News & Commentary

NRDC Pathways Report: Nature-Based Solutions Vital to Meeting Climate Goals

May 3, 2023 Expert BlogUnited StatesDr. Daniel Rath, Niel Lawrence, Claire O'Connor, Garett Rose

Climate hope remains alive, and the NRDC Pathways Report identifies ways forward for natural climate solutions.

Is This the End of California’s Rivers?

April 10, 2023 Expert BlogCaliforniaDoug Obegi

Documentary film River's End explores the threats to California's rivers and fisheries, and the people fighting to save them.

Colorado River Carbon Bomb: Utah's Uinta Railway Project

April 6, 2023 Expert BlogUnited States, UtahJosh Axelrod

Backers of a proposed crude-by-rail project in northeastern Utah—which would unleash a carbon bomb potentially larger than the controversial Willow Project—want taxpayer support to the tune of $2 billion.

Meeting America’s Conservation Goals

March 30, 2023 Expert BlogUnited StatesAlison Chase

America needs a tracking tool to encourage nature protection and access.

A Biden Administration To-Do List on Land Conservation

March 29, 2023 Expert BlogUnited StatesHelen O'Shea

Challenging times call for a new way of looking at the management of our public lands. The moment is ripe for a bold conservation ethic.

Riparian Forests: How California Farmers Can Protect Waterways

March 22, 2023 Expert BlogCaliforniaArohi Sharma

California can work with growers to scale up riparian forest buffers along farm and rangelands to help sequester carbon, protect waterways, and improve biodiversity.

Let’s Protect More Wetlands with FEMA Funds

March 22, 2023 Expert BlogUnited StatesBecky Hammer

NRDC’s new report underscores the importance of wetlands to the health of our planet, its people, and its wildlife. 

Wetlands Are Imperiled—But the Clean Water Act Can Protect Them

March 22, 2023 Expert BlogUnited StatesJon Devine

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers need to use the full measure of their authority under the law to prevent wetland loss.

Establishing a National Healthy Riverscapes Initiative

March 22, 2023 Expert BlogUnited StatesAmy McNamara

NRDC is advocating for policies to protect and restore wetlands, increase public investment in nature-based solutions, and strengthen our natural infrastructure.

IPCC Report Leaves No More Room for Climate Denial in Logging

March 21, 2023 Expert BlogCanada, United States, InternationalJennifer Skene

Industrial logging is a significant driver of global climate change. Ignoring its emissions is a dangerous new form of climate denial.

Six Colorado Basin States Lay Down a Marker for California

January 31, 2023 Expert BlogArizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, WestEd Osann

The "Consensus Based Modeling Alternative" is a positive development in addressing the current water emergency. It’s unfortunate that California did not join in this recommendation.

Proponents of CA Water Infrastructure Cause Permit Delays

January 31, 2023 Expert BlogCaliforniaDoug Obegi

The permitting process isn’t broken. What’s most lacking is good faith by proponents of new infrastructure projects.

Fighting a Flood of Misinformation about CA Water

January 26, 2023 Expert BlogCaliforniaDoug Obegi

For more than a decade, the science has been clear that we need to reduce diversions from the Bay-Delta in average and drier years.

Earth to EPA: “End the Threat,” Protect Bristol Bay Now

January 12, 2023 Expert BlogAlaskaTaryn Kiekow Heimer

Broad-based coalition calls on EPA to finalize its recommended Clean Water Act veto of the Pebble Mine.

How Do States Distribute Federal Clean Water Grant Funds?

December 13, 2022 Expert BlogUnited StatesBecky Hammer

States take a wide variety of approaches to deciding which communities should have access to funds that support needed wastewater and stormwater infrastructure upgrades.

DWR's Unsustainable Initial Water Supply Allocation for 2023

December 12, 2022 Expert BlogCaliforniaDoug Obegi

Instead of gutting environmental protections, maybe this is the year that California finally reforms these unreasonable water supply contracts.

Pebble Mine Veto: China Laughing?! It’s Pebble Weeping!

December 5, 2022 Expert BlogAlaska, United StatesJoel Reynolds

Replying to EPA’s recommended veto of destructive Bristol Bay mine, desperate Canadian owner argues yet again, against law and science, that the proposed agency decision after 12 years of federal review remains “peremptory,” based on “wildly speculative” assumptions, and an…

Protection for Bristol Bay Is Within Reach

December 1, 2022 Expert BlogAlaska, United StatesTaryn Kiekow Heimer

EPA just released a recommendation under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act that would prohibit the Pebble Mine—a giant gold and copper mine proposed at the headwaters of the world’s greatest wild salmon fishery in Bristol Bay, Alaska. This…

Pebble Mine: Too Much Trick, Too Little Treat

November 4, 2022 Expert BlogAlaskaTaryn Kiekow Heimer

House Committee Issued a Report Detailing How Pebble Mine Proponents “Tried to Trick Regulators” and Asked the Attorney General to Investigate False Statements to Congress

Analysis Shows Threat to Our Waters from Supreme Court Case

November 1, 2022 Expert BlogUnited StatesJon Devine

Thousands—likely millions—of water bodies around the country could lose federal protections against unregulated dumping if the Court rules in favor of the plaintiffs and their industry allies in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency.