- John Walke was quoted in the New York Times after the EPA delayed a requirement for states to comply with an Obama-era regulation on ozone emissions. “The delay is flagrantly illegal as well as a direct assault on our right to breathe safe, clean air,” John said. He was also quoted in ThinkProgress, Charleston Gazette-Mail, and E&E News.
- NRDC and other conservation groups filed a lawsuit against the EPA this week after it suspended rules stopping methane leaks from oil and gas operations. Meleah Geertsma was quoted by CNBC as saying, “The Trump administration does not have unlimited power to put people’s health in jeopardy with unchecked, unilateral executive action like this.” Meleah was also quoted by The Hill, Color Lines, Financial Tribune, and the lawsuit was covered by Reuters.
- Rhea Suh was quoted in SELF, saying that the next administration “can and should” re-enter the Paris Agreement exactly as we entered it the first time. Alvin Lin was quoted by PRI’s “The World,” saying that Trump’s withdrawal will only boost China’s economic outlook as they invest more heavily in renewable technologies.
- “For the folks who have said that water may become more valuable than oil, that’s a forecast that is coming true,” Eric Goldstein told the New York Times, as parties battle for control over the Delaware River in upstate New York.
- John Moore said to Marketplace that “the value of working with [the FERC nominees] outweighs whatever benefit we would get from opposing them.” John also disputed Pruitt’s claim that coal losses would make our grid vulnerable, telling E&E News “[c]oal supporters are again returning to playing the reliability card because they don’t have much left.”
- After the Trump administration opened the door to oil and gas drilling off the Atlantic coast, Michael Jasny stressed that seismic testing alone could drive the North Atlantic right whale to extinction in New Jersey Spotlight. He was also quoted inE&E News, South Carolina’s The State, and Georgia’s WSAV. Michael and Daniel Hinerfeld were quoted in the Vancouver Sun’s review of Sonic Sea. “We don’t need to develop these additional sources of fossil fuel….and we certainly shouldn’t be developing sources of oil and gas that require us to devastate marine life in the process,” Daniel said.
- Anjali Waikar expressed concern after state officials determined there were no “system-wide” problems when tests revealed lead in East Chicago’s water. “We know no amount of lead is safe,” she told Northwest Indiana’s Post-Tribune, in a story that also ran in the Chicago Tribune. Josh Mogerman commended Chicago’s long-time clean energy leadership on WBEZ – Chicago Public Radio noting a new Executive Order affirming the City’s efforts to realize Paris Accord goals are “mak[ing] our city as clean and liveable as we can is something everyone should embrace. In a different interview, Josh also told WBEZ that Illinois’ Future Energy Jobs Act, which became law last week, would reduce the state’s carbon emissions. Josh also joined Chicago’s WGN Radio to discuss the importance of climate action for the Midwest.
- David Doniger pointed out the irony of BP’s defense attorney being tapped as top DOJ environment attorney in ThinkProgress, InsideClimate News, and Inhabitat. Doug Obegi spoke to Newsweek about the nomination of lobbyist for deputy interior secretary.
- Adrianna Quintero told CBS – San Francisco that withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement is a “lost opportunity” for America and “the cost of not doing something about climate change is significantly higher” than any costs for participating in the pact.
- Joel Reynolds spoke to Chinese network CGTN America about California Governor Jerry Brown’s emerging role as a global climate leader. Annie Notthoff was quoted in Truthout on the support for strong climate action within California.
- Bobby McEnaney spoke to the Huffington Post about Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s order to review conservation plans for the imperiled sage grouse to give states “greater flexibility.” Despite the many threats the species faces, “Secretary Zinke might just have landed the decisive blow,” Bobby said. He was also quoted in the Denver Post.
- Trump’s proposed budget would eliminate funding for a bevy of important government functions, including monitoring greenhouse gases, David Doniger told Bloomberg; addressing toxic algal blooms, Mae Wu noted in Huffington Post; and even securing air conditioning for the elderly Kim Knowlton explained in Mother Nature Network.
- Elly Pepper penned a blog for Scientific American urging U.S. zoos to help pangolin conservation efforts by not purchasing the wild-caught animals.
- Trump’s EPA is facing pressure from NRDC, other advocacy groups and seven state Attorney Generals, to ban chlorpyrifos—a pesticide linked to learning disabilities in children—this week. NRDC’s advocacy on the issue was mentioned inBloomberg BNA, The Hill, San Francisco Chronicle, CBS – San Francisco, and others.
- A Freedom of Information Act request filed by NRDC revealed Pebble Mine’s top lobbyist met with a senior EPA official shortly before the agency lifted its hold on the permitting process. “After years of belly-aching about fairness, it is simply unbelievable that Pebble immediately seized the opportunity to reach a secretive, backroom deal with the Trump EPA,”Taryn Kiekow-Heimer told E&E News.
- Prior to President Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement, Rhea Suh, David Doniger, Jake Schmidt, Han Chen, Yang Fuqiang were all featured in lead-up coverage, including multiple Washington Post articles (see also: Washington Post, Washington Post), ABC News, CNBC, PBS Newshour, Yahoo News and Science Magazine, Bloomberg; Public News Service, The Global Times and many others.
- In the wake of President Trump’s disappointing announcement to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement, Rhea Suh was quoted by CNN saying “When the President of the United States sets the country apart from science, breaks its promise to the rest of the world, retreats from the fight against climate change and leaves our kids to pay the price, that’s news.” A bevy of NRDC experts were featured in various outlets reacting to the announcement including Jake Schmidt in USA Today, Bob Deans on “The Leslie Marshall Show,” Adrianna Quintero in La Opinión and on Univision Noticias as well as Jackson Morris in The Journal News.
