Clean Air Council
Two Philadelphia-area children are suing President Donald Trump and two of his climate skeptic cabinet members, Energy Sec. Rick Perry and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt, to try to stop them from rolling back existing environmental protections including the Clean Power Plan.
The plaintiffs, ages 7 and 11, are backed by the Clean Air Council, Philadelphia's oldest environmental non-profit. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Monday.
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The complaint alleges that the Trump administration's reliance on "junk science" to undo climate regulations are a threat to the young plaintiffs and other U.S. citizens. It states:
</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"In recent years, the United States has experienced a steady increase in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather">extreme weather</a> events that have destroyed American homes and businesses, displaced millions of United States citizens, and caused the tragic loss of lives. The United States Government's current acts to roll back regulations and practices previously directed at addressing and minimizing the United States contribution to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/">climate change</a> will increase the frequency and severity of these extreme weather events and the dangers to Plaintiffs' lives and a life-sustaining environment.
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Through these acts, the Government is relying on junk science to wage a war on facts, data, and reliable principles and methods arising out of scientific, technical, and specialized knowledge. In doing so, Defendants have acted with reckless and deliberate indifference to the established clear and present dangers of climate change, knowingly increasing its resulting damages, death, and destruction."</p><p style="">
The children are only identified by their first and last initials in the court papers. Seven-year-old plaintiff "S.B." claims to be suffering from medical issues, including severe seasonal allergies that cause recurrent nosebleeds and vomiting, that are "directly impacted by the climate" and "as a result of Defendants' affirmative acts in causing increased climate."
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Eleven-year-old plaintiff "B.B." claims to be suffering from asthma that is exacerbated by climate change. Before moving to Philadelphia, he lived in New York and experienced the impacts of Super Storm Sandy and Hurricane Irene. He similarly alleges he is experiencing harm from "the Defendants' affirmative acts in causing increased climate change."
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"B.B. is passionate about protecting the environment, and experiences anxiety about the potentially irreversible impact of climate change on the planet and future generations, including his own children and grandchildren," the court papers state.
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<span></span>Incidentally, the lawsuit <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change-report-2507042608.html" target="_blank">comes after</a> the White House's released a sweeping <a href="https://science2017.globalchange.gov/" target="_blank">report</a> on Friday concluding that climate change is real and poses as a major threat to the U.S. and humans are "extremely likely" to be responsible. The 477-page National Climate Assessment conflicted with Trump's notorious stance on global warming as a "<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-climate-change-hoax-2018812943.html" target="_blank">hoax</a>" and defied his continued efforts to dismantle environmental regulations on both the national and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/cop23-thousands-march-2506729920.html" target="_blank">international scale</a>.</p>
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</p><div id="dd4de" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2BYWZE1576663199"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="927547211747090433" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Why Did #Trump Release a Report Confirming #ClimateChange Is Real? https://t.co/fgKNaFGmRT @greenpeaceusa @foe_us @COP23 @UNFCCC @SierraClub</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/927547211747090433">1509979462.0</a></blockquote></div>
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<p>"We will not stand idly by while President Trump and his agencies raze crucial environmental protections, ignore climate science, dispute well-documented facts and force future generations of Americans to suffer the consequences of this administration's reckless choices and ignorant policies," Clean Air Council Executive Director and Chief Counsel Joseph Minott told <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/359015-green-group-children-sue-trump-over-climate-change-policies" target="_blank">The Hill</a>.<br></p><p style="">
"We must hold the federal government accountable for the long-term environmental harm that is propagating under its direction. It's time to fight back," he said.
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As <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-climate-lawsuit/two-children-sue-over-trump-effort-to-roll-back-clean-power-plan-idUSKBN1D62UW" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported, by including the children, the Clean Air Council appears to be modeling its case after <em><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/our-childrens-trust-trial-date-2450252842.html" target="_blank">Juliana v. U.S.</a></em>, a pending federal lawsuit brought by 21 young plaintiffs and <a href="https://www.earthguardians.org/" target="_blank">Earth Guardians</a> who argue that their constitutional and public trust rights are being violated by the government's creation of climate danger.
