Media Center

EPA Launches Civil Rights Investigation into Alabama Department of Environmental Management Over Sanitation Inequity in Black Communities 

October 4, 2023 Press ReleaseAlabama

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday opened a federal civil rights investigation to examine whether the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) has discriminated in its distribution of funding for wastewater infrastructure and withheld resources from communities of color that…

Laphonza Butler a “Values-Driven Leader”

October 3, 2023 Press ReleaseWashington, D.C.

WASHINGTON – Laphonza Butler is scheduled to be sworn in to fill the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California.

President Biden Can Take Action to Eliminate Shipping Emissions and Advance Environmental Justice

October 2, 2023 Press ReleaseWashington, D.C.

In a letter sent to President Biden on World Maritime Day, 32 organizations called for an Executive Order to decarbonize maritime shipping. The Biden administration has already made significant commitments to eliminate emissions from the shipping industry, as well as…

Exposing Even More Gulf Waters to Drilling “is the last thing we need – and the last place we need it.”

September 29, 2023 Press ReleaseWashington, D.C.

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced plans to expand the waters available in the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling, as part of the new five-year leasing plan that will take effect in 2024.

FERC Demands Gas Reliability Legislation following “Unprecedented” Gas Outages in Winter Storm Elliott

September 21, 2023 Press ReleaseWashington, D.C.

WASHINGTON – Today the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and North American Reliability Corporation (NERC) released a much-awaited report assessing the failures of gas generators throughout the eastern U.S. during Winter Storm Elliott, concluding that Congress and state legislatures need…

NRDC Digital Tool Tracks Political Opposition to Offshore Drilling

September 21, 2023 Press ReleaseWashington, D.C.

WASHINGTON – NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is launching an updated digital tool today to help people track where their Members of Congress stand on offshore oil and gas drilling. The Biden administration is expected to release a final five-year plan for federal…

Sustainability Is Disrupting the Toilet Paper and Tissue Market, Finds NRDC’s “Issue with Tissue” 2023 Report & Scorecard

September 19, 2023 Press ReleaseWashington, D.C.

NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) today released the fifth edition of its Issue with Tissue report and sustainability scorecard (grading at-home toilet paper brands from “A+” to “F”).

EPA Ensures States, Tribes Can Protect Their Waterways from Harm

September 14, 2023 Press ReleaseWashington, D.C.

WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule today that restores the ability of states and authorized Tribes to weigh in on federally permitted projects that could pollute or harm their waters, and to limit their adverse impacts. EPA…

House Majority Fiddles While Climate Crisis Burns

September 14, 2023 Press ReleaseWashington, D.C.

WASHINGTON – After months of climate-fueled disasters around the nation and facing a deadline in just a few weeks to pass a budget, the House Majority instead wasted time today voting on a measure to try and prevent states from…

P&G Descendants Call on Shareholders to Vote Against Board Members Over Forest Destruction Policies

September 12, 2023 Press ReleaseNew York

Descendants of the founders of Procter & Gamble (P&G) are urging their fellow shareholders to vote against current members of the board of directors, due to the company’s failure to address unsustainable sourcing of wood pulp and palm oil from…

Army Corps Considers Continued Operation of Destructive Dakota Access Pipeline

September 8, 2023 Press ReleaseWashington, D.C.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a draft environmental impact statement today for the operation of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which threatens the lands, water supply, and valuable cultural resources of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

Biden Administration to Cancel Arctic Refuge Oil and Gas Leases

September 6, 2023 Press ReleaseWashington, D.C.

WASHINGTON – The Biden administration canceled Trump-era leases for oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, eliminating an imminent threat to drill within the refuge’s 1.6-million-acre Coastal Plain.

U.S. Department of Transportation Suspends LNG by Rail Rule

September 1, 2023 Press ReleaseNew Jersey, Pennsylvania

According to the Federal Register, the U.S. Department of Transportation has suspended a rule promulgated by the Trump Administration that permits liquefied natural gas (LNG) transport by rail.

Biden Administration Won’t Update Health Limits for Ozone by 2024

August 21, 2023 Press ReleaseWashington, D.C.

The Environmental Protection Agency will not finish by 2024 its reconsideration of an unsafe ozone health standard left in place by the Trump administration, the agency announced today. Instead, EPA will start its review over, significantly delaying the process of updating…

“Forever Chemicals” Data from EPA Shows Widespread Contamination but Is “Most Certainly” an Underestimate of PFAS Contaminating Tap Water

August 17, 2023 Press ReleaseWashington, D.C.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) released the first tranche of testing data for PFAS in drinking water that found hundreds of water systems are contaminated with the toxic “forever chemicals.”

General Assembly Overrides Governor Cooper’s Veto on House Bill 488

August 17, 2023 Press ReleaseNorth Carolina

The North Carolina General Assembly overrode Governor Cooper’s veto of HB 488. The bill freezes the state’s residential building codes, as well as energy, plumbing, and mechanical codes, until 2031.

Sen. Hoylman-Sigal and Advocates Call on Governor Hochul to Sign Birds & Bees Protection Act

August 15, 2023 Press ReleaseNew York

With summer drawing to a close and World Honey Bee Day approaching (August 19th), legislators, advocates, and farmers from across the state called on Governor Hochul to sign the Birds and Bees Protection Act.

Court Rejects Trump Administration Denial of Critical Habitat Protection to Endangered Rusty Patched Bumblebees

August 14, 2023 Press ReleaseWashington, D.C.

A federal judge on Friday rejected the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to refuse to designate critical habitat for highly endangered rusty patched bumblebees and ordered the Service to reconsider. Despite the bees having been listed as an endangered…

NRDC: Biden Protects Iconic Grand Canyon Lands and Waters

August 8, 2023 Press ReleaseWashington, D.C.

President Biden today established the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni - Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument, under the Antiquities Act, permanently protecting more than 900,000 acres of some of the most iconic landscape in the American West.

NRDC: EPA’s Power Plant Carbon Standards Are Essential

August 8, 2023 Press ReleaseWashington, D.C.

The Environmental Protection Agency is on the right path with its proposed standards to cut carbon pollution from power plants, according to comments environmental groups will submit to the agency today.