Nature's Voice Fall 2022

FALL 2022

’ NATURE SVOICE For the 3 million Members and online activists of the Natural Resources Defense Council

IN THIS ISSUE

Alaska’s spectacular Bristol Bay wilderness may soon get permanent protection from the Pebble Mine.

EPA Moves to Veto Alaska Mega-Mine Trump-Era Endangered Species Attack Reversed Big Oil Resurrects “Drill, Baby, Drill,” and Backlash Is Swift Court Sides With NRDC Over Toxic Weed Killer

NRDC works to safeguard the earth—its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends.

Victory

BETTER BULBS: WATT A WIN! The U.S. Department of Energy has issued rules that will dramatically increase the efficiency of ordinary household light bulbs and effectively phase out the use of highly inefficient incandescent bulbs.

Such standards were supposed to go into effect two years ago but were blocked by the Trump administration, a move NRDC and our allies swiftly challenged in court. The rules are expected to save consumers $3 billion annually in utility costs while avoiding more than 220 million metric tons of carbon emissions over the next 30 years.

PETS: SAFER CUDDLES AHEAD? Siding with NRDC, a federal court has ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) failed to adequately assess the risks posed by a neurotoxic pesticide commonly found in pet flea collars, a decision that could lead to a long-overdue ban on the dangerous products. The chemical, tetrachlorvinphos (TCVP), is an organophosphate, a class of pesticides that are known to damage the developing brains of young children. The EPA sig­nificantly underestimated how much TCVP would get on children’s hands and into their bodies during normal activities with their pets.

GOOD RIDDANCE TO BAD RUBBISH Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has set her depart­ ment on a bold course to phase out single-use plastic products from national parks, wildlife refuges, and other federally managed lands by 2032. Such products, from drinking straws and disposable cutlery to those ubiquitous plastic shopping bags, contribute a significant share to the estimated 14 million tons of plastic pollution that ends up in our oceans each year. The department will seek to swap single-use plastic products for more sustainable alternatives, such as those made from compostable or bio­degradable materials.

C OV E R A RT I C L E

EPA MOVES TO VETO ALASKA MEGA-MINE

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n irreplaceable wilderness gem, home to the world’s most productive wild salmon runs, is poised to win permanent protection from a colossal copper and gold mine. The EPA has proposed adopting safeguards that would block the Pebble Mine from being gouged out of the pristine wilderness at the head­waters of Bristol Bay in Alaska, which local Indigenous communities and their allies, including NRDC, have been fighting for decades. “The EPA now needs to finish the job and drive the final nail in the coffin of this monumentally reckless project,” says NRDC Western Director Joel Reynolds.

As conceived, the Pebble Mine would be among the largest open-pit mines in the world and would generate billions of tons of toxic mining waste that the EPA previously determined would pose potentially “catastrophic” risks to the Bristol Bay watershed and its wild salmon. Those salmon are the linchpin of a magnificent natural ecosystem that

supports a stunning array of wildlife as well as a $2.2 billion sustainable fishery that provides 15,000 jobs and more than half of the world’s sockeye salmon. Under the Obama administration, the EPA had proposed exercising its authority under the Clean Water Act to adopt safeguards similar to those it is poised to advance today, a move that was reversed under President Trump. Time and again, NRDC Members and online activists have rallied in support of Bristol Bay’s tribal-led coalition, helping to drive away a parade of multinational mining companies from the project while sending hundreds of thousands of letters of protest and petitions to federal agencies demanding that this natural treasure be saved.

Yet even as Bristol Bay Tribes and their allies prepare to celebrate the EPA’s finalization of its protections, they are steeling themselves for the possibility of a fierce legal fight ahead. The mine’s sole remaining corporate backer, the Canadian mining

company Northern Dynasty Minerals, has long stubbornly refused to abandon the project. “If they sue to try to block the EPA,” says Reynolds, “we won’t hesitate to see them in court.”

Alaska’s spectacular Bristol Bay wilderness may soon get permanent protection from the Pebble Mine.

S P E C I A L R E P O RT

Trump-Era Endangered Species Attack Reversed The environmental campaigns and victories featured in Nature’s Voice are all made possible through your generous support.

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In a big win for imperiled wildlife, a federal court has rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to sabotage the Endangered Species Act. The victory comes after NRDC and other wildlife champions sued to reverse the attack, the most aggressive assault on the landmark conservation law in its nearly 50-year history.

Almost all species granted protection under the Endangered Species Act—a remarkable 99 percent—have been spared from extinction, including the bald eagle, Florida manatee, and gray wolf. Yet as part of its sweeping anti-­environment agenda, the Trump administration sought to impose dozens of destructive,

industry-friendly changes to the law, including weakening protection of species’ critical habitat and allowing economic factors to infect decisions about whether species would be pro­tected under the act.