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"The Clean Air Council case is taking the legal theories pioneered in Juliana and applying them to a narrow set of facts related to specific rollbacks of the Trump administration," explained Meg Ward, a spokeswoman for Our Children's Trust, a group leading the Juliana suit.
</p><p>The Trump administration has not issued a comment on the lawsuit. </p>
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By Sharon Kelly
The Pennsylvania's Environmental Hearing Board ordered Sunoco Pipeline LP Tuesday to temporarily halt some types of work on a $2.5 billion pipeline project designed to carry 275,000 barrels a day of butane, propane and other liquid fossil fuels from Ohio and West Virginia, across Pennsylvania, to the Atlantic coast.
On July 19, three environmental groups presented Judge Bernard Labuskes, Jr. with documentation showing that the project had caused dozens of drilling fluid spills and other accidents between April and mid-June.
<p>"Across the state, Sunoco has unleashed drilling fluid into exceptional value wetlands, high-quality trout streams, reservoirs, and groundwater endangering both drinking water supplies and our natural environment," <a href="http://cleanair.org/" target="_blank">Clean Air Council</a> said in a <a href="http://cleanair.org/judge-orders-halt-on-all-mariner-east-2-drilling/" target="_blank">statement</a>. The nonprofit, along with the <a href="http://www.mtwatershed.com/" target="_blank">Mountain Watershed Association, Inc.</a> and the <a href="http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/" target="_blank">Delaware Riverkeeper Network</a>, submitted the evidence to the judge one week ago.</p><p>The judge ordered all horizontal directional drilling—expected to be used in 168 locations where the pipeline crosses waterways or other obstacles—halted until Aug. 7, except in places where Sunoco can show that stopping mid-bore would cause safety problems, equipment damage or "more environmental harm than good." The order immediately affects 55 sites where drilling is currently underway.</p><p>State environmental regulators are also <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/business/pa-judge-temporarily-halts-mariner-east-2-pipeline-drilling-construction-20170725.html" target="_blank">investigating</a> potential violations during the pipeline's construction, including <a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2017/07/14/sunoco-halts-drilling-in-chester-county-where-pipeline-construction-damaged-drinking-water-wells/" target="_blank">one case</a> where regulators found that 14 homeowners "experienced adverse impacts to their private water supplies, which are drawn from groundwater."</p><p>"The number of spills that have happened already is highly alarming; we know of at least 80 spills so far and construction is expected to continue into 2018," said Clean Air Council attorney Kathryn Urbanowicz, adding that water supplies in five different places have been damaged.</p><p>"While the stay of drilling is temporary, today's order is very important because the problems with Sunoco's drilling have been accumulating rapidly, and each day that drilling continues the public and our natural resources are at risk," she said.</p><p>Tree clearing and other activities along the pipeline's path will still be allowed, under the Pennsylvania board's order.</p><p>The order comes one day after a public utility commission judge <a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2017/07/25/judge-halts-mariner-east-2-construction-in-west-goshen-township/" target="_blank">issued an emergency order</a> halting pipeline construction in West Goshen Township, Pennsylvania, over claims that the company unlawfully misled local officals about where it would build an above-ground valve station. </p><p>Company officials have said that they plan to press forward with construction.</p><p>"We believe that the full hearing before the Environmental Hearing Board will demonstrate that we have expended every effort to meet the strict conditions of our environmental permits," Sunoco spokesperson Jeff Shields <a href="http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Drilling-Operations-Must-Stop-on-350-Mile-Sunoco-Pipeline-436556723.html" target="_blank">told</a> NBC News. "We are continually evaluating our drilling plans, and had already voluntarily suspended work on a number of our drills while working to ensure that the concerns outlined by the DEP and Gov. Wolf were addressed."