- David Doniger reacted to the U.S. EPA’s halt on Obama-era methane emissions standards in Reuters saying that “the Trump administration is giving its friends in the oil and gas industry a free pass to continue polluting our air.” David was also quoted in UPI. NRDC’s intent to sue over the issue was featured in The Hill and Think Progress amongst others.
- Rob Moore was featured in a Bloomberg piece discussing bipartisan flood insurance legislation for homeowners in flood-prone areas. Rob noted that “flood insurance seems to be one of those few areas where Democrats and Republicans see the same problems and, in a lot of instances, see the same solutions.” Rob was also quoted on the issue in the Insurance Journal. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch quoted Rob in an article on a series of controversial Illinois proposals to loosen oversight of levees.
- Carl Zichella was quoted in USA Today saying the expansion of a California-led energy-sharing program to British Columbia “is a sign of the irreversibility of the trend away from coal” as solar and wind get cheaper and utilities choose not to invest in new coal. Annie Notthoff was quoted in GreenWire discussing a California Senate package of bills passed to offset the Trump administration’s environmental rollbacks from weakening the state’s protections.
- Henry Henderson weighed in on the alarming increase in contaminated water from the Chicago River making its way into Lake Michigan from climate-related rainstorms on WBEZ – Chicago Public Radio.
- Jake Schmidt was quoted in the Voice of America News on the climate change discussion at last Friday’s G-7 Summit in Italy.
- Jackson Morris commented on the situation surrounding the impending closure of Pennsylvania’s infamous Three Mile Island nuclear plant in The Baltimore Sun. Jennifer Chen was quoted in Utility Dive discussing the future for demand response under PJM’s new capacity and aggregation rules. Jennifer was also quoted in Midwest Energy News discussing the implications of the PJM auction for Ohio electric customers.
- The Sacramento Bee ran a front-page investigative piece on California irrigation districts’ lack of compliance with a law requiring them to track water usage that quotes Laura West.
- The Times of Northwest Indiana quoted Anjali Waikar in an article about the state’s work to test and monitor East Chicago’s drinking water for lead, saying “Our concern is that while the city may be in compliance with the applicable law, the drinking water may still contain unsafe levels of lead.”
- Darby Hoover was extensively quoted in a Governing Magazine feature describing the updates needed to local recycling efforts nationwide to increase their effectiveness.
- “This is an important victory for public health,” Jen Sass told E&E News after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the U.S. EPA’s approval of a nanosilver antimicrobial product, continuing, “Nanosilver is known to be highly toxic to aquatic life, and may be hazardous to people. EPA rushed to judgment by approving it, leaving consumers to be guinea pigs. Now the agency must take a closer look at its potential to cause harm.”
- Walton Shepherd was quoted in a Richmond Times-Dispatch article detailing Virginia Republicans’ anger over Governor McAuliffe’s no-show for an emergency hearing on the state’s carbon emission standards.
- DeSmog Blog featured Kimberly Ong in a post that detailed the need for the Trump administration to regulate dangerous crude-by-rail trains. Allison Kelly was quoted in Forbes about the review process for the proposed multi-state Atlantic Coast Pipeline, warning that “green-lighting this pipeline without a sufficient review of the damage it would cause is a disservice to the people who live in its path.”
- Rob Friedman was quoted in an Earth Island Journal feature on the grassroots climate movement stating that “the [movement] moving forward must be about facilitating alignment between the inside and outside strategies, with equitably resourced grassroots groups defining the path forward.”
- The New York Times spoke to Erik Olson about chlorpyrifos, a toxic pesticide widely used in agriculture which NRDC has petitioned the E.P.A. to ban. “The E.P.A. has twice made a formal determination that this chemical is not safe. The agency cannot just decide not to act on that,” Erik explained.
- Walton Shepherd praised Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe’s forward-thinking climate regulations, reducing emissions from power plants and emphasizing clean energy, in The Washington Post. In lieu of strong federal action, combined state-level efforts like McAuliffe’s “will drive significant enough changes to honor of international agreements,” he said. Waltonwas also quoted in InsideClimate News and Morning Consult.
- Taryn Kiekow-Heimer spoke to The Guardian after the E.P.A. allowed a Canadian-owned mining company to seek federal permit near Alaska’s Bristol Bay, a vital resource to the indigenous community, salmon fisherman, and local economy. “Bristol Bay is too important – economically, environmentally, and culturally – to be sacrificed for the sake of a mine,” Taryn said. She also spoke to Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post.
- A CNN online photo slideshow of the ten most carbon-intensive foods in the American diet was based on the findings of a study authored by Sujatha Bergen. Organic Authority featured Carmen Cordova discussing NRDC’s antibiotics scorecard for America’s top grocery chains (spoiler: they all got Ds), and Darby Hoover spoke to Huffington Post about recycling rules, which she said can vary widely between municipalities and change without much notice.
- Anjali Jaiswal was quoted by the The Washington Post on the new air quality index and pollution system NRDC helped devise and implement in Ahmadabad, India. She was also quoted in India’s The Hindu.
- Jackson Morris discussed the struggling nuclear industry lobbying state governments for help on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” saying nuclear energy may have low-carbon attributes but “it’s by no means on the same playing field as truly renewable resources, like wind, solar, and energy efficiency.”
- Alex Jackson told E&E News there’s enough uncertainty about California’s cap-and-trade program that in the absence of legislative action reauthorizing it after 2020, California will be “navigating between Scylla and Charybdis.” He also told theAssociated Press that the program is a good starting point, but can be improved.
- Scott Slesinger co-authored an Op-Ed on Trump’s damaging 2-for-1 executive order for Regulatory Review. In Yahoo! News Scott condemned the Regulatory Accountability Act as a bill “for polluters and others who want to escape accountability — not for the American people.” He also spoke to Morning Consult.
