Media Center

NRDC Launches TV Ad Countering Polluters’ Lies About Power Plant Carbon Pollution Limits

June 17, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON (June 17, 2014) — The Natural Resources Defense Council today unveiled a new ad striking back at a disinformation campaign waged by Big Polluters intent on subverting the country’s first-ever carbon pollution standards in order to protect their profits.

California Budget Puts Proceeds from Carbon Pollution Auctions to Work Building a Cleaner, Healthier California

June 16, 2014 Press ReleaseCalifornia

SACRAMENTO (June 16, 2014) – The State Budget passed by the Legislature last night and sent to Governor Brown for the first time puts carbon pollution proceeds collected under California’s Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32) to work to combat…

HidroAysén Cancelled: Chile Rejects Environmental Approval

June 10, 2014 Press Release

Chile’s Committee of Ministers, the country’s highest administrative authority, today cancelled the environmental permits for five controversial dams proposed on two of Chilean Patagonia’s wildest rivers, the culmination of an eight-year battle.

New Report: Drought-Stricken California Could Save Up to 14 Million Acre-Feet of Water; Enough to Supply All the State’s Cities Annually

June 10, 2014 Press ReleaseCalifornia

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (June 10, 2014) – California could be saving up to 14 million acre-feet of untapped water – providing more than the amount of water used in all of California’s cities in one year – with an aggressive…

Acclaimed Chicago Artist Jenny Kendler is NRDC’s First Artist-in-Residence

June 4, 2014 Press Release

CHICAGO (June 3, 2014) – Acclaimed Chicago artist Jenny Kendler has been chosen to be the founding participant in the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Artist-in-Residence program. Kendler’s lauded works, exploring intersections between human culture, perceptions of the natural world, and…

New EPA Water Intake Rule Too Weak, Fails to Protect Aquatic Life

May 19, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON (May 19, 2014) -- The Environmental Protection Agency today, following decades of litigation, issued a final rule that falls far short of what’s needed to protect fish and other aquatic life from being killed by the cooling system water…

NRDC and Berkeley Food Institute Announce Winners of the 2014 Growing Green Awards

May 14, 2014 Press ReleaseCalifornia

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (May 14, 2014) – Today, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Berkeley Food Institute (BFI) celebrate four remarkable leaders who are advancing sustainable food and agriculture at the sixth annual Growing Green Awards. Chosen from…

Supreme Court Allows Major Southern California Water Quality Victory to Stand

May 5, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON (May 5, 2014) – A decision today by the U.S. Supreme Court will protect millions of people living near and visiting Los Angeles rivers and beaches from the harmful effects of water pollution. The Supreme Court declined Los Angeles…

Ten Times More Solar Power Coming to New York With Expansion of State Program

April 24, 2014 Press ReleaseNew York

NEW YORK (April 24, 2014) — The Cuomo administration today took the final step in approving a major expansion of the state’s NY-Sun Initiative—a program that is successfully boosting solar power across the state—extending it through 2023 and supporting a…

Redford Urges Americans to “Join Me in Standing Up to Big Oil”

April 17, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON (April 17, 2014) – In a nationwide appeal, environmental activist Robert Redford today called on the American public to help put the Arctic Ocean off limits to oil industry drilling plans. The Hollywood director and actor singled out Royal…

Spring-run Salmon Release Marks Progress in Restoring San Joaquin River

April 17, 2014 Press ReleaseCalifornia

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (April 17, 2014) – Today, for the first time in over 60 years, spring run Chinook salmon returned to the San Joaquin River when the San Joaquin River Restoration Program released 54,000 juvenile into California’s second largest…

Court Unanimously Agrees Feds Unlawfully Renewed Unsustainable Water Supply Contracts in the Bay-Delta

April 16, 2014 Press ReleaseCalifornia

SAN FRANCISCO (April 16, 2014) – A unanimous eleven-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today overturned two earlier court rulings that upheld the federal government’s renewal of several dozen long-term water supply contracts for diversions from…

Water Agencies’ Drought Plan Needs Balance

April 9, 2014 Press ReleaseCalifornia

SACRAMENTO (April 9, 2014) – The California Department of Water Resources and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation today released their proposed 2014 Drought Operations Plan, a proposal that waives key environmental standards to the detriment of the majority of Californians.

REPORT: Nearly 300,000 New Yorkers Flooded in Sandy Lived Outside FEMA Flood Zones

April 8, 2014 Press ReleaseNew York

NEW YORK (April 8, 2014) – The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s flood maps for New York City did not identify that nearly 65 percent of the area inundated during Hurricane Sandy—home to nearly 300,000 people—was at risk from coastal flooding…

Rio Tinto Divests from Pebble Mine

April 7, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON (April 7, 2014) -- In the latest departure from the proposed Pebble Mine in southwest Alaska, British mining giant Rio Tinto announced today that it is divesting its interest in the embattled project by donating its shares to two…

Coast Guard Report on Shell Debacle Underscores Danger of Arctic Drilling

April 4, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON (April 4, 2014) -- The U.S. Coast Guard’s long-awaited report on the 2012 grounding of Shell Oil’s Kulluk drill rig near Kodiak Island, Alaska underscores the serious threats posed by drilling in the Arctic Ocean, the Natural Resources Defense…

Near Record-Low California Snowpack Measurement Warns of Greater Water Supply Challenges Ahead

April 1, 2014 Press ReleaseCalifornia

LOS ANGELES (April 1, 2014) – Critically low California snowpack measurement was reported today by the state’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) in its annual April snow survey, revealing the snowpack measurement is at its lowest since 1988 – the…

EPA Rescues Streams, Wetlands from Clean Water Limbo

March 25, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON (March 25, 2014)--The Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today proposed rules to restore Clean Water Act protections to streams and wetlands whose status had been thrown into question by court rulings and Bush administration…

Willie Nelson Joins Fight Against Mountaintop Removal in Video

March 24, 2014 Press Release

WASHINGTON (March 24, 2014)--Country music legend Willie Nelson is joining the fight in Congress to protect Appalachian communities from the impacts of the devastating mining practice of mountaintop removal.

Court Upholds Key Protections for California Bay-Delta Health

March 13, 2014 Press ReleaseCalifornia

SAN FRANCISCO (March 13, 2014) – The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today ruled to uphold a federal plan of protection for California’s vital Delta ecosystem. The court sided with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Earthjustice, The Bay…