</p><p>Over the last 10 years, the project's parent company, Sunoco Logistics, has spilled hazardous material more often than any other company, based on records from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. That's according to resolutions opposing the project <a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2017/01/06/community-statements-highlight-public-safety-worries-over-mariner-east-2/" target="_blank">passed</a> by eight town-level governments along Mariner East 2's route. (As of April, Sunoco Logistics <a href="http://www.sunocologistics.com/" target="_blank">has merged</a> with Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/energy-transfer-partners-bakken-oil-pipeline-through-iowa" target="_blank">Dakota Access Pipeline</a>).</p><p>The controversial Mariner East 2 project has also come under fire for using eminent domain condemnation to <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/37490-for-profit-pipeline-company-claims-public-benefit-in-seizing-private-lands-in-pennsylvania" target="_blank">seize private lands</a> to build the pipeline, for <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/05/17/risk-pipeline-explosion-emergency-drill-pennsylvania-school-mariner-east-2-route" target="_blank">posing an explosion risk</a> to 40 public and private schools close to its route, and for running through densely populated Philadelphia suburbs. More than 105,000 people live within a quarter mile of the pipeline's path and could be at risk in the event of an explosion, according to <a href="https://www.fractracker.org/2016/12/me2-schools-populations/" target="_blank">an analysis</a> by FracTracker.</p><p>The pipeline has faced opposition both in the courtroom and on the ground. <a href="https://www.resistsunocopa.com/" target="_blank">Camp White Pine</a>, a direct action protest camp which activists say has created the most elaborate tree-sit ever built on the East Coast, was recently <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/activists-occupy-trees-stop-pennsylvania-pipeline/" target="_blank">profiled</a> by PBS NewsHour.</p><p>"We started really doing some research on this company and on the product it was carrying," Ellen Gerhart, a retired special education teacher whose home sits roughly 200 feet from the pipeline's path and who allowed activists to build the camp on her land, told NewsHour. "The more research you do, the worse the picture gets."</p><p>Last month, in a separate legal action, a Huntington County judge ordered Ellen, her 30 year-old daughter Elise, and their supporters to vacate part of their own land. Thus far, the protest camp remains in place. (See video above).</p><p>The project also faces <a href="http://www.delcotimes.com/article/DC/20170719/NEWS/170719561" target="_blank">zoning challenges</a> filed this month by residents of Middletown Township.<br></p><p>Environmentalists emphasized that while they welcomed the drilling delay, they saw it as no reason for those opposed to the pipeline to become complacent or slow their efforts.</p><p>"The relief is not permanent," Alex Bomstein, a Clean Air Council attorney said in a statement, "and the public must continue to call on elected officials and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to defend the public interest by putting a long-term halt to the drilling, which Sunoco has been unable to do safely."</p><p> <em>Reposted with permission from our media associate </em><em><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/07/25/sunoco-ordered-suspend-drilling-mariner-east-2-pipeline-spills-damage" target="_blank">DeSmogBlog</a>.</em></p>
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Clean Air Council
DEP notified potentially affected Marcellus Shale owners and operators of the new reporting requirements Dec. 6, 2011, and indicated that the data is due by March 1, 2012. While PA DEP reported that they notified 99 owners and operators, they counted each company up to four times for each address they sent the notification to and failed to send the reporting requirements to many large operators in the Marcellus Shale. According to state law, only those owners and operators who have been advised by DEP to submit a source report are required to do so.
The Clean Air Council submitted an inquiry Jan. 2 to DEP Secretary Michael Krancer requesting clarification on how DEP identified potentially affected owners and operators, and how they intend to meet the deadline for reporting to the EPA if the data is incomplete.
Emission inventories are fundamental building blocks used to develop air quality control strategies on a local, regional and national level. Emission inventories are also used to track accountability and assess air quality program effectiveness.
“Each stage of Marcellus Shale operations emits harmful air pollution and an emissions inventory is an essential tool to protect Pennsylvania’s air quality,” said Joseph Otis Minott, esq., executive director of the Clean Air Council. “It is unclear how PA DEP can impose monitoring and reporting requirements upon a portion of the Marcellus Shale industry at the end of 2011 and expect a complete inventory.”
For more information, click here.