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On December 21, 2001, Governor Davis gave Californians a wonderful holiday present when he announced the state would allocate $36 million of parks bond funds to buy and convert the Cornfield, a former rail yard located between Chinatown and the Los Angeles River that had been slated for industrial warehouse development. In July 2000 we asked California activists to contact then-mayor Riordan, urging him to reject the warehouse development plan. At about the same time, NRDC and a coalition of other environmental groups convinced the developers to sell the land to the state, a proposition that would work only if the money were there to back it up. So in January 2001, we asked Californians to urge Governor Davis to allocate state budget funds to purchase the Cornfield and convert it into a downtown park. The new park is scheduled to open by the end of 2002. Many thanks to all of you who contacted city and state officials in support of the park project -- you helped write this story's exceptionally happy ending!

In the spring of 2000 we asked you to contact the EPA urging a strict new arsenic-in-drinking-water standard to replace the current, outdated, allowable level of 50 parts per billion (ppb). Public response in support of a stronger standard was overwhelming and, on January 17, 2001, the EPA announced a new standard of 10 ppb. In March 2001, however, the Bush administration withdrew the rule for further study and review, and later proposed setting the new standard at up to 20 ppb. Faced with ever-mounting pressure from the public and Congress, plus a new National Academy of Sciences report that found that arsenic's cancer and other health risks are even greater than previously assumed, the EPA announced on October 31, 2001, that it will keep the 10 ppb standard, effective in 2006. THANK YOU to the many thousands of you who repeatedly contacted the EPA during this long battle and helped secure this important victory for public health.

By the time the California state legislature wrapped up the year's business in mid-September 2001, it had passed a long list of groundbreaking fuel- and energy-efficiency legislation, which helped avert rolling blackouts over the summer and will fund the largest one-time investment that any state has ever made in low-income energy services. The legislature also enacted the Groundwater Monitoring Act of 2001, which will allow the state to better protect the source of drinking water for half its population, and passed a budget that includes $34 million to reduce and prevent beach pollution and $15 million for urban park projects. Thanks to all our California activists who kept the pressure on the state legislature and Governor Davis throughout the year to help achieve these, and other, environmental successes in the Golden State.

In March 2001 we asked you to send comments to the EPA as it considered a plan to dredge the Hudson River of toxic PCBs, urging it to move forward with the clean-up and to require General Electric (which had dumped the chemicals into the river over a period of 30 years) to foot the bill. On August 1st, the EPA announced it will proceed with dredging, and will further order GE to pay the costs, estimated at nearly half a billion dollars, even though the company spent nearly $15 million on lobbying and advertising in opposition to the clean-up. Overwhelming public support clearly helped counter GE's money and influence -- THANK YOU to all who helped achieve this victory for one of America's greatest rivers.

In April 2001 we asked you to urge Interior secretary Gale Norton to approve the proposed management plan for Florida's Dry Tortugas National Park that set aside a portion of the park as an ecological reserve. On July 27th, Secretary Norton signed off on the plan, clearing the way for the country's largest (nearly 200 square nautical miles) marine reserve and establishing America's first true Ocean Wilderness Area. The newly designated area will also comprise the third largest coral reef protected area in the world. NRDC will monitor the management plan's implementation process as it goes forward, but in the meantime, thanks to everyone who wrote to Secretary Norton in support of boosting protections for this amazing marine environment.

In October 2000 we asked you to write to the Department of Energy urging the agency to adopt regulations requiring a 30 percent increase in energy efficiency for air conditioners (the department had proposed a 20 percent increase). In one of the Clinton administration's final actions, the DOE heeded our calls and announced the new regulations would carry the 30 percent increased efficiency requirement, effective 2006 (thanks to all of you who helped make it happen). The new standard would cut millions of tons of carbon emissions and hundreds of millions of dollars from electricity bills each year, and represented a major victory for the environment and consumers alike. In July 2001, however, the Bush administration withdrew the 30 percent requirement and proposed substituting a 20 percent increase. Once again, thousands of you sent official comments to the DOE in support of the stronger standard, but in May 2002 the agency finalized the 20 percent increase. [postscript -- NRDC, along with 10 states and several consumer groups, sued to block the administration's action, and in January 2004 a federal appeals court ruled in our favor, ordering the DOE to restore the 30 percent standard.]

