Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund Here’s why the EPA chief is wrong. Mitchell Resnick / White House Scott Pruitt hates hot weather. When asked what he hates most about living in Oklahoma, he answered: “The 105-degree temperatures are pretty tough for me to handle.” Nonetheless, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator seems to […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund Ten Senate Democrats took to the floor yesterday to remind U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke that they vehemently oppose his plan to open nearly all of America’s coasts to offshore drilling. The lawmakers warned of the imminent threat that any amount of offshore drilling would […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund NRDC and the National Wildlife Federation filed a lawsuit today to protect American waters. NRDC and the National Wildlife Federation have sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for illegally delaying the implementation of the Clean Water Rule until 2020 and gambling […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund Congress is poised to extend and expand energy tax credits that benefit both industry and consumers, but the Republican-sponsored bill unfortunately wastes taxpayer money to back faltering technologies and outdated federal benchmarks—at a time when lawmakers should be prioritizing innovative clean energy technologies that create American jobs, lower […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund NRDC’s Lisa Hua (second from left) discussing about elephant-human conflict at IFAW. Today, at NRDC, Hua is focused on banning ivory and creating a new national park system. Cao Dafan To call the big cats of China “outnumbered” would be quite an understatement. China’s iconic snow leopards number […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund California remains committed to moving forward with its innovative clean cars program, even with rumblings about federal rollbacks growing louder. Last Friday, during a Bloomberg New Energy Finance conference, California’s top air quality regulator Mary Nichols refused to reverse course on the state’s clean cars program, despite federal […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund Some proponents of new pipelines point to the recent cold snap and claim that more fracked gas pipeline capacity is needed to meet winter spikes in natural gas demand. However, the facts don’t back this up. Even in 2014, when the infamous “Polar Vortex” occurred, additional pipelines were […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund Hot on the heels of a State of the Union address that claimed to “end the war on American energy” but ignored the booming clean energy industry, a leaked budget proposal from the Trump administration suggests that federal funding for renewable energy and efficiency programs should be slashed […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund Authored by New York Program Assistant Jhena Vigrass NRDC testified at two public hearings in favor of a full ban on fracking and fracking-related activities in the Delaware River Basin last week. The hearings took place in Waymart and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and were hosted by the Delaware River […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund Welcome to our weekly Trump v. Earth column, in which onEarth reviews the environment-related shenanigans of President Trump and his allies. In the Eye of the Beholder? President Trump praised “beautiful clean coal” in his State of the Union address Tuesday night. Far be it from me to question Trump’s […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund President Trump with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis walking into the Pentagon Carolyn Kaster/AP As we all know by now, the Trump administration is rife with climate deniers. Defense Secretary James Mattis, however, isn’t one of them. Like many within the defense community—including most of our military leaders—Mattis not […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke made sweeping changes this week to the way oil and gas are leased on public lands. The bottom line: Joe and Jane Citizen—0; Dirty Energy Industry—100. Even by the low standards of the Trump Administration, the new policies are a shocking negation of public process and environmental […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund Tomorrow the California Water Commission will publicly release its initial reviews of the 11 remaining applications submitted by water storage projects seeking funding from the 2014 water bond (Proposition 1). As the San Jose Mercury News reported earlier this month, Commission staff have explained that these initial reviews […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund His attack on our clean energy future is just getting started. Reuters Anyone who listened to President Trump’s first State of the Union address Tuesday night might be forgiven for not recognizing the country he described. A nation so fearful of its neighbors it must build a “great wall” between them? A […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund One of New York’s largest electric utilities, National Grid, is proposing a lackluster energy efficiency program for 2018-2020 that is inconsistent with New York’s clean energy and climate change goals. Fortunately, Governor Cuomo has created a perfect opportunity to secure a better program not only for National Grid, […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund There’s something state leaders can do today to save Californians money on their energy bills, slash carbon emissions in California, and slow down the rate of utility disconnection – use proceeds from the cap-and-trade program to fund the Low-Income Weatherization Program (LIWP) and ensure this successful program – […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund Courtesy Atlantis Scientists can identify individual humpback whales by the shape and coloring of their flukes, giant river otters by the white markings under their chins, and spotted eagle rays by their freckles. Would you like to know the best way to ID a particular manatee? Look at […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund Last fall, Pennsylvania lawmakers set out to fix a problem with the state’s 2004 Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act (AEPS). No, the problem they took on with Act 40 of 2017 was not the weakness of the renewable energy targets in the AEPS. (Alas, those targets still have […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund Guest Blog by Amartya Awasthi and Bhaskar Deol With 2017 marking the fourth straight hottest year recorded in India, the need for cooling solutions is becoming even more urgent. India is moving forward with a comprehensive plan on meeting the country’s skyrocketing cooling demand, as highlighted recently by […]
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund Federal and state authorities, powers and jurisdictions should work together efficiently and effectively serve the public interest. That’s what is meant by “cooperative federalism”. It is notable that the Trump Administration’s head of the EPA, Scott Pruitt, is fond of using the term “cooperative federalism”. But it means something markedly […]