Natural Resources Defense Council
US$151.6 million[2] | |
Staff (2020) | 700 |
---|---|
Website | nrdc |
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a United States-based
As of 2019, the NRDC had over three million members, with online activities nationwide, and a staff of about 700 lawyers, scientists and other policy experts.[3][4]
History
NRDC was founded in 1970.
A dozen concerned citizens organized the
John H. Adams was the group's first staff member and Duggan its founding chairman;[10] Seymour, Laurance Rockefeller, and others served as members of the board.[5]
Position on nuclear power
In the 1970s, NRDC sought to block expansion of the Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York.[11] It has historically until the plant's closure in 2021, sought to close the plant.[12] NRDC has also sought to close the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant in California.[13] In 2018, the NRDC took no position on legislative proposals in New Jersey to subsidize three of its nuclear reactors.[14] NRDC has argued that nuclear power is not a viable energy source to mitigate climate change, arguing that it poses public health and safety risks through nuclear waste and nuclear proliferation.[15][16] In 2014, NRDC president Frances Beinecke said that the NRDC could not support nuclear power because it would lose donations.[17]
Position on solar power
In 2012, NRDC sued the federal government to stop the 663.5-megawatt Calico solar station in the Mojave Desert in California. NRDC said the solar plant would imperil protected wildlife.[18] In 2022, NRDC supported proposals to subsidize rooftop solar power generation.[19]
Position on hydropower
NRDC's position on hydropower is that it is not a renewable energy source. When Indian Point was scheduled for closure, NRDC held no position on a proposal to build a transmission line to Quebec to access excess hydropower while arguing, "we certainly would not be on board where [hydropower] gobbles up the space we think should be covered by true renewables".[20]
Programs
NRDC states the purpose of its work is "safeguard the earth—its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends," and to "ensure the rights of all people to the air, the water and the wild, and to prevent special interests from undermining public interests." Their stated areas of work include: "climate change, communities, energy, food, health, oceans, water, the wild".[21]
As a legal advocacy group, the NRDC works to accomplish environmental goals by operating within the legal system to reduce pollution and protect natural resources through litigation, and by working with professionals in science, law, and policy at the national and international level.[22]
NRDC published onEarth, a quarterly magazine that dealt with environmental challenges, through 2016. It was founded in 1979 as The Amicus Journal.[23] As Amicus, it won the George Polk Award in 1983 for special interest reporting.[24]
Staff
The council's first president was John H. Adams, who served until 2006.[25] He was replaced by Frances Beinecke, who served as president from 2006 to 2015.[26] The third president was Rhea Suh, who served from 2015 to 2019.[27]
In 2020,
Legislation
NRDC v. U.S. EPA (1973), with David Schoenbrod caused the United States Environmental Protection Agency to begin reducing tetraethyl lead in gasoline sooner than they were going to.[32][33][34]
NRDC opposed the
NRDC supported the
Effect on administrative law
NRDC has been involved in the following Supreme Court cases interpreting United States administrative law.
- Administrative Procedure Act.[39]
- Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984), which gave administrative agencies broad discretion to interpret statute to make policy changes if Congressional intent was unclear.[40]
- Baltimore Gas & Elec. Co. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 462 U.S. 78 (1983)[41] is a United States Supreme Court decision which held to be valid a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) rule that the permanent storage of nuclear waste should be assumed to have no environmental impact during the licensing of nuclear power plants.
See also
- Anti-nuclear movement
- Biodiversity
- Building Codes Assistance Project
- Environmental impact of mining
- Environmental movement
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Global warming
- Green building in the United States
- Green politics
- Opposition to Pebble Mine
- United States Green Building Council
- Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council, concerning the balance of possible harm and government interest when issuing preliminary injunctions
References
- ^ a b "Our Offices". NRDC. Retrieved 2017-11-20.
