Friends of the Earth believes our energy use should not make us, or the planet, sick. We promote conservation and the use of clean energy, and we fight to end our unhealthy relationship with harmful energy sources that endanger humans, cause pollution and exacerbate the climate crisis.
Follow the links to learn more about our work to promote clean energy and efficiency as well as our effort to fight harmful energy sources including bad biofuels, big oil, dirty coal and other dirty fuels, and risky nuclear reactors.
Read the latest news and updates from our energy campaigns below:
Coal ash is a toxic solid waste generated by coal-burning power plants. It's shockingly unregulated, and it's piling up at more than 600 dump sites across the country.
The EPA is considering the first-ever federal safeguards for coal ash disposal and Friends of the Earth activists are speaking out to make sure the rules put in place will keep our drinking water, our rivers and our communities safe from coal ash contamination.
When President Obama returned home to Chicago on August 4 and 5 to celebrate his birthday and fundraise, he was greeted by protestors concerned about a 1,700-mile pipeline that Big Oil is seeking his approval to build from Canada to Texas.
Friends of the Earth is fighting this proposed pipeline, the Keystone XL, because it would endanger our climate and communities in its path by pumping 900,000 barrels of tar sands oil -- the world's dirtiest source of crude -- into the United States each day.
This summer, pressure from Friends of the Earth activists and allies has succeeded in putting Big Oil on the defensive and forced the Obama administration to pay attention to our concerns about the Keystone XL pipeline. (You can support our campaign by sending a message to President Obama or making a contribution today.)
The wave is shifting for the ethanol tax credit VEETC, as it is up for expiration in December 2010. Scientists, legislators, and even advocates of the ethanol industry are coming out and saying that it is unnecessary... Seriously, everyone from the Congressional Budget Office, to ethanol-supporter Bruce Babcock, to Valero oil, to Growth Energy, to congressmen across the political spectrum. So why is congress still thinking of extending this wasteful subsidy? Goo d question. Time to say no to wasteful subsidies for dirty energy.
The EPA is finally trying to get it right as they finalized the Tailoring Rule on May 13, 2010. It outlines which industrial facilities will be required to obtain pollution permits for greenhouse gas emissions. Friends of the Earth, along with 90 scientists from the scientific community, have written to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to ask her to regulate the bioenergy industry under the Tailoring Rule.
Senator Amy Klobuchar has released a fine piece of legislation promoted by the corn ethanol community. Among other things, it categorizes corn ethanol as an "advanced" biofuel, meaning it will be considered as one of the "cleaner" biofuels. It also removes critical components of the global warming lifecycle account, such as indirect land use change. Why would Klobuchar put together a bill like this? Maybe she just wants to impose her corn country interests upon the rest of the U.S.
By Erich Pica
Three months into the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, BP has finally capped the well and is now testing to see if it can withstand the pressure building underground until the well is permanently plugged. While the oil blow-out has been a largely unmitigated disaster for the Gulf Coast and its communities, the response is an important test for the future of the planet. Will April 22, 2010 become our declaration of independence from dirty and dangerous fossil fuels, or will we succumb to political inertia?
Hunger, religious, farmer, and development groups came together on July 21, 2010 to oppose the renewal of the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC), which is set to expire at the end of this year. In a letter to the Senate Finance Committee and the House Committee on Ways and Means, the groups asked Congress to refuse to introduce new legislation to extend this tax credit, which costs taxpayers $5 billion a year.
By Caroline D’Angelo
The ongoing oil disaster has spurred debate on how to transition away from fossil fuels. Yet it’s a discussion that largely glosses over a crucial point– drilling for more oil is unnecessary. Even the most optimistic estimates for offshore drilling in America account for less than three years of the U.S.’ energy needs. Expanded drilling – which the Kerry-Lieberman bill calls for – is a wasteful and dangerous pursuit of more profits for oil companies, not a necessity. There are clean energy and transportation alternatives available now that can wean us off of our oil addiction.
By Kim Huynh
This year's 40th anniversary of Earth Day in the U.S. was fraught with mounting shock and horror at the BP catastrophe that precipitated the deaths of 11 rig workers and that continues to hemorrhage oil into the Gulf of Mexico with no end in sight. Yet in the midst of the disaster, hope sprung from a normally sleepy town nestled thousands of miles away in the Andes.
In Cochabamba, Bolivia, more than 35,000 participants from 150 countries around the world – ranging from environmental justice groups to indigenous rights organizations to governmental representatives, United Nations officials, and heads of state – converged for the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth from April 20-22.
By Kate Horner
For over a decade, Friends of the Earth has been fighting against little known provisions in our trade agreements that grant broad privileges to multinational corporations and put profits ahead of the public interest. These trade policies allow companies to sue governments for adopting health or environmental laws that may reduce their current or future profits.
Unfortunately, our worst nightmares have just come true for our friends and allies in El Salvador, which is facing a lawsuit under the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).
