Media Center

Illinois Derailment Makes Bomb-train Risk Clear for Land of Lincoln

March 6, 2015 Press Release

CHICAGO (March 6, 2015) – A train containing 103 cars full of oil from the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota derailed yesterday near Galena, IL along the Mississippi River.

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.

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…

New Study: Rapid Ocean Acidification Threatens Coastal Economies in 15 States

February 23, 2015 Press ReleaseNew York

NEW YORK (February 23, 2015) – The first nationwide vulnerability assessment for ocean acidification, published today in Nature Climate Change, shows that coastal communities in 15 states that depend on the nation’s approximately $1 billion shelled mollusk (e.g., oysters and…

Praising Pullman: NRDC Supports New National Monument Designations

February 18, 2015 Press Release

CHICAGO (February 18, 2015) – President Obama will be in Chicago tomorrow to sign an order designating the city’s Pullman District as a national monument. He is also expected to announce two other new monuments, Browns Canyon in Colorado and…

Groups Go To Court to Protect Blueback Herring from Extinction

February 10, 2015 Press Release

Washington, D.C. – The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and a coalition of fishing and watershed protection groups filed a complaint today in federal court seeking to reverse a decision by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) not to list…

Green Leaders Urge President to Ban Bee-Killing Insecticides

February 5, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (February 5, 2015) — Top officials of leading environmental groups representing millions of Americans today urged President Obama to take strong and swift action against neonicotinoid insecticides that are devastating honey bee and wild bee populations, threatening the nation’s…

NRDC’s Suh Urges Congress to Support Clean Water Proposal to Protect Drinking Supplies

February 3, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (February 3, 2015)— Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, today urged Congress to support a proposed new federal Clean Water Rule, noting, “The fate of nearly two million miles of streams and tens of millions of…

Illinois Tollways to Become Butterfly Highways

January 29, 2015 Press Release

CHICAGO (January 29, 2015) – Today, the Illinois Tollway Authority agreed to work with the Natural Resources Defense Council to create a monarch butterfly restoration program that would plant milkweed along the agency’s 286 miles of roadways. The plant is…

Administration Drilling Plan Would Expose Eastern Seaboard, Atlantic and Arctic Waters to Blowout Risk

January 27, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (January 27, 2015) -- The Obama Administration proposed a five-year offshore drilling lease plan today that would expose much of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans to oil and gas production.

Supreme Court Allows Scientifically Sound Protections for California’s Bay-Delta Estuary to Stand

January 12, 2015 Press Release

WASHINGTON (January 12, 2015) – The Supreme Court today let stand a federal plan to protect California’s vital Delta ecosystem. The Court refused to hear an appeal brought by agribusinesses trying to undermine protections for the Delta smelt under the…

Making a Killing: California Ivory Sales Largely Illegal, Contributing to Recent Rise in African Elephant Poaching

January 7, 2015 Press Release

SAN FRANCISCO (January 7, 2015) – Every 15 minutes, an African elephant is killed for its tusks. And some of that ivory ends up right here on store shelves in California. According to a report commissioned by the Natural Resources…

Ninth Circuit Court Upholds Protections for California’s Endangered Salmon

December 22, 2014 Press Release

Some of California’s most endangered fish – and the fishermen that rely on salmon for their livelihoods – got a helping hand from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today, which released its opinion in the case of San Luis…

Environmentalists Sue to Protect Water Quality

December 19, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON (December 19, 2014)— The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Environmental Defense Center (EDC) today announced they have sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to strengthen standards to prevent pollution from stormwater, one of the nation’s most widespread…

NRDC Lauds Obama Drilling Ban in Alaska’s Spectacular Bristol Bay

December 16, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON (December 16, 2014)—The Natural Resources Defense Council today welcomed the decision by President Obama to withdraw permanently Alaska’s Bristol Bay from offshore oil development. Bristol Bay supports the world’s largest salmon fishery, worth $1.5 billion per year, and is…

Deep-Sea Discovery: Atlantic Coast Ocean Canyons Teeming with Newfound Marine Life and over 40 Species of Vibrant Deep-sea Coral

December 9, 2014 Press ReleaseNew York

NEW YORK (December 9, 2014) -- Recent National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-led explorations into deep undersea canyons off the East Coast have uncovered a steady stream of scientific discoveries, including over 40 different species of corals, some potentially brand…

REPORT: EPA Can Quickly Cut Dangerous Methane Pollution from Oil and Gas Industry in Half

November 20, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON (November 20, 2014) — A new report from leading climate advocates today shows how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can cut climate warming methane pollution in half, while dramatically reducing harmful, wasteful air pollution from the oil and…

House GOP Continues Its Anti-Science Campaign

November 19, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON (November 19, 2014)—House Republicans continued their attack on science-based protections for public health and the environment today, passing on a largely party-line vote a bill that would bar the Environmental Protection Agency from using certain peer-reviewed health research when…

Feds Protect Vast Majority of George Washington National Forest from Oil & Gas Development

November 18, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON (November 18, 2014) —The U.S. Forest Service today released a management plan that protects the vast majority of Virginia’s George Washington National Forest from oil and gas development.