Media Center

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…

Coal Industry’s Financial Woes Threaten to Shift Billions in Cleanup Costs to U.S. Taxpayers, Says New Report

June 9, 2015 Press Release

BOZEMAN, Mont. (June 9, 2015) – As the financial pressures on the coal industry mount, a new $3 billion threat to taxpayers is emerging in the form of self-insured coal companies potentially walking away from reclamation obligations, leaving the public…

NRDC Statement on EPA Draft Study of Fracking & Drinking Water Risks

June 4, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 4, 2015) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today released its long-awaited draft study of the potential impacts of fracking on drinking water supplies around the country.

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…

Hope for Elephants: China Announces Plan to Phase-Out Commercial Ivory Sales

May 29, 2015 Press Release

CHICAGO (May 29, 2015) – Yesterday, Chinese officials announced a new plan to phase-out commercial ivory manufacturing and sales. This action is expected to reduce demand for ivory in China, the world’s largest ivory market, which will help curb the…

Interior Dept. Announces Plan to Save the Greater Sage-Grouse

May 28, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (May 28, 2015) -- The Interior Department today unveiled a plan to protect and preserve the habitat of the greater sage-grouse, an iconic species of the West that is threatened by commercial development and energy projects.

Michigan Craft Brewers Raise a Glass to EPA’s Clean Water Rule

May 27, 2015 Press Release

CHICAGO (May 27, 2015) – Acknowledging the critical role of clean water for both brewers and the communities in which they operate, seven brewers in Michigan are raising a glass in support of EPA’s Clean Water Rule, announced today.

NRDC Reaction to New White House Pollinator Task Force Plan

May 19, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (May 19, 2015) -- The first-ever White House Pollinator Task Force today announced new steps to protect pollinator health.

NRDC’s Award-Winning Film WILD THINGS to Premiere on Pivot

May 8, 2015 Press ReleaseCalifornia

LOS ANGELES (May 8, 2015) – The award-winning documentary film, Wild Things, produced by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), will premiere on Participant Media’s television network, Pivot, as part of “Doc Watch:” Wednesdays on May 13 at 9 p.m…

Groups File UNESCO Petition to Save Monarch World Heritage Site in Mexico

April 13, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (April 13, 2015)--The monarch butterfly refuge in Mexico, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is winter home to tens of millions of migrating monarchs, should be declared “in danger” because the remarkable transcontinental migration it was established to protect…

The Mucky Mississippi: Algae Pollution Case Back in District Court

April 8, 2015 Press Release

CHICAGO (April 8, 2015) - A suit to force the Environmental Protection Agency to put limits on nutrient pollution dumped into the Mississippi River was sent back to District Court yesterday.

Court Rules Navy War Games Violate Law Protecting Whales and Dolphins

March 31, 2015 Press ReleaseCalifornia

LOS ANGELES (March 31, 2015) —A federal court today announced that the U.S. Navy’s training and testing activities off the coast of Southern California and Hawaii illegally harm more than 60 whale, dolphin, seal, and sea lion populations. The U.S…

Senate Leader Reid “A Giant” for Our Health and the Environment

March 27, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (March 27, 2015) – Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who has served in the Senate since 1987, announced today that he will retire when his current term expires in 2016.

White House Releases Ocean Policy Report

March 27, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (March 27th, 2015) – Today, the White House released its Report on the Implementation of the National Ocean Policy, a review of important actions that federal agencies have collaborated on with state governments, regional groups and local communities to…

House Budget An Assault on Our Health and Environment

March 25, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (March 25, 2015) – The Republican-led House today passed a 2016 federal budget resolution. David Goldston, director of government affairs at the Natural Resources Defense Council, made this comment:

License Plates for Pollinators: Illinois General Assembly Mulls New License Plate to Fund Monarch “Butterfly Highways” Habitat Restoration

March 17, 2015 Press Release

CHICAGO (March 17, 2015) - Dwindling populations of monarch butterflies would get a boost from new legislation for a special Illinois state license plate featuring the state insect. Revenue from the sale of the monarch butterfly license plates would be…

Scientists to Obama: Stop Controversial Sound Blasting Threatening Atlantic Whales, Fish

March 5, 2015 Press Release

Leading ocean scientists from the U.S. and around the world today urged President Obama to halt a planned oil and gas exploration program off the Atlantic coast involving millions of underwater sound blasts that would have “significant, long-lasting and widespread…

NRDC Sues EPA to Force Action on Monarch Butterflies

February 27, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (February 27, 2015)—The Natural Resources Defense Council today accused the Environmental Protection Agency of dragging its feet on efforts to save the imperiled monarch butterfly and filed suit to force the agency to act.

China’s one-year ban on ivory imports is a big step forward – but more reform is needed

February 26, 2015 Press ReleaseNew York

NEW YORK (February 26, 2015) — In an important recognition of the role Chinese citizens’ appetite for ivory has played in helping to fuel the slaughter of African elephants, Chinese officials today announced a one-year ban on African ivory carving…

Ballast Water Bill Would Open Coasts and Great Lakes to Invasive Species Assault

February 25, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON, DC (February 25, 2015) – The US Senate Commerce Committee reported a bill to the Senate that would exempt ship ballast water—the source of numerous damaging invasive species infestations in the Great Lakes, inland waterways and sensitive waters along…