- John Moore told The Hill that he hopes Trump’s nominees to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will abide by facts, not political arguments in favor of fossil fuels. David Doniger was quoted in InsideClimate News on the uncertain future of Obama’s Clean Power Plan.
- Pierre Delforge spoke to Discovery’s Seeker about the huge potential for energy efficiency in U.S. data centers.Samantha Williams expounded on economic theory in Midwest Energy News, and NRDC was quoted in northern California’s NPR station KQED in support of floating solar panels on man-made water surfaces.
- Stephanie Gidigbi and Mae Wu were quoted by E&E News on Trump’s proposed infrastructure bill. Stephanie said she hopes lawmakers will take environmental justice concerns into account when crafting the bill, noting that “communities have clear plans, what they lack is the dollars.”
- Zak Smith spoke to Alaska’s KHNS Radio about potential impacts of the elephant ivory ban on the walrus ivory used by Alaska Native carvers.
- Jake Schmidt and Han Chen argued in Alternet that as thirty countries, including China, agree on the urgency of climate action, Trump risks making the U.S. a global pariah. Jake was also quoted by E&E News on the topic.
- NRDC’s “Threats on Tap” report, which found widespread violations in drinking water contamination levels, continued to garner attention in outlets such as Daily Mail, Patch, EGP News, and Pensacola News Journal.
- MTV News interviewed Rhea Suh from the People’s Climate March, where she noted that “the long-term ramifications of not doing anything about climate change now are pretty profound.” Rhea was also quoted in Public News Service and Huffington Post.
- Rhea Suh responded forcefully to the offshore drilling Executive Order President Trump signed last week, telling the Los Angeles Times, “We’ll fight this move to sell out our children’s future for big oil and gas.” She was also quoted by the UK’s Daily Mail and North Carolina’s Greenville Online. In the New York Times, Bob Deans bemoaned the madness of the EO’s directive to review a critical safeguard for offshore drilling introduced in response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Alex Adams, Franz Matzner and David Pettit were quoted slamming the EO, as well, in the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles’ ABC 7, respectively.
- A coalition of environmental lawyers, led by NRDC attorney Niel Lawrence, were quick to file suit against the egregious offshore drilling executive order. Niel told the Alaska Dispatch News, “President Trump may wish to undo [the offshore protections put in place by President Obama], and declare our coasts open for business to dirty energy companies, but he simply lacks the authority to do so under the law.” Niel was also featured in Bloomberg and Morning Consult, among others. And the litigation was covered by a bevy of other outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, CNBC and Huffington Post.
- NRDC was cited in nearly 100 stories about “Threats on Tap,” a report about water contamination and failing water infrastructure that ranked the states by violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act. Mae Wu was quoted in the New York Times saying “data is ‘not sexy,’ making it hard to use in pushing for meaningful actions like investment in national infrastructure maintenance.” Mae was also quoted by ABC News. Jamie Consuegra was quoted by Weather.com, saying, “Americans have a right to safe, clean drinking water, but President Trump is killing that right with a meat axe.”
- Erik Olson was widely quoted in papers across the nation, including the Asbury Park Press, Miami Herald, Mother Jonesand The Huffington Post, which quoted him saying, “We’re living off our great-grandparents’ investments in water infrastructure. We need to make new investments, strengthen the rules and fix our enforcement problem.”
- Barbara Finamore was featured in Foreign Policy’s “The US-China 50.” Her profile details NRDC’s China program. Barbara was also quoted in the Financial Express about China’s shift away from coal.
- Dave Hawkins told NPR’s “Morning Edition” that using carbon capture and sequestration technology to address emissions from coal plants that will likely be running for decades is just common sense.
- Larry Levine spoke to the New York Times about filing a notice of intent to sue against the EPA over failing to prevent raw sewage from overflowing into New York City waterways. Larry was also quoted in Brooklyn Daily Eagleand Politico NY.
- Annie Notthoff told the Los Angeles Times that NRDC has concerns about the biogas elements added to a new California legislative proposal to move the state to 100 percent renewable energy by 2045.
- After the EPA scrubbed climate change information from its site, David Doniger tweeted “Cleansing has begun. EPA website scrubbed of pages on ‘so-called’ Clean Power Plan. Now only alternative facts,” and was picked up by Politco, Mic and Slate. David also spoke to ClimateWire on the fate of the CPP litigation.
- In grading the Trump’s First 100 Days, Rebecca Riley told LiveScience, “The Obama administration made the decision to protect the species based on extensive science — there was no basis on which to reverse it.”
- On the possibility that woody biomass will creep into the appropriations process, Sami Yassa told UnDark “we’re gearing up for a fight on this.” He was also quoted in the Bonner County Daily Bee.
- On S&P Global Platt’s “Capitol Crude,” Bob Deans debated an industry representative about Trump’s first days in office, arguing, “So far we’ve seen 100 days of hazard and harm.”
- Doug Obegi was quoted in News Deeply on the effects California’s delta tunnel project could have on the Delta smelt, which is considered an indicator for the health of the estuary.
- Walton Shepherd discussed Dominion Virginia Power’s plan to modernize its system with The Virginian-Pilot, but cautioned against increasing carbon pollution through more natural gas.
1. Last week, nearly 200 countries adopted a global agreement to phase down the powerful climate-warming gases called hydrofluorocarbons. A widely carried Associated Press piece quoted David Doniger, who was at the negotiations in Kigali, Rwanda, saying the new agreement is “equal to stopping the entire world’s fossil-fuel CO2 emissions for more than two years.” The piece was picked up by PBS News Hour, Politico, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, Fox News, ABC News, Albany Times Union, San Francisco Gate, MSN, Times of India, South China Morning Post, and over 250 other outlets.