- ^ a b "NRDC 2015 Annual Report" (PDF). Natural Resources Defense Council. December 2015. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
- ^ "NRDC FY2015 Consolidated Financial Statements" (PDF). Natural Resources Defense Council. 30 June 2015. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
- ^ "About Us". NRDC. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
- ^ a b c d Robert Gottlieb, Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement (revised ed.: Island Press, 2005), pp. 193–94.
- ^ Jon Bowermaster, "Green Giants: On the Front Lines with Two Rival Guardians," New York (April 16, 1990).
- ^ a b c McGee Young, "The Price of Advocacy: Mobilization and Maintenance in Advocacy Organizations" in Advocacy Organizations and Collective Action (eds. Aseem Prakash & Mary Kay Gugerty), pp. 40-42.
- ^ James Gustave Speth, Angels by the River: A Memoir (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2014), pp. 96, 127.
- ^ Law School Honors Four Alumni Who Helped Create the Natural Resources Defense Council, Yale Law School (May 7, 2010).
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-11-02.
- ISBN 978-0-8229-6305-9.
- ^ Weisbrod, Katelyn (2021-05-06). "Inside Clean Energy: Indian Point Nuclear Plant Reaches a Contentious End". Inside Climate News.
- ISSN 0190-8286.
- ^ "Environmentalists and Nuclear Power? It's Complicated". New York Times. 2018-04-18.
- ^ "Should states rely on nuclear power to combat climate change?". PBS NewsHour. 2017-10-22.
- ^ Patterson, Thom (2013-11-03). "Climate change warriors: It's time to go nuclear". CNN.
- ^ "The left's nuclear problem". Axios. 2017.
- ^ Woody, Todd (2012). "Sierra Club, NRDC Sue Feds To Stop Big California Solar Power Project". Forbes.
- ^ Weisbrod, Katelyn (2022-03-07). "Environmental Groups Are United In California Rooftop Solar Fight, with One Notable Exception". Inside Climate News.
- ^ "With Indian Point closing, Quebec sees an opportunity for hydropower". POLITICO. 2017-01-17.
- ^ "Our Work". Retrieved 2021-06-06.
- ^ "How We Work". Retrieved 2021-06-06.
- ^ "About Us - OnEarth Magazine".
- ^ "George Polk Award Winners". Archived from the original on September 24, 2014.
- ^ "John Adams". NRDC. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
- ^ "Frances Beinecke". NRDC. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
- ^ "Rhea Suh". NRDC. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
- ^ Coleman, Zack. "Trump aims to weaken prime environmental law". Politico. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
- ^ "NRDC Announces Gina McCarthy as President & CEO". NRDC. November 5, 2019. Retrieved 2019-11-28.
- ^ "Exclusive-Biden taps former EPA chief for White House climate coordinator role -sources". Reuters. 2020-12-15. Retrieved 2021-07-07.
- ^ "NRDC Appoints Manish Bapna as President and CEO". NRDC. June 23, 2021. Retrieved 2021-07-07.
- PMID 16134577.
- PMID 19672397.
- ^ "Set Lead Cut In Gasoline EPA Ordered - Agency is Given 30 Days to Make Reduction Ruling". Toledo Blade. Ohio. October 30, 1973. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
- ^ "H.R. 3189 - CBO". Congressional Budget Office. 9 December 2013. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
- ^ Nathan Fey; Matt Rice (20 December 2013). "'Water Rights Protection Act' puts rivers at risk". Post Independent. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
- ^ "CBO - H.R. 5057". Congressional Budget Office. 23 July 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
- ^ Hankin, Christopher (15 July 2014). "House Energy & Commerce Committee passes bipartisan regulatory relief for external power supplies". Information Technology Industry Council. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
- ^ Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 435 U.S. 519 (1978).
- ^ Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984).
- (1983).
Further reading
- John H. Adams & Patricia Adams, A Force for Nature: The Story of NRDC and Its Fight to Save Our Planet (Chronicle Books: 2010)