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selc.bsky.social
We are the Southern Environmental Law Center. Nonprofit and nonpartisan, we’re one of the nation’s most powerful environmental defenders, rooted in the South.
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BREAKING: Virginia to stay out of RGGI while state appeals. “This may be a long battle, but we're ready for it. The state’s unlawful removal is already harming its clean energy transition & putting the most vulnerable communities at even more risk.” www.selc.org/press-releas...

Monopoly utility Duke Energy asked EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin in January to remove common-sense national standards that limit carbon pollution from new methane gas plants—shockingly asserting that those standards have no “tangible benefits.”

Duke Energy, which pled guilty 18 times for coal ash crimes in North Carolina, is now asking the federal government to drastically weaken regulations that protect communities against its coal ash pollution.

“If you have a law on the books that says you can’t commit murder and then you go fire the police department, then that’s going to have an impact.” - Gil Rogers, Director of SELC’s Georgia Office. www.ajc.com/politics/tru...

Data is power — and access to it is essential for protecting public health & the environment. The Trump admin has taken extraordinary steps to dismantle and disrupt public access to federal environ data and mapping tools — resources that communities, advocates, and researchers rely on every day.

NEWS: Supreme Court further erodes Clean Water Act protections. "This decision will lead to more industrial chemicals, sewage, & other dangerous pollution in our water, putting young children, pregnant women, & all of us at greater risk.” - Nick Torrey, Senior Attorney www.selc.org/press-releas...

Participants in Atlanta’s e-bike pilot program reduced car trips by 40% and generated at least $1.2 million for locally owned bike shops: www.ajc.com/news/atlanta...

Across the Appalachians, the eastern hellbender salamander is beloved, but populations have been in decline since at least the 1940s. Now, the Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to classify eastern Hellbenders as an endangered species: www.selc.org/news/eastern...

Our thoughts are with the communities and first responders that are grappling with over 170 wildfires in the Carolinas: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/01/u...

EPA’s new administrator is privately urging the Trump admin to rescind a 2009 finding that greenhouse gas pollution endangers human health and welfare, a move that would undermine the agency’s ability to regulate climate pollution from smokestacks and tailpipes: apnews.com/article/epa-...

Layoffs at the Forest Service are going to have severe impacts in the South where they play a critical role in our recovery from Helene. “It’s catastrophic. We are losing an entire generation of talent and passion.” - Anders Reynolds, SELC Federal Legislative Director: grist.org/politics/for...

"Given the PFAS crisis that North Carolinians have already experienced, we deserve transparency and action after this commission has delayed limits on these toxic chemicals for months." Jean Zhuang, SELC Senior Attorney www.wral.com/news/state/n...

“We had hoped that a new gov't would have taken a really hard look at this. When you're basically cutting forests & hauling them across the ocean to burn instead of coal, it makes no sense.” Derb Carter, SELC Senior Attorney. Learn about the impacts of biomass: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

Early this morning, the U.S. Senate approved a budget resolution cutting key federal programs, including public lands protections, clean energy investments, and protecting vulnerable communities from extreme weather: www.southernenvironment.org/press-releas...

Okefenokee? Pea Island? Wheeler? What’s your favorite National Wildlife Refuge? Vote for your favorite in USA Today’s 2025 Reader’s Choice 10 best National Wildlife Refuge contest: 10best.usatoday.com/awards/trave...

Data centers and their impacts remain a hot topic in Virginia, the data center capital of the world. Senior attorney Morgan Butler recently shared more about efforts to improve transparency with @cardinalnews.org: cardinalnews.org/2025/02/18/d...

The Trump admin's decision to recklessly fire 1000s of Forest Service & Nat'l Park Service workers will have a major impact on our public lands in the South. Now, critical fire prevention, trail management, wildlife, & conservation work will go undone. www.reuters.com/world/us/mas...

Thanks to environmental champion Patagonia for highlighting the how important environmental legal groups like SELC and our good partner @earthjustice.bsky.social are as the Trump administration aims to dismantle our bedrock environmental laws: www.patagonia.com/stories/the-...

A Rhode Island judge has been clear – the Trump administration can’t continue to freeze federal funds. SELC Climate Initiative Leader Alys Campaigne weighs in: www.wesa.fm/2025-02-10/j...

Listen to Leanna First-Arai, host of our award-winning podcast Broken Ground, on @wabe.org's Closer Look: www.wabe.org/broken-groun...

Georgia Power says it needs more coal to power data centers swarming to the state, but analysis by @ajc.com shows Georgia Power often overestimates peak demand for its electricity: www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

The EPA warned that toxic PFAS or “forever chemicals” in sewage sludge that is used as fertilizer can pose human health risks. The contamination is a big problem for Southern farmers, threatening their livelihoods and the food they produce, but it can be stopped: selc.link/4jKr17K

Today we honor Rosa Parks for Transit Equity Day. Southerners have shown that they want increased transit funding and services. Last year Nashville voters approved a plan to fund their bus system, sidewalks, and other improvements with a 1/2 cent sales tax hike. tennesseelookout.com/2024/11/11/n...