2. David Doniger also spoke to The New York Times about the collaboration between industrial and environmental groups behind the Kigali deal, saying the chemical industries “learned that without a rule change, their new products couldn’t compete. They woke up and said, ‘The science is real.’” The piece was picked up by MSN. In addition, David was quoted on the agreement in The New York Times’ blog “Dot Earth,” Politico, International Business Times, Christian Science Monitor, Buffalo News, Mashable, and a ClimateWire piece carried by Scientific American.
3. Tracy Quinn expressed concern about California water usage to The New York Times, criticizing the lifting of the mandatory conservation targets earlier this year. “We had one normal, average precipitation year among five. We certainly don’t know what the next few years will bring,” Tracy said. The article was also carried by Las Vegas Sun.
4. Kate Poole was quoted in an Associated Press piece on water regulators’ finding that endangered native fish in the California Delta need more water to survive. The article ran in over 130 outlets nationwide, including Yahoo! News, CNBC, US News, ABC News, Washington Times, Fort Wayne (Indiana) News-Sentinel, Baltimore Sun, Seattle Times, and Daily Mail.
5. In a Washington Post piece highlighting how the floods in North Carolina following Hurricane Matthew spurred renewed criticism of factory farming practices, Mae Wu explained that “what this flooding does is really bring to light all the human health and environmental consequences of letting them have these open pits of [fecal] waste just sitting out there.” The piece was picked up by Houston Chronicle, Standard Examiner, Philadelphia Inquirer, The Virginian-Pilot, Jacksonville (North Carolina) Daily News, and UK Progressive Magazine. United Press International also quoted Mae on the issue.
6. David Wallinga spoke to Bloomberg News about how despite new FDA efforts to reduce antibiotic abuse in livestock and limit the rise of superbugs, the pharmaceutical industry continues to market antibiotics to veterinarians while expanding sales internationally. “It just underscores that this has to be a change that happens across the entire world. And the companies bear a big responsibility for that approach,” David explained. The story was picked up by Chicago Tribune, (Magic Valley, Idaho) Times-News, Pharmacy Choice and The Malone (New York) Telegram.
7. Scott Slesinger spoke to Bloomberg BNA about conservationist efforts to block some of the harmful environmental riders in FY17 budget legislation. Riders aimed at scaling back environmental regulations have spiked significantly in recent years. “The one thing that seems to bring together the old, business-friendly Republican caucus and the Tea Party is rolling back environment regulations,” Scott said.
8. Franz Matzner expressed concern to The San Jose Mercury News over a new solar enhanced oil recovery program that uses sunlight instead of gas to pump oil, explaining that pollution, land degradation and negative health impacts are still associated with petroleum production. It’s “a sign of solar’s advantages over oil and coal and gas,” he said. The piece was picked up by East Bay Times.
9. Sasha Stashwick spoke to Offshore Wind about a new NRDC study showing that wind and solar are likely to be less expensive than burning trees for replacing coal power in the United Kingdom, saying “the emissions risks associated with biomass are simply too big to be ignored, and now we see that the economics of biomass don’t make sense” either. Sasha was also quoted on the report’s finding by Business Green, Bioenergy Insight Magazine, Clean Energy News, Clean Technica, and Edie.net. Debbie Hammel was also quoted by EU Reporter Energy in its coverage of organizations participating in the International Day of Action on Bioenergy.
10. Ralph Cavanagh appeared on Greentech Media’s podcast, “The Interchange.” Ralph discussed how to transition to a clean, decentralized grid with a representative from the Edison Institute for Electric Innovation, answering questions about how to charge customers, recover fixed costs, and more.
11. Mae Wu spoke to The Liberty Beacon about the dangerous levels of pharmaceutical drugs and other chemicals in drinking water throughout the country, saying “This hasn’t been getting enough attention. The problem hasn’t been getting better because we are just ignoring it.” Mae also highlighted that “consumers shouldn’t just assume that bottled water is more clean, more safe and pure than tap water” to Montgomery County (Maryland) Sentinel, advocating for stricter regulations on both bottled and tap water. Likewise, The Washington Post discussed EPA admitting it should have intervened in the Flint water crisis earlier, mentioning that NRDC petitioned the agency to take emergency action last October.
12. Richard Schrader talked to Morning Ag Clips about a letter NRDC and coalition groups sent to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo urging him to sign the “Farm to Food Bank” tax credit bill into law. “This legislation helps farmers and the hungry as well as mitigating climate change. It should be signed into law,” said Richard. The Associated Press also mentioned NRDC in its coverage of the issue.
13. In an EcoWatch story unveiling the devastating environmental impact of American homeowners’ desire to keep their lawns greener and lusher than their neighbors, Ed Osann pointed to sustainable landscaping strategies that move away from mowed turf and water-guzzling, chemical-hungry lawns.
14. Ashok Gupta spoke to St. Louis Post-Dispatch about a recently released scorecard issued by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) that showed Missouri is the most improved state in the nation in terms of energy efficiency. “The improvement was great. The question is: How are we going to continue to improve?” asked Ashok.
15. Inside EPA Climate featured Jackson Morris and NRDC in its coverage highlighting that RGGI states are expected to adopt a stronger 2020-2030 greenhouse gas cap. “It’s a question of how much more stringent” than EPA’s rule it will be, Jackson stated, adding that the 5 percent reduction is “entirely realistic and viable.”
