Josh Axelrod
Senior Program Advocate, Nature
Josh Axelrod focuses on issues including public land protection and conservation, renewable energy siting on public lands, limiting oil and gas development on public lands, energy transmission, and climate policy. Since joining NRDC in 2013, Axelrod has also developed expertise in oil spill response and preparedness, forest management, forest product production, forest carbon dynamics, fossil fuel production in Alberta’s tar sands, North American fossil fuel transport, the health impacts associated crude oil, and Arctic resource development. He holds a bachelor's degree from Middlebury College and a JD from American University's Washington College of Law. He is based in NRDC's Washington, D.C., office.
Related content
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Renewable Energy on Federal Lands Brings New State and County Revenues
Expert BlogUnited StatesJosh Axelrod, Dr. Michele Bustamante, Claudia Blanco Nuñez
A little-noticed provision of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act means new stable revenues for western states, but the Trump administration’s actions have limited its impact.
A Fund for Cleaning Up Coal Mining’s Toxic Legacy Dries Up
ExplainerUnited States, Pennsylvania, Illinois, West VirginiaSusan Cosier
As rural communities seek to move on from polluted pasts, funds to address thousands of abandoned mines and wells are coming up short.
The Uinta Basin Railway Would Be a Bigger Carbon Bomb Than Willow
DispatchUtah, Colorado, United StatesNicole Greenfield
The project could sabotage U.S. climate goals, send oil-filled trains along the Colorado River, and pollute the air from Utah to the Gulf Coast.
Publications
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Translating Joe Biden's Climate Vision into Action
OverviewUnited StatesJosh Axelrod, David Doniger, Brendan Guy, Allison Johnson, Gina McCarthy, Bobby McEnaney, Claire O'Connor, Erik D. Olson, Khalil Shahyd, Ann Shikany, Dr. Lisa Suatoni, Anthony Swift, Lauren Urbanek, Mae Wu, Ben Longstreth, Luke Tonachel, Melissa Lin Perrella
NRDC experts take a deep dive into President-elect Joe Biden’s key plans to address climate change—the strongest national climate agenda ever laid out by a U.S. president-elect.
Cutting It Close: How Unsustainable Logging in Canada’s Boreal Forest Threatens Indigenous Rights, Wildlife, and the Global Climate
ReportCanadaJennifer Skene, Josh Axelrod, Anthony Swift, Courtenay Lewis, Shelley Vinyard
Runaway logging in the globally-important forest violates the rights of Indigenous Peoples, devastates wildlife, and jeopardizes drinking water sources. It also puts the entire world at risk by releasing more than 26 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the…
Pandora’s Box: Clearcutting in the Canadian Boreal Unleashes Millions of Tons of Previously Uncounted Carbon Dioxide Emissions
ReportCanadaJosh Axelrod, Lance Larson
To fight climate change, Canada must do more to protect its boreal forest.
Resources
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Senate Bill Is a Public Lands and Oceans Fire Sale
BackgrounderUnited StatesJosh Axelrod
The Senate proposal uses vast public land sales as a Trojan horse to hide widespread evisceration of decades of public lands and oceans policy.
House Bill Would Destroy Public Lands, Forests, and Oceans
BackgrounderUnited StatesJosh Axelrod, Kabir Green, Garett Rose, Valerie Cleland
Destructive proposal sells off public lands; boosts fossil fuels, mining, clearcutting; and includes “pay-to-play" scheme granting industry a shield from judicial review.
Trump Interior Secretary’s Orders Make Public Lands Ground Zero for Drilling & Mining
BackgrounderUnited StatesJosh Axelrod
The Trump administration hopes to end protections of cherished places and expand oil, gas, and mining on the country’s public lands.