geo000662 26

Top Victories in 2013 Thanks to members like you, the Sierra Club achieved many successes in 2013. We stood firm on the side of America’s environment, and our voices were heard. But these achievements weren’t easy with anti­environment forces more powerful than ever. These victories are really yours because of the moral, legal, and financial support you so generously provided. Clean Energy Beyond Coal • On March 15, South Dakota landowners and clean air activists celebrated a major victory for the protection of natural resources with the expiration of Texas-based Hyperion Resource’s permit to build a $10 billion oil refinery on South Dakota land. This victory came after years of hard work by the Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program. • The Sierra Club and dozens of allies won a major victory when Minnesota passed landmark clean energy legislation, increasing its solar electricity from 13 MW today to 450 MW by 2020. In addition, the state is assessing how to become 100% fossil-free in electricity production and transportation. New National Monuments • Our Beyond Coal Campaign helped millions of Americans breathe easier as we crossed the halfway mark toward meeting our goal of securing the retirement of one-third of the nation’s coal-fired power plants by 2015. To date, 149 dirty coal plants have been retired or scheduled for closing, preventing hundreds of millions of tons of climate-disrupting pollution from entering our air and water. President Obama designated five new National Monuments this year: Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument in Ohio, First State National Monument in Delaware, Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument in Maryland, Rio Grande del Norte National Monument in New Mexico, and San Juan Islands National Monument in Washington. With the deadlocked Congress unable and unwilling to name any new national parks, the President is using his authority to enhance the protection of these areas of historic and national interest. After mining, Dirty Coal from Appalachia spreads its impact up and down the East Coast o f the United States. In June, President Obama announced that the Environmental Protection Agency will issue carbon pollution standards for both new and existing power plants, with a revised draft standard for new plants this fall and for existing plants in June 2014. These safeguards have been more than a decade in the making and are a huge milestone in Sierra Club’s fight to curb carbon pollution. •fill-