1. The New York Times highlighted NRDC court filings and a new public relations campaign to defend the Clean Power Plan in advance of a federal court hearing on the rule. The filings were also covered by Politico and Bloomberg Government, which quoted David Doniger that “the Clean Power Plan stands on solid legal ground.” Samantha Williams also explained to Midwest Energy News that while the Supreme Court stay is in effect, states such as Ohio should continue to move forward with cutting their own carbon emissions.
2. Morgan Wyenn spoke to the Los Angeles Times and KPCC—Southern California Public Radio about an NRDC victory in a multi-year lawsuit against the Port of Los Angeles and Burlington Northern Santa Fe over a railyard project that would increase toxic air pollution for nearby communities. “This is just not the right location for a rail yard. Anytime you concentrate that many trucks in one small area, the air pollution for that area is going to increase, no matter the way you look at it,” Morgan said.
3. The San Francisco Chronicle ran an op-ed from Max Baumhefner on the impact of a new agreement with Pacific Gas & Electric to deploy 7,500 electric vehicle charging stations in the city, including in disadvantaged communities where zero-emission vehicles are needed most.
4. Sharon Buccino talked to The Washington Post on the worsening financial crisis for big coal companies across the country and their failure to pay for the cleanup of mining sites after they are shut down saying “We should not have to sacrifice the health of the land and its residents to the financial health of coal companies.”
5. David Wallinga spoke to National Geographic about a one-year progress report from President Obama’s Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, noting a failure to reduce misuse of the critical drugs in raising livestock. “The Advisory Council should take a step back and evaluate what’s not working in the U.S. to reach its ultimate goal of reducing widespread overuse of antibiotics,” he said. Politico and Ars Technica also quoted David on the federal antibiotics report.
6. Dana Gunders was a guest on KPCC—Southern California Public Radio “Air Talk with Larry Mantle,” where she discussed a new California bill to improve expiration date labeling in the state, in order to cut down on consumer confusion and reduce food waste.
7. Harvest Public Media—a collaboration of several Midwest radio stations—included Darby Hoover in a story about the prospects of using food waste to produce energy by using anaerobic digestion to generate gas, where Darby explained that “Anaerobic digestion is one promising piece of a much larger puzzle to solve the food waste problem.” KUNC—Northern Colorado Public Radio, and KMUW—Wichita Public Radio also ran the story.
8. Joel Reynolds discussed the top candidate in consideration to lead California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District board, Wayne Nastri, with the Los Angeles Times, saying “He has a strong environmental record, a good sense of strategy and an understanding of how important the public is in environmental decision-making.”
9. Tracy Quinn spoke to the Associated Press about California’s annual snowpack report, its impact on the drought and possibly on state water conservation regulations. “It’s important to remember we’ve had several years of exceptionally hot and dry weather and it’s going to be a long road to recovery. We don’t know what the next year and several years will bring,” she explained. Tracy was also quoted in the San Jose Mercury News about the report.
10. Rebecca Riley talked to WUIS—Springfield Public Radio in Illinois about the decline of bees in the state. “Last year, 60 percent of Illinois beehives collapsed, devastating beekeepers and putting our favorite fruits and vegetables at risk,” she explained.
11. David Pettit spoke to KPCC—Southern California Public Radio about Governor Jerry Brown dropping his opposition to an environmental review of an expanded lead cleanup around Exide battery recycling plant. “This is the correct thing to do to protect the community,” David said.
12. Alaska Dispatch News reported on the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear Alaska’s legal challenge to the U.S. Forest Service’s so-called “roadless rule,” ending the state’s attempt to circumvent logging rules in the Tongass National Forest. The story quoted Niel Lawrence as saying “It feels terrific to put this case to bed once and for all.”
13. Doug Obegi spoke to the Ventura County Star about Senator Dianne Feinstein and 12 Republic House Members from California asking President Obama to increase pumping of water from the San Francisco Bay-Delta. “It’s deeply disappointing that the members (of Congress) are demanding that the agencies ignore the biological science and monitoring data on California’s fisheries, threatening not just salmon and endangered fisheries, but the thousands of fishing jobs that depend on them,” he said. Doug was also quoted on the topic in Energy and Environment and the Fresno Bee.
14. Jeff Benzak spoke on behalf of E2 with Midwest Energy News about the clean energy sector in Ohio and other Midwest states. “The clean energy economy is growing fast and you’re really starting to see competition heat up between states seeking to attract clean energy business,” he said.
15. A New York Times article featured a study that NRDC has begun with the University of California, Berkley to assess the effect of new car sharing services, such as UberPool and Lyft Carpool, on the number of cars on the road.
1. Rhea Suh spoke to Bloomberg BNA about the implications of the Paris Agreement for businesses and financial markets worldwide. “The fact is that the world is now saying this is the direction we are going in; the markets are listening. And frankly, the markets weren’t just listening because of Paris; the markets were already pivoting before Paris,” she said.
2. Indian officials this week launched a program to protect citizens from extreme heat waves which had killed over 2,500 people in their country last year. The Associated Press quoted Anjali Jaiswal, who said, “If you want to save lives you have to be prepared. When it comes to protecting communities and people, it takes leadership.”
3. Jake Schmidt and others set high expectations in advance of Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau’s visit to Washington this week. Jake correctly predicted in the Washington Post that Canada would agree to the Obama Administration’s targets for reducing methane emissions from oil and gas operations. Franz Matzner lauded the anticipated meeting to Bloomberg BNA, saying “We’re looking at the dawn of a new level of cooperation,” spotlighting an Arctic drilling ban as a top priority.
4. David Doniger spoke further on the bilateral agreement to cut oil-and-gas methane emissions by at least 40 percent by 2025 telling Politico, “No credible plan to combat climate change can ignore methane emissions, which are the second largest industrial source of climate-changing pollution after power plants.” Bloomberg cited David in saying that going forward, the majority of the upstream petroleum industry’s methane emissions will come from the existing sources targeted by Obama and Trudeau, rather than the existing sources for which the EPA has already proposed regulations.
