News & Commentary

Developer Withdraws Casitas Project in Win for L.A. River

February 22, 2022 Expert BlogLos AngelesDamon Nagami

The proposed luxury lofts did not provide nearly enough affordable housing to address the city’s affordability crisis. 

Proposed Port Expansion Puts South Oxnard Community at Risk

February 14, 2022 Expert BlogCaliforniaNatalia Ospina, Heather Kryczka

Five reasons the Environmental Impact Report is incomplete.

Let Us Breathe! A Vision for a Healthy Oxnard

February 10, 2022 Expert BlogCaliforniaNatalia Ospina, Heather Kryczka

Learn how an industrial project threatens a community-led vision for health and justice in a coastal California community, and support residents by submitting a comment letter by Feb. 14th.

LA City Council Votes Unanimously to End Urban Oil Drilling

January 28, 2022 Expert BlogLos AngelesDamon Nagami

This watershed moment demonstrates the power of community engagement and momentum.

Proposed Newsom Budget Doubles Down on Climate, Food, and Ag

January 12, 2022 Expert BlogCaliforniaLena Brook, Arohi Sharma

Governor Newsom’s newly released proposal rightfully recognizes the profound impact of climate change on our state’s food and agriculture system and the need for significant investment.

California Must Close Big Pesticide Loophole

December 3, 2021 Expert BlogCaliforniaDaniel Raichel

When is a pesticide not a pesticide?

Ten New Environmental Laws in California

November 30, 2021 Expert BlogCaliforniaVictoria Rome

The environmental community continued to chalk up wins in the state legislature despite another unusual year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a gubernatorial recall election.

A Lawyer That Sees Grassroots Relationship-Building as the Path Toward Social Change

November 16, 2021 NRDC in ActionCaliforniaKeith Mulvihill

NRDC’s first chief equity and justice officer, Melissa Lin Perrella, believes the way to strengthen advocacy work is to prioritize community partners who are closest to the problem—and often closest to the solution.

Will Los Angeles Finally Put an End to Oil Drilling in Neighborhoods?

November 12, 2021 DispatchLos AngelesNicole Greenfield

For close to a decade, the STAND-L.A. coalition has been calling on the city to stop extracting oil near homes and schools. Victory, at long last, is within reach.

LA Must Tackle Clean Buildings & Affordable Housing Together

November 8, 2021 Expert BlogLos Angeles, CaliforniaStefan Schaffer, Michele Knab Hasson, Megan Ross

Currently, LA’s building stock is responsible for 43% of the city’s total greenhouse gas emissions. A recent report dives deep into the complex relationship between getting fossil fuels out of buildings and creating and preserving affordable housing in Los Angeles…

New Program Provides Energy Burden Relief for Tenants in LA

November 3, 2021 Expert BlogLos Angeles, CaliforniaMichele Knab Hasson

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the largest municipal utility in the country, has worked with advocates to develop a comprehensive program that provides benefits to low income tenants and is accessible by affordable housing providers.

No Longer a Laggard: California's Bold Setback Proposal

October 29, 2021 Expert BlogCaliforniaAnn Alexander

Californians have the opportunity now to make their views known about the proposed regulation—what’s excellent, and what needs improvement.

California’s Wildly Inequitable Water Rights System

October 11, 2021 Expert BlogCaliforniaKate Poole

It's time to put the interests of the community above the interests of the ancestors of a handful of white settlers who staked their claim to our public resources over a century ago.

California Oil Disaster Brings New Urgency to Calls to Ban Drilling

October 7, 2021 Expert BlogCalifornia, United StatesValerie Cleland

We have to transition away from fossil fuels. That’s why it’s essential that Congress pass budget reconciliation with offshore drilling provisions—and enact President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda.

Latina Farmworkers Speak Out about the Hazards of Life in California’s Fields

October 4, 2021 DispatchCaliforniaNicole Greenfield

From farms to public hearings, the women of Líderes Campesinas are standing up against the pesticide exposure, COVID-19 risk, and other threats disproportionately impacting their community.

California Enacts Legislation to Slash Cement Emissions

September 23, 2021 Expert BlogCaliforniaAlex Jackson

Governor Gavin Newsom just signed groundbreaking bipartisan legislation to zero-out carbon pollution from cement used in the world's fifth-largest economy.

The Chlorpyrifos Ban Is a Win for Science—and Children

September 17, 2021 NRDC in ActionCaliforniaNicole Greenfield

NRDC advocates and our partners spent decades fighting against a highly toxic pesticide that harms kids, farmworkers, and their families. In August, the EPA finally banned it.

Living Among the Diesel Trucks: My Environmental Injustice Story

September 13, 2021 PerspectivesCaliforniaAndrea Guerra

To a college student who grew up surrounded by heavy truck traffic, warehouses, and commercial hubs in one of California’s most polluted communities, the push to electrify transportation is more than just urgent health policy—it’s personal.

California Teens Expose the Chemicals in Household Cleaners That Are Putting Their Community at Risk

September 13, 2021 DispatchCaliforniaCarmen Cusido

Their research aims to inform Latinas—who make up a significant proportion of the domestic workforce—about how to choose safer cleaning products.

Port of LA Revives the Environmentally Unjust SCIG Railyard

August 17, 2021 Expert BlogLos Angeles, CaliforniaHeather Kryczka

Air pollution from SCIG would exacerbate health problems, including asthma rates, cancer rates, and premature deaths, for people who are already overburdened by diesel pollution associated with the nearby San Pedro Bay Ports.