🚨 BREAKING: Georgia Power wants to burn more fossil fuels to power data centers—raising bills and polluting communities. Georgians deserve better. Read more: gipl.org/releases/geo... #CleanEnergyNow @selc.bsky.social @southfaceinstitute.bsky.social

From strip mines to wood-pellet mills, polluting industries are burdening small Southern towns with the hidden costs of consumption. Our latest season of Broken Ground takes you to rural communities across the South to uncover their environmental struggles. Listen now: brokengroundpodcast.org

Recent decisions from our nation’s highest court have often trended in favor of polluters who put the health of our communities and environment at risk. We're breaking down ongoing cases with high stakes for our Southern environment: www.southernenvironment.org/news/what-to...

BREAKING: Trump administration freezes environmental funding for programs which could include desperately needed funds for Hurricane Helene recovery, to monitor air and water pollution, and to lower high energy bills through clean energy projects: www.southernenvironment.org/press-releas...

In the coming days we expect to see attacks on climate progress, funding cuts to environmental justice programs, giveaways to the oil and gas industry, and new threats to our public lands and wildlife — policies that would harm us all. But here’s the truth: No one voted for dirty air and water.

Thank you, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for expanding the Okefenokee NWR’s acquisition boundary. Nearly 22K additional acres are now eligible to join the refuge: www.fws.gov/press-releas...

Today, building on a 10-year moratorium on Atlantic offshore drilling put in place by the first Trump administration, the Biden administration permanently protected this area from offshore oil and gas development: www.southernenvironment.org/press-releas...

Faith leaders are coming together to oppose a rock quarry that is disrupting daily life in a community in Alabama. “Belle Mina has been established for a century & now you have a company that comes in that’s actually going to destroy all of that.” - Pastor Eddie Walton: whnt.com/news/athens/...

Great news for passenger rail in NC. Gov. Cooper recently announced a $105M USDOT to supercharge the state’s rail network. Learn how these investments are putting passenger rail back on track in the South: southernenvironment.org/news/all-aboard-new-funding-boosts-passenger-rail-in-the-south/

BREAKING: We just got a huge win for the Nolichucky River. Since October, a major railroad company has been using incredibly harmful practices of mining river rock in the gorge. Our lawsuit has prompted a federal agency to order a stop to this destruction: www.southernenvironment.org/news/win-fed...

Developers plan to place 9,000 units on 9,000 acres, with half in the floodplain on the Cainhoy Peninsula in Charleston, South Carolina. Learn more here: www.postandcourier.com/rising-water...

GREAT NEWS: the Biden Admin just announced over $122M to support conservation and restoration projects, many throughout the South. The America the Beautiful Challenge has conserved more than 45M acres in the last four years: www.doi.gov/pressrelease...

"Clean water is the lifeblood of everything we do, it feeds us." - Captain John Mallette. Learn more about the vital role wetlands play in our Southern seafood industry: www.southernenvironment.org/news/no-wetl...

TWO WEEKS LEFT: Support expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge to include the site of a proposed mine: act.southernenvironment.org/w8okzcm?p2as...

FERC continues to rubber stamp liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects that will hurt our economy, frontline communities, and the environment. SELC’s Megan Gibson took to Utility Dive in this op-ed on how CP2 LNG epitomizes FERC’s regulatory failures: www.utilitydive.com/news/fercs-r...

“We have hardly begun to understand how inextricably our health and safety are intertwined with those of our wild neighbors.” Read Margaret Renkl’s call to action to safeguard our wildlife and support the organization’s working so hard to protect them: www.nytimes.com/2024/11/18/o...

BREAKING: We just got a huge climate win for Virginia. A circuit court judge has confirmed that the decision to pull Virginia out of a successful climate program known as RGGI, or the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, was unlawful. Learn more: selc.link/40Xsmkt

"This shocking bill by Republican legislators is a post-election wolf in sheep's clothing to take power and control of state leadership away from the people of North Carolina." - Mary Maclean Asbill, Director of SELC's North Carolin Offices. Learn more: selc.link/3CzL3R7

A facility run by Elon Musk’s xAI is spewing harmful air pollution in South Memphis, worsening air quality and endangering families living in the predominantly Black neighborhoods nearby. Learn more: www.southernenvironment.org/news/elon-mu...

Great news: Secretary Deb Haaland recently announced $157M to restore critical ecosystems during a visit at Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in eastern North Carolina: doi.gov/pressreleases/biden-harris-administration-announces-more-157-million-investing-america-agenda