5. The Atlantic’s “CityLab” reported on a new food waste report from NRDC and a host of collaborators. Dana Gunders told CityLab that cutting food waste would require a paradigm shift in consumer attitudes on top of a suite of policy solutions along the supply chain. Dana also spoke to CNBC, saying, “Our whole food system is based on maximizing profit. It’s not based on maximizing food use,” and a 2012 food waste report from NRDC was cited by USA Today and Vox.
6. Yang Fuqiang was quoted by Reuters estimating that a target energy consumption cap set by China for the first time is conservative. While the proposed target would cut energy intensity by 15 percent, he believes that an 18 percent cut is feasible because, as Barbara Finamore told China Daily, “China has already been taking a slew of actions to cut its use of coal, which is responsible for about 80 percent of its CO2 emissions…”
7. The firing of the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s longtime executive director drew criticism from environmental groups due to a concern that the board is “kicking him out to replace him with someone who’s industry friendly and less committed to environmental regulations,” said Morgan Wyenn to the Associated Press.
8. “Communities are left testing their soil, testing their children, testing their homes and saying, well, how come I see these contaminations?” contended Miriam Rotkin-Ellman in Reuters, as the test results on soil from neighborhoods near two Portland glass factories accused of spewing toxic metals into the air for years are due to be released. The results may indicate that emissions were far higher than previously reported by the factories.
9. Mae Wu joined the “Brian Lehrer Show” on WNYC 93.9 FM to discuss the discovery of elevated levels of lead in drinking water at schools in Newark. Between Flint and Newark, she said, we’ve reached a point where lead contamination of drinking water is no longer “out of sight, out of mind…the only real way to deal with this problem is to get the lead pipes out of the ground.
10. Henry Henderson told Michigan Public Radio, that he hopes the court will quickly respond to a City and State motion to dismiss NRDC’s Flint lawsuit filed in January, saying “The water remains too dangerous for Flint residents to drink, cook in or bathe in….it’s a scandal.” The local and state government’s requests come on the heels of a lawsuit that NRDC is litigating, as reported by CNN and others. And Dimple Chaudhary told Environment and Energy Daily how troubling she found it that the EPA didn’t enact emergency action in Flint until January of this year when we had petitioned the agency to do so last October.
11. The appliance manufacturing trade association has proposed that utilities compensate consumers for the purchase of more efficient appliances to help comply with the clean power plan. Bloomberg quoted Noah Horowitz tentatively supporting such proposals, saying, “These programs can make a lot of sense when well-designed and sufficient care is taken to make sure the claimed savings are accurate.”
12. Andrew Wetzler was heartened by the news that the Louisiana black bear is no longer threatened, officially. “There is a rewilding of America going on,” he told the Christian Science Monitor.
13. Sharon Buccino appeared on RT’s “Watching the Hawks” (segment begins at 16:30) to talk about Utah Congressman Rob Bishop’s Public Lands Initiative. “Federal lands belong to all of us and are held in trust for all of us,” she said. “The drive to extract resources was dominant in the past but now we look to these lands for so many other uses, whether it’s recreation, ecology, safe drinking water, or clean air.”
14. Noah Horowitz informed the San Jose Mercury News that new efficiency standards the U.S. Department of Energy proposed last month for CFL and LED bulbs would set the bar so high it’s unlikely that many CFLs will be able to meet it. “The net effect is everything is going to be an LED,” he said.
15. Noah Long spoke to Greentech Media about Oregon’s landmark bill passed this week to eliminate coal purchases by 2035 and double its renewable energy target to 50 percent by 2040. “In my view, this bill does everything Oregon has legal authority to do to cut the market out from underneath coal plants from other Western states.”
1) Erik Olson joined NPR’s “On Point” program for a roundtable discussion of lead contamination in Americans’ drinking water in the wake of the Flint crisis. Among other things, Erik discussed the impacts of lead contamination on children and communities, and explained that low-income families are more frequently exposed to dangerous levels of lead due to a variety of systemic failures.
2) Erik Olson was also a guest on NPR’s “Diane Rehm Show” this week to talk about the national implications of the Flint water crisis. In the course of the discussion, Erik covered the disproportionate burden of contamination borne by communities of color, the need for improved transparency from water utilities, and EPA’s failure to regulate another toxic substance, perchlorate, in drinking water.
3) Dimple Chaudhary spoke to the Good Housekeeping magazine about the lawsuit NRDC filed on behalf of impacted Flint residents and the fact that this is not a Michigan-only problem, saying “The water system in a lot of cities is old and full of lead pipes.”
4) Henry Henderson told Mother Jones that lead-related projects are “often stigmatized as just a sinkhole of meaningless environmental spending,” which is just one explanation for the sorry state of our nation’s drinking water systems.
5) The New York Times’ “Dot Earth” blog pointed readers to David Doniger’s blog on the Supreme Court’s stay of Clean Power Plan implementation. David also expressed optimism for the future of the plan in the Boston Globe, saying the ruling will not “dampen the overwhelming public support for action on climate change and clean energy.” And he was quoted by The Hill and Mashable in their coverage of the court’s decision, as well.
6) Michael Wall spoke to the Wall Street Journal about how a set of laws passed by Wyoming’s legislature that criminalize the capture and transmission of data or photos on open land. Michael explained the new laws are “trying to make criminals out of Americans who see someone polluting and tell the government about it.”
