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Aerial view of the National Petroleum Reserve in northwestern Alaska

The Biden Administration Protects Millions of Acres of Arctic Alaska

Latest NewsAlaskaJenny Shalant
The new Special Areas Rule in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska could boost biodiversity and empower Indigenous Peoples to defend the lands they’ve relied on for generations.
Two adults and a child walk along a sandy shoreline

“Forever Chemicals” Called PFAS Show Up in Your Food, Clothes, and Home

ExplainerUnited StatesMolly M. Ginty, Courtney Lindwall
These toxic chemicals are so common in consumer products and manufacturing that they’re everywhere—including inside our bodies.
A river with green trees on either side, with yellow hills in the background

In Planning for Climate Change, Native Americans Draw on the Past

ExplainerUnited States, CanadaTim Vanderpool
Across North America, Indigenous tribes and nations are consulting their traditional ecological knowledge to help prepare for a warming world.

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Pritzker, Lightfoot: Stop Passing the Buck on Enviro Justice

Expert BlogChicagoMeleah Geertsma
On June 25, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (“IEPA”) granted an air permit that will enable the relocation of a notorious metal shredding operation from Chicago’s wealthy and largely white Lincoln Park to the Southeast Side environmental justice community. In…

New Map Shows Chicago Needs Environmental Justice Reforms

Expert BlogMeleah Geertsma
New map by NRDC shows Chicago's Southwest and Southeast side communities bear the heaviest cumulative burdens from environmental pollution, calling for land use and public health reforms to address industrial areas and other pollution sources.

NRDC Fights Another Pruitt Rollback of Smog & Methane Curbs

Expert BlogMeleah Geertsma, Mark Szybist
In yet another step to dismantle critical protections for our air and climate, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has proposed to withdraw the EPA’s guideline for states to reduce smog-forming air pollution from oil and gas production, processing, and transmission activities.

Court Halts Trump Climate Rollback on Public Lands—Again

Expert BlogMeleah Geertsma
Our federal courts have blocked the Trump administration’s second attempt to hit the ‘stop’ button on critical protections against harmful air pollution and waste of natural resources from oil and gas operations on public lands nationwide.

Zinke to Oil and Gas Industry: Let 'Er Rip

Expert BlogMeleah Geertsma
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has just proposed to eviscerate the Bureau of Land Management’s (“BLM”) standards adopted a little over a year ago to stop the rampant climate pollution and loss of taxpayer revenue from oil and gas operations on…

Another Manganese Threat to Chicago’s Southeast Side

Expert BlogMeleah Geertsma
In the latest chapter on neurotoxic manganese threatening a Chicago residential community, recently revealed inspection reports show that the City of Chicago and EPA inspectors uncovered alarming problems with industrial dust pollution this past fall, at yet another facility handling…

NRDC Sues to Block Trump Interior’s Rollback of Methane Curbs

Expert BlogMeleah Geertsma
Today, NRDC went to court to block the Trump administration’s latest hand-out to the oil and gas industry—a rollback of protections against waste and harmful air pollution on America’s public lands, at the expense of communities and taxpayers.

Zinke Is at It Again: More Oil & Gas Favors on Public Lands

Expert BlogMeleah Geertsma
In another attack on the Interior Department’s common sense measures to cut pollution from oil and gas operations on the nation’s public lands, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is trying again to stay the Bureau of Land Management’s Methane and Waste…

Court Rejects Zinke's Blind Eye to Justice

Expert BlogMeleah Geertsma
Our independent courts have stood up once again to Trump’s lawless deregulators―striking down Interior Secretary Zinke’s attempt to suspend an Obama-era rule curbing methane waste and other smog-forming and cancer-causing pollutants from oil and gas operations on public and tribal…

Zinke’s Illegal Suspension of Methane Rules Will Not Stand

Expert BlogMeleah Geertsma
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s illegal suspension of rules to cut methane pollution from drilling operations on public lands is the latest example of the Trump administration’s cavalier disregard for vital public health and environmental safeguards.

Neurotoxic Manganese Threatens Chicago's Southeast Side

Expert BlogMeleah Geertsma
There is ongoing concern about neurotoxic manganese being stored on Chicago’s Southeast Side—the same community where petcoke and coal facilities have also been causing a public health hazard by dusting up the residential neighborhoods next door.

NRDC Sues Over Rollback of Waste Standards for Public Lands

Expert BlogMeleah Geertsma
The Department of the Interior acted illegally when it yanked the first-ever limits on methane waste and pollution for oil and gas operations on our public lands, according to a lawsuit NRDC and our partners filed today.

Taking Trump’s EPA to Court to Stop Methane Pollution

Expert BlogUnited StatesDavid Doniger, Meleah Geertsma

NRDC and partners went to court Monday to block the Trump EPA’s illegal suspension of critical Clean Air Act safeguards against leaks of methane and other dangerous air pollution from the oil and gas industry.

Pruitt: East Chicago Needs More than “Basics” from EPA

Expert BlogMeleah Geertsma
With his upcoming visit to East Chicago, Indiana, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has a critical opportunity to make good on his confirmation statement—that EPA should have “acted faster” in Flint—by stepping in to ensure that residents throughout East Chicago have…