Media Center

Obama Announces Rules to Protect Endangered Elephants

July 25, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON, DC (July 25, 2015) — President Obama today announced important new regulations on elephant ivory that would further restrict interstate sales. If finalized, these important new regulations would place a near-total ban on domestic ivory sales, imports, and exports…

Voluntary EPA Program to Reduce Methane from Oil & Gas Industry Won’t Cut It

July 23, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 23, 2015) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today released a proposed voluntary initiative for reducing methane pollution from the oil and gas industry, called the Natural Gas STAR Methane Challenge Program.

‘Misguided’ Arctic Drilling Permit Approval has ‘Lit Fuse’ on Disaster for Pristine Ocean, Climate

July 22, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (July 22, 2015) – Shell was granted federal permits today that clear the way for the oil company to begin drilling in the Arctic Ocean.

Groups Sue EPA for Failure to Protect Communities from Hazardous Spills from Storage Facilities

July 21, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (July 21, 2015) – The Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform (EJHA) and People Concerned About Chemical Safety (PCACS), joined by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), sued the Environmental Protection Agency today, citing its decades-long failure…

Canadian Energy Policy Facilitates Tar Sands Pipelines, Not Carbon Reduction

July 17, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (July 17, 2015) – Canada’s 13 provincial and territorial premiers today issued a national energy strategy, after lengthy negotiations. While the premiers added new recommendations on clean energy and energy efficiency to a tepid commitment to reduce greenhouse gas…

House Passes Special-Interest Bill Masquerading as Drought Relief Measure

July 16, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (July 16, 2015) – The House today passed a brazen anti-environment bill masquerading as a drought relief measure.

NRDC President Rhea Suh Urges Support for Historic Clean Power Plan

July 15, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (July 15, 2015) – Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, today called for urgent and strong action to combat dangerous climate change, and released a 12-chapter resource manual that bolsters the case for the Environmental Protection…

New Report: U.S. Power Sector Continues to Reduce Air Pollution Emissions in Advance of EPA’s Clean Power Plan

July 14, 2015 Press Release

BOSTON, MA – The most comprehensive analysis to date on U.S. power plant air pollution emissions shows that most of the nation’s largest electric utilities have seen significant reductions in global warming pollution in recent years. The report’s release comes…

Court Rejects Green Groups’ Effort to Stop Bad-Deal Settlement Between ExxonMobil and Christie Administration Over Pollution

July 13, 2015 Press Release

MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. (July 13, 2015) – A New Jersey court today rejected environmental groups’ motion to intervene in litigation brought by the State of New Jersey against ExxonMobil Corporation over damages due for decades of toxic soil and water…

Senator Kirk, Your Sewage Bill Doesn’t Cover Up Stinky Climate Vote

July 10, 2015 Press Release

CHICAGO (July 10, 2015) – Senator Mark Kirk held a press conference today touting his environmental credentials in the face of withering criticism of his recent vote to block action to cut dangerous carbon emissions from America’s power plants. In…

President Obama Bolsters Conservation Legacy with Three National Monuments

July 10, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (July 10, 2015) – The three national monuments created today by President Obama will protect some of America’s most biodiverse mountain ecosystems, wild tracts of desert and nationally significant fossil beds.

Independent Scientific Study Released on California Fracking and Oil Well Stimulation

July 9, 2015 Press ReleaseCalifornia

LOS ANGELES (July 9, 2015) – The California Council on Science & Technology today released its independent scientific assessment on the health and environmental impacts of fracking and oil and gas well stimulation in California. The report, produced in collaboration…

GOP Leaders Pack Anti-Environment Riders into Spending Bill

July 7, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (July 7, 2015) – Congressional Republicans have been working to add an array of anti-environment riders to the $30.17 billion fiscal year 2016 Interior and Environment appropriations bill, which already included a 9 percent cut to the Environmental Protection…

Dow Told to Shelve Herbicide Threatening to Push Monarchs Over the Brink In New York Times Ad

July 7, 2015 Press ReleaseNew York

(New York, July 7, 2015) – The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) placed an ad in The New York Times today to increase the pressure on Dow Chemical to “end this chemical arms race” against nature by shelving its toxic…

NRDC TV Ads Call Out Kirk on Climate

July 7, 2015 Press Release

CHICAGO (July 7, 2015) – A new public education advertising effort chastises Illinois Senator Mark Kirk for a recent, decisive vote to block climate action. The ads running on television stations throughout Chicagoland and social media highlight Senator Kirk’s vote…

It’s Official—New York Bans Fracking

June 29, 2015 Press Release

NEW YORK, NY (June 29, 2015)—The Cuomo Administration today made the state’s ban on high-volume hydraulic fracturing official, following through on a December promise to prohibit the dangerous industrial activity in New York.

Alarming Decline in Monarch Population Justifies Immediate Action: NRDC Urges UN To Declare Mexican Butterfly Refuge “In Danger”

June 26, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (June 26, 2015)— Advocates for monarch butterflies are heading to a World Heritage Committee meeting in Bonn, Germany, urging immediate action to increase protections for the migrating monarch butterfly population that spends the winter in Mexico’s Monarch Butterfly Biosphere…

Alberta Must Do More to Meet Climate Commitment

June 25, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (June 25, 2015) – The following is a statement by Anthony Swift, Canada Project Director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, upon the announcement by officials in Alberta, Canada that it will commit to a more ambitious climate policy…

EPA Agrees Monarch Butterflies are in Jeopardy, But Refuses to Use Authority to Limit Habitat-Killing Pesticide

June 24, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (June 24, 2015) — Confronted with the urgent and growing crisis of the imperiled monarch butterfly, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today utterly failed to seize an opportunity to use its authority to limit the use of glyphosate…

Lancet Report Affirms Tremendous Health Benefits from Climate Action

June 22, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (June 22, 2015) – The Lancet Commission on Health and Climate released a report today warning that climate change poses both the greatest threat to health in the 21st Century and the greatest opportunity to protect public health by…