7) David Pettit talked to the Associated Press about upcoming legal battles in the aftermath of the Aliso Canyon natural gas leak in California, saying “the government wants this to be so expensive that this company and others are going to take such exceptional care in their operations that this never happens again.” Briana Mordick also spoke to Quartz about the regulatory failures that lead to the leak, saying it has been “a long-standing concern that [the state’s Natural Resources Agency] is too close to the industry that it regulates.” The New York Times’ “Dot Earth” blog explained how the leak highlights the need for federal action to address the oil and gas industry’s massive methane pollution problem nationwide, crediting a “convincing” NRDC action plan for EPA to follow. And Alex Jackson told LA Weekly that having the gas utility responsible for the leak buy carbon credits would be the “cleanest way of ensuring the atmosphere is made whole” from the impacts of the Aliso Canyon disaster.
8) Tracy Quinn criticized a proposal from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to cut a rebate program that encourages homeowners to remove artificial turf from their yards in the Los Angeles Times. She said dropping the program would be a “huge missed opportunity,” as there is no certainty around the area’s future ability to replenish depleted groundwater reserves.
9) Pierre Delforge explained to Consumer Reports that power adapters were a prime target for federal energy efficiency standards because of their wasteful nature. He explained that the adapters—which convert power from a wall outlet into the lower voltages needed to charge laptops, smartphones, and other devices—draw energy even if the devices they’re charging are already at full power.
10) VICE News, as part of a joint series with the Center for Public Integrity, spoke to Jen Sass for an investigation into concerns that two scientific journals are peddling industry-backed “junk science.” Jen explained that a weak, industry-influenced peer-review process “actually muddies the independent scientific literature” and stacks weight on industry’s “side of the scale.” The investigative report was also picked up by Yahoo! News.
11) Veena Singla worked with WJLA-TV—the local ABC affiliate in Washington, DC—to investigate whether consumers’ mattresses release toxic chemicals into the air. Finding respiratory irritants and potential carcinogens, Veena told WJLA that although the chemicals weren’t measured at levels above approved standards, we don’t fully understand the effect of ingesting small amounts of toxics over long periods of time, and it could be very harmful.
12) Karen Hobbs criticized a Milwaukee suburb’s tepid water conservation proposal being used to bolster its attempt to gain access to Great Lakes water in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, saying that it “is too reliant on voluntary and educational measures.”
13) President Obama last week established three new national monuments to protect 1.8 million acres of California’s Mojave Desert, a move Helen O’Shea heralded as “an absolutely essential element of an overall vision for California’s desert—a vision that includes both conservation and renewable energy development in the right places,” in Environment and Energy Daily.
14) Kate Kiely spoke to Yahoo! Health about the environmental benefits of living with other people, saying: “As a general rule, the more you share, the less you waste. When more people use the same amount of resources, it reduces your individual environmental footprint.”
15) A TIME magazine article encouraged readers to buy longer lasting vegetables to help save money and reduce food waste, citing an NRDC study that found about 40 percent of food grown and sold in America is thrown out. The Christian Science Monitor and Salinas Californian also pointed to the same study for articles on penny-pinching and food waste legislation, respectively.
1. President Barack Obama announced a groundbreaking new transportation spending plan on Thursday that calls for a $10-a-barrel tax on oil to be phased in over five years. USA Today quoted Rhea Suh, who hailed the announcement as “the right move at the right moment” and “the appropriate next step in moving America beyond the dirty fossil fuels that are driving climate change.” Rhea was also quoted in Vice News and Scientific American.
2. Roland Hwang was quoted in a USA Today article about Ford’s foray into the electric vehicle market. Max Baumhefner spoke to ClimateWire, noting California’s role at the vanguard of the electric vehicle revolution. Simon Mui (SF, Energy & Transportation) was quoted in a GreenWire piece on regulations that stunt electric vehicle growth outside of California.
3. Henry Henderson was quoted in a Detroit Free Press piece that was critical of the EPA response to the Flint water crisis saying, “I think it’s not just a regulatory failure, it’s a moral failure of astonishing proportions.” Dimple Chaudhary was quoted in an Ebony article about the Safe Drinking Water Act lawsuit NRDC filed last week.
4. The Los Angeles Times published an op-ed penned by Doug Obegi that illustrates how weakening regulations in the face of California’s drought impact its native fish and wildlife.
5. Morgan Wyenn described the disclosure that the Port of Los Angeles failed to meet pollution reduction requirements as “significant in that it shows that the port allowed noncompliance, and didn’t tell the public about it” in a Los Angeles Times piece. David Pettit was quoted in a Daily Breeze article covering the news.
6. Sylvia Fallon was featured in a Chicago Tribune piece detailing a court decision that clears the way for the use of Dow Chemical’s pesticide, Enlist Duo. Although disappointed with the verdict, Sylvia noted that it “still gives EPA the ability to more fully evaluate the effects of Enlist Duo or even to cancel it entirely” and that “now is the time for the agency to get it right.”
7. Matt Skoglund appeared in a Montana Public Radio piece about Governor Steve Bullock’s decision to allow wild bison to roam outside Yellowstone National Park into Montana state and private lands.
8. Bloomberg Government profiled Scott Slesinger and delved into his extensive work experience in the field of environmental legislation.
9. In its ongoing coverage of the Porter Ranch gas leak, Huffington Post enlisted the help of Briana Mordick to create a graphic illustration of the massive amount of methane that has been released up to this point.
10. Dana Gunders was featured in a Reuters article that detailed a myriad of simple ways to eliminate food waste. The article includes many direct quotes of advice from her new book Waste-Free Kitchen Handbook. According to Dana, “Nobody wakes up in the morning wanting to waste food, but it happens in little bits and pieces.” TIME and Business Insider India reprinted the article.
