Media Center

Mid-Atlantic Releases First-Ever Ocean Plan for Region

July 6, 2016 Press Release

WASHINGTON – Mid-Atlantic states from New York to Virginia, along with federally recognized tribes, the regional fishery management council, and eight federal agencies together released a draft ocean plan yesterday to coordinate sustainable use and conservation of the ocean along…

Obama Administration Sets Goals for Reducing Ocean Noise

June 1, 2016 Press Release

WASHINGTON – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced today a “roadmap” to protect whales, fish, and other marine species from pervasive ocean noise, citing “large increases” in underwater noise generated by human activities.

Sonic Sea: Award-Winning Documentary Exposes Impact of Industrial Ocean Noise on Whales

May 6, 2016 Press ReleaseCalifornia

LOS ANGELES — An award-winning documentary film about the devastating impact of human-produced ocean noise on whales and other marine life will premiere globally on Discovery Channel this spring and tour both the United States and Europe throughout 2016. SONIC…

Obama Administration Excludes Atlantic from Oil, Gas Drilling

March 15, 2016 Press Release

WASHINGTON (March 15, 2016) – The Obama Administration this morning announced plans to exclude the waters off the Atlantic coast from oil and gas drilling.

After More Than 40 Years, EPA Will Act on Hazardous Industrial Spills

February 17, 2016 Press Release

WASHINGTON (February 17, 2016) – The Environmental Protection Agency will put in place new safeguards to help protect communities from dangerous chemical spills at tens of thousands of industrial facilities nationwide, under the terms of a legal settlement approved by…

Obama Budget Sets Priorities to Continue Progress

February 9, 2016 Press Release

WASHINGTON (February 9, 2016) – President Obama today submitted a budget proposal that would double funding for clean energy research, create a $1.65 billion fund for infrastructure projects to lessen the impacts wrought by climate change, impose a $10-per-barrel tax…

Spending Pact Contains Big Wins for Environment, But Ending Crude Oil Export Ban is a Mistake

December 16, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (December 16, 2015) -- The following is a statement by Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, on the spending and tax agreement that Congress must approve and President Obama must sign in the coming days in…

Northern Gateway No More - Controversial Tar Sands Pipeline Denied

November 13, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (November 13, 2015) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal government is following through on an election promise to ban crude oil tanker traffic off the coast of northern British Columbia. This announcement will effectively kill the Northern Gateway…

Victory for the Arctic as Lease Sales are Cancelled

October 16, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (October 16, 2015) – The Obama administration announced Friday it would cancel proposed auctions for drilling rights in the Arctic waters off the coast of Alaska for 2016 and 2017.

Shell's Decision to Halt Arctic Drilling Is Good News For Our Climate

September 28, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (September 28, 2015) — Royal Dutch Shell's decision to halt oil drilling in the Arctic, after its exploratory well failed to yield enough oil and gas to make its mission worth the tremendous risk and cost, is a watershed…

Navy Agrees to Limit Underwater Assaults on Whales and Dolphins

September 14, 2015 Press Release

HONOLULU (September 11, 2015) —A federal court today entered an order settling two cases challenging the U.S. Navy’s training and testing activities off the coasts of Southern California and Hawai‘i, securing long-sought protections for whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals…

Advocates Take to Skies to Urge President to Abandon Atlantic Drilling

September 4, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (September 4, 2015) — Millions of beach-going Americans along the Atlantic Seaboard this weekend will learn some unsettling news: Giant oil-drilling rigs and the industrialization of our coast could be coming soon. That warning will come from airplane-towed banners…

‘Misguided’ Arctic Drilling Permit Approval has ‘Lit Fuse’ on Disaster for Pristine Ocean, Climate

July 22, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (July 22, 2015) – Shell was granted federal permits today that clear the way for the oil company to begin drilling in the Arctic Ocean.

GOP Leaders Pack Anti-Environment Riders into Spending Bill

July 7, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (July 7, 2015) – Congressional Republicans have been working to add an array of anti-environment riders to the $30.17 billion fiscal year 2016 Interior and Environment appropriations bill, which already included a 9 percent cut to the Environmental Protection…

City Exiles More of Chicago's Petcoke Piles

June 24, 2015 Press Release

CHICAGO (June 24, 2015) – The City of Chicago recently informed a company storing massive mounds of oil refining waste on Chicago’s Southeast Side that no more of the material can ever move through one of its sites. The decision…

Health and Environmental Safeguards Under Attack by GOP Leadership

June 18, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (June 18, 2015) – Congressional Republican leaders are adding numerous anti-environmental measures to must-pass appropriations bills and moving them through the House and a key Senate committee this week, despite a presidential veto threat and support for health and…

Ocean Victory: More than Two Dozen Undersea Atlantic Coral Canyons Now Protected

June 10, 2015 Press ReleaseNew York

NEW YORK (June 10, 2015) — The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council today voted to protect 27 named deep sea canyons divided into 15 protection zones, as well as a vast swath of surrounding deep sea habitat, off the region’s coast…

House Passes Bill that Guts Critical Fisheries Law and Threatens to Reverse Years of Progress

June 2, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (June 2, 2015) – The House passed a measure late Monday that would gut the landmark Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, which is bringing back U.S. fisheries from collapse. The legislation weakens key fishery conservation protections, such as…

Good-bye Polystyrene Tray. Hello Compostable Plate.

May 20, 2015 Press ReleaseNew York

NEW YORK (May 20, 2015) – The Urban School Food Alliance (Alliance), a coalition of the largest school districts in the United States that includes New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami-Dade, Dallas and Orlando, announced that it will start…

NRDC Experts: Congress Should Support Clean Power Plan, Back Clean Energy

May 19, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (May 19, 2015) – Two experts from the Natural Resources Defense Council will testify today on Capitol Hill, calling on lawmakers to support the Clean Power Plan as well as to back legislation that promotes renewable sources of energy.