April was a big month as California officially placed Bisphenol A—also known as BPA—on the ‘Prop 65 list’ of chemicals recognized by the state to be reproductive hazards but just days ago industry challenged that and won an injunction removing it, so NRDC will continue to intervene. Also, the South Coast Air Quality Management District adopted a new rule on fracking essential to curbing the state’s air pollution problems. The rule requires oil companies to notify the agency before beginning drilling operations. And for the fifth year in a row, NRDC celebrated innovators in sustainable food at the Growing Green Awards with a crowd of 400 friends in San Francisco.

It was a tough month too. Here at NRDC we lost a dear friend and colleague when John Neu passed away. John was inspirational not just for inventing a whole new recycling industry, but for being a caring businessman and social change advocate. He will be dearly missed.

Annie Notthoff, California Advocacy Director
Joel Reynolds, Western Director

The largest public utility in the country, Los Angeles’ Department of Water & Power (LADWP), unanimously approved a new plan to get off of coal and replace it with cleaner energy. Rooted in the requirements of SB 1368, a 2006 law sponsored by NRDC, the new plan is the culmination of years of work and negotiation, and sets the stage for LADWP, the most coal dependent utility in California, to be coal-free by 2025, and possibly sooner. This historic advance was announced by Mayor Villaraigosa on March 21st and heralded by NRDC’s clean energy team, setting the stage for utilities across the country to move away from coal and toward cleaner, local power.

The U.S. Department of Energy issued new standards for electricity distribution transformers across the country. The new standards stem from the DOE’s 2009 agreement to settle a lawsuit that NRDC filed with the Sierra Club, Earthjustice and several states—including California—in which we challenged the Bush administration’s weak energy efficiency standard for transformers. Because nearly all electricity from the national power grid flows through one of the 40 million transformers nationwide, even small increases in efficiency add up to large savings. The new standards will net consumers about $13 billion while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 260 million metric tons over 30 years. This is a great step in the right direction for the DOE, and we hope that the department will adopt even stronger standards for greater savings under the leadership of the new Energy Secretary, Dr. Ernest Moniz.

Before arriving at NRDC in 2011, Media Associate Jackie Wei spent more than six years in public relations, including her work with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the City of Los Angeles. A graduate of the University of Washington, Jackie now creates narratives for many NRDC projects such as our Growing Green Awards -- she was integral to production of the film about this year’s awardees. Her savvy press efforts have set Growing Green media records, garnering prominent coverage in Forbes and E&E Greenwire, as well as in regional California outlets such as the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Jackie’s mantra? “Effective communications is a necessary catalyst for meaningful engagement with our environments and with each other.” When she’s not busy pitching stories or preparing press packages, Jackie can be found hiking and doing yoga in places off the beaten path (two of her favorites are Yosemite and Bali).