“The Trump administration’s assault on the nation’s most important wildlife protection law made no sense at the time—and even less now as we see a global biodiversity crisis unfolding with more clarity each day,” says Rebecca Riley, managing director of NRDC’s Nature Program. “The court’s decision ensures that the Endangered Species Act can do its job: preventing the extinction An endangered hawksbill sea turtle of vulnerable species.”

BRISTOL BAY © RYAN PETERSON; HAWKSBILL TURTLE © WILDESTANIMAL/GETTY IMAGES

G O O D N EWS

CA M PA I G N U P DAT E

BIG OIL RESURRECTS “DRILL, BABY, DRILL,” AND BACKLASH IS SWIFT

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“The big oil companies have zero interest in bringing down energy prices for average folks like you and me. They’re making record profits.”

Clockwise from top left: The oil industry continues to target the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other wild places; new drilling in the Gulf of Mexico would further imperil coastal habitat for wildlife such as roseate spoonbills; the Biden administration is weighing whether to lease more public land in Wyoming and other states; last year’s spill of 126,000 gallons of crude oil off the California coast underscored the long-term risks of offshore drilling.

down energy prices for average folks like you and me,” says McEnaney. “They’re making record profits. But they know that if they succeed—if they can exploit public anxiety and the tragedy in Ukraine to pressure this admin­istration to sell off more oil and gas leases—then they’re well on their way to locking us in to decades more dependence on their dirty fossil fuels.”

In just the first quarter this year, the three biggest U.S. oil companies—ExxonMobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips—made an extraordinary $17.6 billion after taxes, or nearly $200 million a day in profit. But instead of using some of that windfall to lower costs for ordinary Americans, the companies are spending billions on stock buybacks to boost their share prices and reward wealthy shareholders.

Chevron plans to spend $10 billion on stock buybacks this year, double its previous target, while ExxonMobil has tripled its target to $30 billion over the next two years.

Yet when it comes to the industry’s un­­yield­ing attempts to ramp up pressure on the Biden administration, its eye-popping profits don’t appear in its talking points. Nor does the fact that it’s already sitting on more than 9,000 approved leases covering some 24 million acres of public lands, or that it currently leases 11 million acres of our ocean waters, 75 percent of which it hasn’t drilled. “Remember, it takes anywhere from 5 to 10 years for oil or gas to come to market after a lease is sold, sometimes more,” says NRDC Oceans Advocate Valerie Cleland. “The industry wants everyone to believe that the way to bring down gas prices today is to give them more access to our oceans and public lands, but they know that’s just not true.”

Cleland and her team have been at the forefront of the fight to stop the oil and gas industry from laying claim to more of our fragile coastal waters. It’s been a pitched battle. After the Biden administration auctioned off leases in the Gulf of Mexico last [Continued on next page.]

POLAR BEARS © HUGH ROSE/DANITA DELIMONT VIA ALAMY; ROSEATE SPOONBILL © DIANA ROBINSON/GETTY IMAGES; RED CLIFFS, WYOMING © ELIZABETH BOEHM/DANITA DELIMONT VIA ALAMY; OIL SPILL SIGN © WRAY SINCLAIR FOR NRDC

n late February, as Russian troops launched their brutal assault on Ukraine, much of the world reacted in horror at what would rapidly become one of the worst humanitarian crises of the century. But it soon became clear that Vladimir Putin’s war presented itself as something quite different to the oil and gas industry: a golden opportunity. Indeed, ever since one of the industry’s most vociferous allies, Donald Trump, was sent packing from the White House, Big Oil had been fighting tooth and claw against the Biden administration’s efforts to reverse the climate denial of the previous four years and put the country on the path to a clean energy future. Nearly 70 percent of Americans, according to polls, believed the United States should prioritize developing renewable energy sources over expanding production of fossil fuels. But Putin’s invasion gave the oil giants the chance they’d been waiting for: to stoke public fear while simultaneously ratcheting up the pressure to “drill, drill, drill.”

“It’s basically the same playbook they resort to every time a world crisis convulses energy markets,” says Bobby McEnaney, director of NRDC’s Dirty Energy Program.