11. Sami Yassa was quoted by Politico in a story about an amendment directing federal agencies to create biomass policies that recognize forest bioenergy as carbon neutral. Due to concerns the amendment will interfere in the Clean Power Plan’s treatment of the resource, Sami said “this amendment will set back our efforts to address climate change.”
12. Marc Boom pointed out in a Think Progress piece that “coal already gets such favorable treatment under the federal government” that not much can be added to favor the industry in pending federal energy legislation.
13. David Doniger was quoted in a ThinkProgress piece decrying the group of states pushing for the Supreme Court to block the Clean Power Plan. David duly notes that “the Supreme Court almost never gets involved on a case in this stage, on this type of issue, especially when there’s been no lower court decisions.”
14. Pierre Bull was featured in a Q&A about net-metering in Alt Energy Mag. In addition, Pierre was quoted in an Al Jazeera America article on the topic.
15. Lena Brook spoke to Huffington Post for a piece detailing a coalition effort calling for Yum! Brands to commit to purchasing antibiotic-free meat and poultry. Lena was quoted saying that “No one wants their favorite pizza, taco or fried chicken place to undermine the effectiveness of our antibiotics.”
1. Rhea Suh discussed the impact of the California drought on the agriculture sector with Public Radio International’s “The World.” “Drought looks like no food on the table. Drought looks like no jobs to be had,” Rhea said, highlighting the disproportionate impact of the drought on minority communities in the U.S.
2. NRDC filed suit to bring clean water back to Flint, Michigan this week. Dimple Chaudhary (DC, Litigation) told The New York Times, Gizmodo, and The Detroit News that “We are asking a federal court to step in because the people of Flint simply cannot rely on the same government agencies that oversaw the destruction of its infrastructure and contamination of its water to address this crisis.” The suit was covered by Newsweek, CNN, Time, ABC and many other outlets nationally.
3. Henry Henderson highlighted the role of the EPA in the Flint water crisis with the Washington Post, Chicago Magazine and the Chicago Tribune, stating that “EPA, in the instance of Flint, was unambiguously part of the problem.” He was also quoted in Vice on the Flint lawsuit.
4. Sarah Tallman (CH, Litigation), spoke with the Associated Press about the need to replace the lead pipes in Flint, commenting that “The only way to permanently and completely fix the problem of lead in drinking water is to conduct the full replacement of the lead-containing pipes and solder in a water system.” The piece was also picked up by the Leader-Telegram, with NRDC also mentioned in ABA Journal, MLive, Global Post and Fox News on the replacement of the lead pipes.
5. Allison Clements (NY, Energy and Transportation) was quoted in USA Today and Politico on the Supreme Court decision that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission can offer a cut in prices in exchange for reduced usage to large energy users, saying that the decision “gives clean energy a huge boost and keeps America moving forward toward our critical goal of slashing climate-warming emissions, while maintaining a clean, affordable, and reliable electric system.” The Supreme Court decision was also discussed in Energywire, Fortune and Vox.
6. David Doniger (DC, Climate and Clean Air) was quoted in the Los Angeles Times and Energywire, saying that West Virginia and Texas lawyers that are trying to stop Clean Power Plan rules “have trotted out the same arguments that failed to persuade the D.C. circuit panel.”
7. A Bloomberg Business piece brought attention to the global spread of bacteria that’s resistant to a last-resort antibiotic. Carmen Cordova (SF, Health) illustrated 19 countries that colistin-resistant bacteria had been detected in, according to a new NRDC analysis, and highlighted how overuse of antibiotics in livestock plays a role in threatening human health. Carmen was also quoted in Consumerist explaining that once resistance genes are acquired “it can transform bacterium from one posing little threat to a potentially lethal superbug that resists treatment by multiple antibiotics.”
8. The Obama administration proposed rules to curb methane emissions from oil and natural gas operations, which Meleah Geertsma commented on in Vice, The Hill and Energywire, stating that while the rules are an important start to reduce potent methane pollution, “At a minimum, the administration should require the industry to put all of the available and cost-effective measures in place to curb this rampant air pollution problem.”
9. Roland Hwang (SF, Energy and Transportation) was quoted in the National Journal and Grist on the pros and cons of driverless cars, highlighting that “There are clearly a lot of benefits associated with this technology, especially if we harness it and push it in the right direction… But we could create a situation where we might undermine our clean transportation systems.”
10. Midwest Energy News talked to Katharine McCormick (CH, Energy and Transportation) about a bill proposed by a Missouri state lawmaker which would require utility bills to include a separate line item for expenses related to the Clean Power Plan. Kate said the bill emphasizes compliance costs but ignores the benefits of reducing pollution and that “Determining what costs could be attributed to the Clean Power Plan would be a tricky business, because a lot of this transition is happening for purely economic reasons.”
11. Dana Gunders (SF, Health) spoke to Politico after the Rockefeller Foundation pledged to support food waste reduction at the World Economic Forum in Davos, saying that reducing food waste in developing counties requires investments in infrastructure and technology.
12. Noah Horowitz (SF, Energy and Transportation) spoke to Greenwire about California Energy Commission’s newly adopted rules for LED lighting standards, which are the first in the nation and make bulbs use less electricity and last longer, saying “Let’s hope these California standards serve as a model and catalyst for future adoption by other leading states and eventually at the national level.”
13. The New York Times published a letter to the editor from Lisa Speer (NY, Oceans Program) about the wonders of the deep ocean and the need for a strong agreement at upcoming United Nations negotiations aimed at better managing and protecting the deep ocean.
14. Research NRDC and UC Berkley are working on to study the effects of ridesharing services on the environment was highlighted in KQED News in light of new rules proposed for ridesharing services in California.
15. The Los Angeles Times noted a letter from NRDC to the California Coastal Commission expressing concern about the attempted ouster of one of its executives.