In March 2001 we asked Californians to contact members of the South Coast Air Quality Management District board and urge them to adopt a rule requiring the region's 140 school districts to buy only natural gas and other cleaner alternative fuel school buses, and not dirty diesel buses, for their kids. Thanks to an outpouring of public support combined with an intensive campaign by the environmental and public health communities, the board on April 20 adopted the 'alternative fuel only' rule. The board also earmarked more than $16 million to purchase clean fuel buses for the region (our future efforts will include ensuring even more funding for these purchases). We hope that this historic development will spur other school districts around the nation to start buying alternative fuel buses. In the meantime, thank you to everyone who helped secure this major victory for the region's schoolkids and environment.

On April 4, 2001, the premier of British Columbia announced a historic agreement to protect 3.5 million acres of the ancient Great Bear Rainforest, including the islands and valleys that are home to the rare white Spirit Bear. The agreement -- an uncommon example of successful collaboration among industry, environmentalists, native peoples, rural communities and government -- is the first step in developing one of the largest conservation plans in North American history. For the past few years, NRDC has asked activists to pressure both lumber distributors and the British Columbia government: the former to stop buying wood that had been logged from the Great Bear, and the latter to enact official protections for the region. You and others sent hundreds of thousands of messages to government officials, timber companies and their corporate customers, such as Lowe's and Home Depot. Thanks to your help, these efforts have resulted in an important stride toward securing the Spirit Bear's home from the threat of chainsaws.

In early January 2001 we asked you to contact your senators opposing President Bush's nominee for Interior secretary, Gale Norton. While a record number of you responded, Ms. Norton was confirmed by the Senate on January 30th by a vote of 75-24 (twice the number of 'no' votes received by her mentor, James Watt, at his confirmation). Your messages helped us shine the spotlight on Ms. Norton's extreme record, prompting her during her hearings to give reassuring but vague commitments to uphold our environmental laws. NRDC is calling on those senators who were willing to accept those promises at face value to be especially vigilant in holding her to the letter and spirit of her commitments. You can be certain we will launch a major effort to thwart any attempt by Ms. Norton to weaken environmental safeguards or put our public lands at risk, and we will call on you to help us in these efforts.

In July 2000 we asked you to contact the U.S. Forest Service urging the agency to adopt a management plan for the Sierra Nevada National Forest that would protect remaining old growth forests and roadless areas. During the final weeks of the Clinton administration, the Forest Service released a final plan with protections for both remaining old growth forests and the large majority of trees 20 inches in diameter or greater, throughout 11.5 million acres of the Sierra's national forests. Thank you to everyone who contacted the Forest Service to advocate strong conservation measures in this plan. [postscript -- In late December 2001 the Bush administration announced it would implement the plan as approved by the Clinton administration, but in April 2003, it commenced work on pro-logging amendments to the plan.]

In December 2000 we asked you to contact President Clinton and press him to reject a proposed commercial airport at the former Homestead Air Force Base at the edge of the Florida Everglades before his term ended. On January 16, 2001, the administration issued a decision transferring about 700 acres of the property to Miami-Dade county, but barring its use as an airport. The Bush administration now has responsibility for implementing the decision. While a major environmental victory (thank you for helping achieve it!), long-term protection for the area's fragile ecosystems is by no means guaranteed, so NRDC and other environmental groups will be monitoring the situation closely to ensure that whatever development comes to Homestead includes protections for adjacent Biscayne and Everglades national parks and doesn't interfere with Everglades restoration.

Several times throughout 2000 we asked you to contact the Clinton administration urging it to issue a strong protection plan for pristine roadless areas of our national forests. Specifically, we asked that you send messages directing that the final rule close loopholes in earlier drafts and include Alaska's Tongass National Forest, which previously had been excluded. On January 5, 2001, President Clinton announced his administration's landmark decision banning logging and roadbuilding in over 58 million acres of national forests, including the Tongass. Public input was a key factor in securing the victory -- the administration received more than a million and a half comments in support of a strong protection plan. THANK YOU to everyone who helped score this huge win by writing to the Forest Service and/or the president throughout the course of last year. The rule is already under attack, however, so be sure to check our Earth Action Center homepage for the latest developments. [See 2002 and 2003 Action Results for later updates.]

In March 1999 NRDC launched its earthsmartcars campaign to convince Detroit automakers that if they would build cleaner, greener vehicles, Americans would buy them. Our goal was to collect 100,000 consumer pledges to purchase these "earthsmartcars." We met (and exceeded) that goal and publicly delivered seven mailbags filled with pledge cards to automakers at their annual auto show in early January 2001. You proved to automakers that demand for these cars really does exist. Thanks for keeping the pressure on!

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