Literally the day after Russia attacked Ukraine, the oil and gas lobby began calling on the Biden administration to open more of our shared public wildlands and oceans to drilling—and NRDC was ready to fight back. As Big Oil wages a relentless cam­paign to turn public opinion in its favor and prevail upon the Biden administration to hand over more of our natural treasures for fossil fuel extrac­ tion, NRDC has been working nonstop to counter the industry’s deluge of disinformation while at the same time mobilizing a massive public backlash against its drill-and-burn agenda. “Bottom line: The big oil companies have zero in­­ter­­est in bringing

Court Sides With NRDC Over Toxic Weed Killer

[Continued from previous page.]

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The Trump administration’s attempt to rubber-stamp the continued widespread use of the toxic weed killer glyphosate—the active ingredient in Roundup and other herbicides—will not stand, thanks to a lawsuit brought

by NRDC and our partners. A federal appeals court has ruled that the determination by the EPA under Trump that the chemical does not pose risks to human health and is not carcino­genic “was not supported by substantial evid­ence.” Furthermore, the court found that the EPA broke the law when it neglected to evaluate the impact of glyphosate on endangered and threatened species prior to signaling that it would allow the use of the chemical to continue virtually unrestricted. Since the original lawsuit was filed, the agency has determined that glyphosate is likely to harm more than 90 percent of wildlife pro­tected under the Endangered Regenerative farming in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania

Regenerative Ag Is a High-Yield Investment As Congress begins negotiations for the next big Farm Bill, which will shape federal agriculture policy through 2028 and beyond, NRDC is amplifying the voices of farmers and ranchers who are bucking industrial agriculture for a more sustainable model of food pro­duc­tion.

These folks have all embraced re­­generative agriculture, a philosophy of land management centered on working with—not fighting against—nature. Regenerative practices have deep roots in Indigenous communities, and now a growing generation of farmers and ranchers are showcasing how such practices can transform agriculture into an environmental ally, from protecting biodiversity to

reducing harmful pollution to fighting climate change.

But these practitioners “can’t do it alone,” says Arohi Sharma, deputy director of Regenerative Agriculture at NRDC. Sharma and her team recently conducted indepth interviews with more than 100 farmers and ranchers who “overwhelmingly” shared how federal policy disproportionately serves industrial agriculture. NRDC’s recent report Regenerative Agriculture: Farm Policy for the 21st Century seeks to change that, offering a detailed blueprint for how to disrupt the status quo and deploy federal resources to reward regenerative growers at a pivotal moment for the future of farming.

The drastic decline of monarch butterflies is one of the many harms linked to the overuse of glyphosate.

Suit Aims to Stamp Out Dirty Postal Trucks NRDC and our allies have hauled the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to court over its plan to spend billions on up to 148,000 dirty, gas-guzzling trucks rather than clean, climate-­friendly electric vehicles. Expected to cost as much as $11.3 billion over the next decade, the fleet overhaul is the largest purchase decision in the agency’s history, and it’s long overdue: Most USPS trucks are decades old and increas­ingly expensive to maintain. Yet in­­stead of seizing this historic opportunity to invest in a clean energy future, the Postal Service has opted to double down on trucks that will burn more

than 100 million gallons of gas every year, fueling the climate crisis and exposing another generation of workers and residents to toxic tailpipe pollution. What’s more, the agency’s unlawful and belated en­­vironmental review of its decision was marred by “twisted logic, flawed analysis, and a blatant disregard for transparency and pub­lic feedback,” says NRDC Senior Advocate Britt Carmon. “The Postal Service failed its drivers, the communities it serves, and the planet,” Carmon adds.

“USPS trucks are iconic—and they should lead the way in the clean-car revolution.”

Species Act, and the rampant overuse of the weed killer has been linked to the disappearance of native habitat vital to the survival of struggling pollinators such as monarch butterflies.

“For years the EPA has refused to take action to address the harmful effects this pesticide has on people and the environment,” says Lucas Rhoads, attorney for NRDC’s Pollinator Initiative. “The court made clear that EPA’s foot-dragging cannot continue. These delays have to end if we are going to protect farmworkers and others who are forced into close proximity with this dangerous chemical and the wildlife that is indiscriminately impacted by it.”

PENNSYLVANIA FARM © SAHAR COSTON-HARDY FOR NRDC; MONARCH BUTTERFLY © ISTOCK

year in response to legal pressure from pro-industry forces, NRDC and our allies galvanized an enormous public outcry—including the voices of tens of thousands of NRDC Members and online activists— and the administration canceled all re­­main­ing lease sales in federal waters for the rest of 2022. That included the proposed lease sale for more than a mil­lion acres in Alaska’s Cook Inlet, home to some of the most en­­dan­gered beluga whales in the world.

“Every drilling lease not sold is a potential environmental disaster averted,” Cleland says, recalling the devastating spill of more than 126,000 gallons of crude oil off the coast of South­ern California last year in an area leased in 1978. “More than 40 years later, we’re still dealing with the consequences of that lease sale.”

