Media Center

Public Health Experts, Electric Utilities, Major Corporations, Legal Scholars, Scientists, and Current and Former Government Officials Ask Supreme Court to Reject Radical Attack on Clean Air Act

January 26, 2022 Press ReleaseUnited States

Washington– In new briefs filed with the Supreme Court yesterday, a diverse array of public health experts, electric utilities, major corporations, legal scholars, scientists, mayors and cities, and current and former government officials urge the Court to reject the coal…

Leading Environmental Groups and Trade Associations Ask Supreme Court to Reject Attack on the Clean Air Act

January 18, 2022 Press ReleaseUnited States

Sweeping Attack on EPA Authority is Based on a Policy That Was Never Enforced and Will Never Go into Effect

EPA Reverses Trump-Era Clean Water Rollbacks, Proposes to Restore Protections for Wetlands and Streams

November 18, 2021 Press ReleaseUnited States

Pledging to chart a course away from the Trump-era “Dirty Water Rule” that gutted the federal Clean Water Act, today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers initiated a process to restore legal protections for…

Southern California Air Board Approves Much-Needed Refinery Rule

November 5, 2021 Press ReleaseCalifornia

LOS ANGELES – The Governing Board of the Southern California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District today unanimously voted for the refinery rule. The rule will require refineries and related facilities to finally install pollution control equipment that reduces harmful air pollutants, such as nitrogen…

EPA’s New Methane Limits Will Protect Public Health, Climate

November 2, 2021 Press ReleaseUnited States

WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency today proposed the first national limits on methane emissions from existing oil and gas operations. The protections, which also include stronger requirements for new wells and equipment, will significantly cut an array of other harmful air…

Groups Sue EPA for Stronger Clean Air Protections

September 8, 2021 Press ReleaseUnited States

WASHINGTON — NRDC (the Natural Resources Defense Council), together with Sierra Club and the Environmental Integrity Project, sued the Environmental Protection Agency today to force it to fulfill its Clean Air Act obligations and require states to close polluter loopholes…

New York State Proposes Clean Truck Rule to Reduce Air Pollution, Improve Public Health

September 8, 2021 Press ReleaseNew York

ALBANY, NY -- New York State announced the process to adopt the Advanced Clean Truck (ACT) rule began today. The rule--which requires truck makers to produce an increasing number of clean, zero-emission trucks--will cut dangerous, polluting fossil fuel emissions throughout…

CDOT Releases Draft Transportation Pollution Standard

August 16, 2021 Press ReleaseUnited States

DENVER — The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) released its draft Greenhouse Gas Pollution Standard today to determine how to spend more than $2.5 billion in annual state transportation funding. With this rule in place, CDOT and local transportation planning organizations across the…

California Passes Nation’s First Building Code that Establishes Pollution-free Electric Heat Pumps as Baseline Technology; Leads Transition Off of Fossil Fuels in New Homes

August 11, 2021 Press ReleaseCalifornia

A majority of the state’s new homes and buildings estimated to be gas-free starting in 2023, cutting climate pollution and delivering significant air quality gains

Salmon Dying from Hot Water in Columbia River

July 27, 2021 Press ReleaseUnited States

Portland, OR—New underwater video footage shows heat-stressed sockeye salmon dying because the Columbia River is too hot. The video shows sockeye with dramatic lesions and fungus, which affects fish subject to thermal stress.

New analysis shows continuing declines in U.S. power sector air emissions—alongside jump in renewable generation

July 20, 2021 Press ReleaseUnited States

BOSTON – U.S. power sector carbon dioxide emissions fell 10% between 2019 and 2020 according to a new analysis released today. This is the largest year-over-year decrease since the Benchmarking Air Emissions of the 100 Largest Electric Power Producers in…

U.S. Army Corps Must Cool Water Heated by Columbia and Snake River Dams for Salmon, Court to Find

June 29, 2021 Press ReleaseWashington

Olympia, WA —The Washington Pollution Control Hearings Board (PCHB) announced it will uphold the Washington Dept. of Ecology’s new restrictions on hot water pollution from Columbia and Lower Snake River dams and reservoirs operated by the U.S. Army Corps of…

EPA to Consider Strengthening Health Protections for Soot Pollution

June 10, 2021 Press ReleaseUnited States

WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency today announced it will reconsider a December 2020 Trump administration refusal to strengthen National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for soot, noting that the current standards may not protect public health and welfare, as…

Bill Targeting PFAS “Forever Chemicals” Contamination Introduced in the House

April 13, 2021 Press ReleaseUnited States

PFAS chemicals, a class of thousands of widely-used, highly toxic “forever chemicals” are on the hot seat in legislation that would begin to regulate uses to protect public health and safety. Introduced by Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), the PFAS Action…

Groups File Proposed Settlement in Penobscot River Mercury Clean-Up Case

March 19, 2021 Press ReleaseMaine

BANGOR, Maine – The Maine People’s Alliance (MPA), NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) and Mallinckrodt US LLC today filed a proposed consent decree to settle more than two decades of litigation over mercury contamination in the Penobscot River estuary. If…

City of Chicago Calls for More Information on Controversial Metal Shredding Operation Move

March 15, 2021 Press ReleaseChicago

In response to a permit application for the controversial move of a notorious metal shredding operation to the Southeast Side, the Chicago Department of Public Health sent a deficiency letter today to Reserve Management Group (RMG) seeking further information and…

Groups Sue EPA Over Refusal to Strengthen Toxic Ozone Standards

February 11, 2021 Press ReleaseUnited States

WASHINGTON – NRDC (the Natural Resources Defense Council), together with thirteen health and environmental groups, half of them represented by Earthjustice, sued the Environmental Protection Agency today over air pollution standards. In a lawsuit in federal appeals court, the groups…

NRDC Sues to Block Trump’s Air Pollution Loophole

January 25, 2021 Press Release

WASHINGTON – NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) and partners late Friday sued the Environmental Protection Agency to block a Trump-era policy allowing industrial facilities to significantly increase air pollution that endangers public health, including in communities of color overburdened by…

President Biden Begins Building Back

January 20, 2021 Press Release

WASHINGTON -- In both word and deed, President Biden today began the task of rebuilding America.

NRDC Sues EPA For Failing to Protect Public from Deadly Soot

January 19, 2021 Press Release

WASHINGTON – NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) today sued the Trump Environmental Protection Agency to block a final rule that left in place the current unprotective federal limits on soot pollution and leaves thousands of people vulnerable to air pollution…