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Expert Blogs

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Goodbye Verner, Fearless Fighter Against the Pebble Mine

Expert BlogUnited States, AlaskaJoel Reynolds

Bristol Bay tribal and environmental leader Verner Wilson III personified the next generation of committed opposition in decades-long battle against destructive Bristol Bay mining scheme.  

Rate Increases and Blackouts: Duke Energy’s Strategy for 2023

Expert BlogNorth Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, EastLuis Martinez
Duke failed to keep the lights on last December, but it is now pursuing enormous rate increases of more than 30 percent to help pay for fossil fuels and huge executive salary raises.

Holding Interior to Account on Gulf Oil and Gas Leasing

Expert BlogAlabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, TexasIrene Gutierrez
Continuing to extract oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico will have a steep price for the environment and coastal communities in the region. That's why NRDC and our partners took BOEM to court.

New Program Will Help Ensure Reliable Electricity in the West

Expert BlogCanada, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, WestKelsie Gomanie
The Western Resource Adequacy Program (WRAP) is designed to provide benefits for customers, utilities, and the environment.

Getting Smart About Transmission Lines: A Southwest Story

Expert BlogCalifornia, ArizonaCullen Howe
Ten West Link demonstrates how we can build infrastructure in a way that is Smart from the Start, a methodology that enables us to build the renewable energy projects we need while protecting wild spaces.

Crushing Alaska’s Pebble Mine

NRDC in ActionAlaskaNicole Greenfield, Jeff Turrentine
The EPA’s decision to veto the project is fantastic news—but the fight to save Bristol Bay isn’t over yet.

One Year Since Court Restored ESA Protections for Wolves

Expert BlogCalifornia, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, WisconsinDr. Jennifer Sherry
Without these protections, wolf recovery could be stopped dead in its tracks—or even reversed—as we have seen happen when states with authority over wolf management work to cut populations down through aggressive measures.

Six Colorado Basin States Lay Down a Marker for California

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.

The Race to Organize Energy Markets in the Western U.S. Is On

Expert BlogArizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, WyomingKelsie Gomanie
A western regional transmission organization would spur the development of clean electricity sources and lower costs for consumers.

RGGI Is PA's Path Forward on Climate in 2023

Expert BlogPennsylvaniaMark Szybist, Jackson Morris
The task now is to defend the regulation in court and, critically, implement an equitable investment plan that fully realizes RGGI’s promises for Pennsylvania.

States Embrace the Transition to Clean Cars

Expert BlogCalifornia, Colorado, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, WashingtonKathy Harris
The federal government has made strides to help bolster the electric vehicle market, attract manufacturing, and ensure a robust charging network. But in many ways, states led the way.

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

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

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…

A $3 Billion Milestone for the Western Grid

Expert BlogUnited States, California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Idaho, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, WestKelsie Gomanie

After a year of record-breaking heat waves, drought, and flooding, add to that list some good news for the Western United States: The Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM) is positioned to surpass $3 billion in cumulative benefits by the end…

Pebble Mine: Too Much Trick, Too Little Treat

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