removed by conventional water treatment. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
States and advocates sue Trump to unfreeze billions in EV charging funds
This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy, and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here. Sixteen states, the District of Columbia, and more than a half dozen environmental groups have alleged in a lawsuit that the Trump administration has indefinitely and unlawfully frozen funds for a nationwide electric vehicle program. The complaint was filed on Thursday last week in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Plaintiffs' attorneys are asking the judge to require the Trump administration to unfreeze the funds and distribute them to the states according to a formula established by Congress. During the Biden administration, Congress appropriated $5 billion for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, also known as NEVI, as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. The money would have been disbursed each year to all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, to build a nationwide network of electric vehicle charging stations along designated Alternative Fuel Corridors. 'Transportation is the leading source of climate pollution in the U.S., and halting the NEVI program directly threatens our progress toward clean, reliable transportation options — especially in the Southeast, where EV infrastructure is still catching up,' said Megan Kimball, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center. 'In rural and urban areas alike, more charging access means cleaner air, economic growth, and real savings for families. We're defending that future.' The legal challenge coincided with a Government Accountability Office report published Thursday that found the U.S. Department of Transportation is unauthorized to withhold the congressionally appropriated funds. The Transportation Department could petition Congress to pass a law to rescind the funds or change the NEVI program, the GAO wrote, but it can't act unilaterally. A department spokesperson said in a prepared statement that the GAO report 'shows a complete misunderstanding of the law' and 'conflicts with Congress' intent.' Less than three weeks after Trump was elected to a second term, the Transportation Department ordered states to stop distributing their funds for fiscal years 2022-2025, worth about $2.7 billion. States could reimburse contractors for money already spent, but no new funding could be obligated. DOT justified the funding freeze by saying the Federal Highway Administration was 'updating the NEVI Formula Program Guidance to align with current policy and priorities.' The GAO report concluded that the Transportation Department erroneously froze funding when it determined that funding was available only for signed project agreements. Instead, the GAO wrote, the effective date for funding was much earlier: when the law made money for the program available for obligation. Some agencies delay their funding distribution while trying to comply with legal requirements for a program, the GAO wrote. In the NEVI case, however, DOT imposed requirements that exceed what the law prescribes. For example, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act requires states to submit plans to DOT, but does not provide authority for the secretary of transportation to approve or disapprove such plans. A DOT spokesperson said the GAO was 'cherry-picking language in the program statute.' The agency is updating NEVI program guidance, according to the spokesperson, 'because the implementation of NEVI has failed miserably, and DOT will continue to work in good faith to update the program so it can be utilized more efficiently and effectively.' Attorneys for the environmental groups — including CleanAIRE NC, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, West End Revitalization Project, Sierra Club, and the Natural Resources Defense Council — wrote that in blocking the distribution of funds, the Trump administration directly defied congressional directives. The funding freeze nullified more than 150 state implementation plans, according to court documents, which harmed local communities. NEVI requires EV charging stations in the first phase to be installed every 50 miles along the federally approved Alternative Fuel Corridors, and that they be within one mile of those routes. 'By reducing access to reliable public charging,' the plaintiffs' attorneys wrote, 'DOT and the FHWA are restricting electric vehicle owners' ability to travel and use their EVs, increase their fuel costs, delay EV purchases, worsen health impacts from vehicle pollution, and deprive communities of promised public investment.' In the Charlotte, North Carolina, metro area, for example, air quality — such as levels of ozone and particulate matter — has worsened, according to the 2025 American Lung Association State of the Air Report. The largest city in North Carolina, Charlotte is ringed and bisected by several highways clogged with cars. 'Tailpipe pollution is a public health crisis — fueling asthma, heart disease, and respiratory illness in communities already overburdened by environmental harm,' Jeff Robbins, executive director of CleanAIRE NC, said in a prepared statement. 'NEVI is a vital step toward reducing that harm through zero-emission transportation. Freezing the program blocks progress and keeps our most vulnerable residents breathing dirty air. Clean air and climate justice cannot be put on hold.' Interstate 85 and U.S. Highway 70 run through many underserved communities in Alamance County, North Carolina, about 30 miles west of Durham. 'For decades, communities like ours in Alamance County have been denied access to basic infrastructure,' said Omega Wilson, codirector of the West End Revitalization Association. 'The NEVI program offers a real chance to change that — with public investment in EV charging that finally includes rural Black and brown neighborhoods. Suspending the program delays critical investments, widens infrastructure disparities, and sends the message that once again, the taxpayers who've been left behind the longest will be the last to benefit.'
