Southern Environmental Law Center

North Carolina's new budget allocates $22 million for a PFAS study via the UNC-Chapel Hill Collaboratory, which will be classified as a legislative entity with results kept confidential. Critics argue this move bypasses the state's environmental agency and delays accountability for PFAS pollution linked to health risks like cancer.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) plans to continue operating its Cumberland Fossil Plant despite previous retirement schedules, prompting a lawsuit from the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) over Clean Air Act violations. The combined operation of the coal and new gas plants is projected to release significant pollutants linked to health risks.

The proposed DC Blox data center near the Nashville Zoo could threaten the federally endangered Nashville crayfish, whose limited habitat is close to the construction site. Environmental groups warn that development risks, such as erosion, sediment control failures, or water-cooling systems, could harm the crayfish and other vulnerable species like the alligator snapping turtle and eastern hellbender.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is considering leasing offshore areas off Virginia’s shores for mineral mining to boost domestic mineral production, as part of efforts to reduce foreign dependence. Environmental groups oppose the plan, citing risks to marine ecosystems, while the state has a 2020 law banning oil and gas leasing but allowing mineral mining.

Environmentalists sued Robeson County over PFAS contamination in drinking water caused by the Robeson County Landfill. The lawsuit claims the landfill's expansion and PFAS pollution endanger 67,000 residents relying on the Rocco Water Treatment Plant, which has the highest PFAS levels in North Carolina.

The Southern Environmental Law Center and advocacy groups filed an appeal to Virginia's Supreme Court over the State Corporation Commission's approval of Dominion Energy's Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center, a natural gas plant opposed for environmental justice concerns and alleged violations of the Virginia Clean Economy Act. The groups argue the SCC failed to properly analyze disproportionate impacts on communities and allowed cost recovery without meeting energy efficiency requirements.

The NAACP filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk's xAI, alleging illegal toxic emissions from a datacenter in Southaven, Mississippi, which violates the Clean Air Act. The suit claims unpermitted methane gas generators are polluting Black communities near Memphis, with environmental groups supporting the NAACP's legal action.

The NAACP filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk's xAI, alleging violations of the Clean Air Act due to toxic emissions from a datacenter in Southaven, Mississippi, which disproportionately affects Black neighborhoods. The suit seeks to halt unpermitted methane gas generators used by the company.