Now the Biden administration is weigh­ing whether to reverse course and include new leasing in its five-year plan for federal waters, while also deciding whether to proceed with additional lease sales on our public lands. (You can make your voice heard! See Take Action, below.) The oil and gas industry, sensing that this could be its best opportunity to derail our transition to a 100 percent clean energy economy and to keep its climate-busting fossil fuels flowing for another generation, has kicked its pressure campaign into overdrive. Recently one of the industry’s chief lobby­ing groups, the American Petroleum Institute, delivered to the White House what amounted to a 10-point wish list, which includes such egregious demands as fast-tracking pipe­lines and other dangerous fossil-fuel infrastructure projects, gutting the environmental review process for fossil fuel development, restricting the ability of frontline communities to oppose dirty projects—and, of course, handing over more of our natural treasures for drilling.

Says McEnaney, “The oil and gas industry is really pulling out all the stops to get what it wants.

It’s ‘drill, baby, drill’ on steroids, which means we’ve got to fight back with everything we’ve got.”

They can’t be serious, right?

At first glance, New Fortress Energy’s plan to transport extremely volatile liquefied natural gas (LNG) nearly 200 miles by rail from northern Pennsylvania to a port in New Jersey sounds more like the plot of a made-forTV disaster movie, and a bad one at that. After all, who in their right mind would greenlight a scheme to send 200 tanker cars a day trundling along old rail lines through a densely populated corridor of two million people, with each LNG train packing the explosive power of more than four Hiroshima bombs?

Believe it or not, this all-tooreal decision is now being weighed by the federal Department of Transportation. For decades, LNG was deemed far too dangerous to transport by rail, until the Trump administration rolled back the ban. Now NRDC is helping to lead a coalition of more than two dozen groups calling on Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to reinstate the ban. So far, thousands of NRDC Members and online activists have made their voices heard. “The prospect of an LNG train derailing in a populated area is truly horrifying,” says NRDC project attorney Sahana Rao. When fracked natural gas is supercooled to –260 degrees

Fahrenheit, it becomes LNG, a bubbling, explosive liquid. If that liquid spills, its vapors can lead to uncontrollable fires that are so hot they can burn people up to a mile away. In 1944 leaked LNG flowed in the sewer system of Cleveland and ignited, killing 131 people, injuring countless more, and leveling an entire square mile of the city.

New Fortress Energy’s project carries other serious risks as

well, including threatening the entire Delaware River watershed, which supplies drinking water to 13 mil­­lion people, with toxic pollution. And it would undoubtedly spur the expansion of the LNG industry at a time when every warning sign is telling us to slash carbon pollution now or face climate disaster. Says Rao: “We don’t meet our climate goals by growing the climatebusting gas industry.”

Can the EPA Still Cut Carbon Pollution? YES!

By David Doniger, Senior Strategic Director, and Lissa Lynch, Federal Legal Group Director, Climate and Clean Energy Program There’s no denying that the decision handed down by the Supreme Court in June in West Virginia v. EPA set back the EPA’s efforts to cut carbon pollution from power plants, at a moment when we can’t afford impediments to climate action. But it’s important to read beyond the despairing headlines and understand the extent to which the EPA can still act on climate under the ruling. The Court did not reverse its two major precedents—Massachusetts v. EPA and American Electric Power v. Connecticut—that hold the Clean Air Act authorizes the EPA to curb climate-changing pollutants from power plants and vehicles. And while the Court barred the EPA from setting standards deliberately designed to shift power generation from coal plants to wind and solar generators, the majority opinion left intact the EPA’s authority to set “technology-based” standards that require power plants to “operate more cleanly.”

Thus the decision leaves the door open for the agency to issue stan­dards based on carbon pollution–control

measures that can be installed at existing coal and gas plants. And that is what we at NRDC are pushing the EPA to do quickly. We’re also calling on the agency to continue to move forward with strong Clean Air Act standards for motor vehicles’ climate pollution, limits on heat-trapping methane emissions from oil and gas operations, and standards to curb other healthharming pollutants from power plants and industrial sources. These regulatory authorities were all untouched by the Court’s decision.

To be sure, the Court’s conservative majority sent alarming signals that it may be willing to go further to hamper our government’s ability to protect our health, families, and communities from the dangers of climate change and other major threats. But the regulatory tools the EPA has at its disposal can still be used to make meaningful progress at this do-or-die moment for climate action, and we’ll be doing our utmost to ensure that this happens.

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NRDC Fights Plan That Would Put Two Million People in “Blast Zone”

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