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge rules Trump administration must restore grants to Nashville, other cities
A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration must reinstate grants awarded to several American cities, including Nashville. Nashville was one of six cities that joined with nearly a dozen nonprofits, led by the Southern Environmental Law Center and the Public Rights Project, to file a lawsuit in late March aiming to halt the Trump administration's funding freeze. In a May 19 ruling, U.S. District Judge Richard Mark Gergel prohibited federal officials from freezing or terminating a majority of the grants reflected in the lawsuit and ordered the funding to be restored. Each plaintiff in the suit was awarded funding under the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and other federal statutes. For Nashville, that included a combined $14 million in funding for the 'Electrify Music City' project, which would upgrade and expand electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and the 'East Nashville Spokes' project to help fund a transit connection project, including protected bike lanes and pedestrian improvements. Here's what else to know about the ruling, which the Southern Environmental Law Center says is one of the first final judgments in a case challenging the administration's actions. Gergel issued what's known as a permanent injunction in the case, meaning that the court's decision was final. Failure to comply with an injunction can result in a party being held in contempt of court, but permanent injunctions may also be appealed. As part of the ruling, the Trump administration must confirm it's compliance within a week. Nashville Director of Law Wally Dietz told The Tennessean that the ruling was the product of "excellent legal work" from the Southern Environmental Law Center, the Public Rights Project and Metro Nashville attorneys Courtney Mohan and Lora Fox. "The president's administration exceeded its constitutional authority when it rescinded these grants," Dietz said. "Only the courts can protect the rule of law." According to the ruling, the Trump administration conceded that its decision to cancel grant funding based on executive orders violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how federal agencies can develop and issue regulations. That ruling applies only to 32 of the 38 grants in the suit that were funded by the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The other six, per the ruling, were funded by general appropriations to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, rather than through an act of Congress. Nashville is still waiting for a ruling in its second lawsuit against the Trump administration, filed in late April over recent public health funding cuts that the city argues are unconstitutional. Austin Hornbostel is the Metro reporter for The Tennessean. Have a question about local government you want an answer to? Reach him at ahornbostel@ Get Davidson County news delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Judge rules Trump administration must restore grants to Nashville
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Federal judge orders Trump administration to unfreeze funding for North Charleston weatherization project, other grants
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) — A federal judge in South Carolina has ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze millions of dollars in federal grant funding for community-based projects, including one in North Charleston. U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel partially granted the Southern Environmental Law Center's request for a permanent injunction on behalf of 11 nonprofit organizations and six cities that received awards through the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. 'These grants were funded by legislation that mandated that the funds be expended for a specific purpose and left no discretion to agency heads to disregard the legislative mandates because current officials did not approve of the purposes of the previously appropriated programs,' the May 20 order stated. The plaintiffs in the March 19 lawsuit each received money for their respective projects but have been unable to access it since Trump's executive orders paused funding associated with the pair of spending packages. Two more groups were later added to the initial complaint. Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued the delays and disruption caused by the executive action left many projects in limbo, and in some cases forced the groups to consider layoffs or other mechanisms to stay financially afloat. Among the named projects was one by the North Charleston-based Sustainability Institute to build and weatherize affordable homes in the Union Heights neighborhood. The nonprofit was awarded a $11.4 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency in 2024 to carry out the project. That funding, which officials said had been frozen and unfrozen multiple times since the end of January, will again be accessible under the judge's ruling. 'This is a huge victory for these organizations who can now get back to work improving their communities,' said SELC Litigation Director Kym Meyer. Gergel's order also restored funding for 31 other projects approved under the Biden administration. Federal government attorneys did not contest the plaintiff's claims on those 32 projects, but wrote in a May 16 filing that they plan to appeal on jurisdictional grounds. The order did not extend to farming-based grants provided through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry program to allow for further testimony. The SELC said it 'feels confident' the court will also find that those six grants were unlawfully terminated. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
E&E News
09-05-2025
- Business
- E&E News
XAI wants to bring more gas turbines to Memphis
Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company is considering adding dozens more methane gas turbines to its operations in South Memphis, according to documents xAI submitted to EPA in March. Already under fire from Memphis community groups over its use of 35 methane turbines without Clean Air Act permits or pollution controls to power its first supercomputer, xAI is now evaluating bringing dozens more generators to a second site in just 11 miles away. Documents submitted to EPA in March show xAI is considering bringing enough turbines to the second site to generate 1.56 gigawatts of power — more capacity than the local Tennessee Valley Authority's gas-fired Allen Combined Cycle Plant. Generating that amount of power would require 40 to 90 turbines based on the make and model of turbines xAI said it plans to use in documents submitted to EPA and obtained via the Freedom of Information Act by the nonprofit legal group Southern Environmental Law Center. Advertisement The turbines would help make the data center on Tulane Road 'a grass roots operation and facility' that will 'produce its own electricity,' Trinity Consultants, which works for xAI, wrote in the preapplication modeling protocol. Such protocols are often submitted to EPA in advance of a formal permit application to demonstrate that air quality standards won't be violated.
