Complete list of press releases

(SACRAMENTO, Calif. – May 24, 2017) Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) announced today the hiring of Josette Lewis, Ph.D., as Associate Vice President, Ecosystems – Sustainable Agriculture. In this role, Lewis will scale EDF’s work to reduce the environmental impacts of agriculture.

“We face a daunting challenge to feed two billion more people in the coming decades without harming the natural resources on which we all depend,” said David Festa, EDF Senior Vice President, Ecosystems. “Josette’s diverse background in the food, agricultural, and bioscience arenas makes her well positioned to bring proven and innovative farm conservation practices to scale.”

EDF’s sustainable agriculture program aims to end fertilizer pollution from commodity crop production to create a more resilient, sustainable food system that benefits human and ecosystem health. To achieve this goal, EDF has been working across the agricultural supply chain – with major retailers like Walmart, large food companies, agribusinesses, grower associations, policymakers, and farmers themselves – to deploy solutions that benefit the environment, businesses and farmers’ bottom lines.

For the past four years, Josette has led the World Food Center at the University of California, Davis, where she developed partnerships across the agricultural and technology sectors and positioned the university as a thought leader on food and agriculture. Previously, she served as the Director of Agriculture Development for Arcadia Biosciences, and held various leadership roles on agriculture and food security within the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Josette holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and has provided counsel to a U.S. Secretary of Agriculture’s advisory committee, the James Beard Foundation, the International Life Sciences Foundation, and the Foundation for Ag Research.

“Interest and investment in sustainable agriculture is at an all-time high, but there is so much at stake given farmers’ decreasing incomes, an impending Farm Bill, and widespread food insecurity,” said Lewis. “I’m inspired by the collaborative and scientific approach to EDF’s agriculture initiatives, and am excited to join this dedicated and talented team to help accelerate our impact.”

A wide range of agricultural and farming leaders hailed Josette’s new role:

“Josette brings decades of state, national and international experience and collaborative relationships to produce results. She is a respected advisor on food and agricultural issues in California and across the U.S.,” said Karen Ross, Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. “Her ability to apply a scientific lens to farming practices will be hugely valuable as EDF works to calculate the impact and potential of agricultural conservation methods.”

“EDF’s sustainable agriculture program has a reputation for being collaborative, pragmatic, and effective,” noted Len Corzine, a fifth generation Illinois corn grower and former president of the National Corn Growers Association. “Josette’s knowledge and experience in the agriculture and food sector make her the ideal person for leading this program to the next level.”

“Josette’s agricultural, scientific and public policy experiences will be a great asset to EDF. I witnessed this first-hand while working together on the USDA Biotechnology Advisory Committee for 21st Century Agriculture (AC21),” said Russell Reading, Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Agriculture. “Her focus on long-term solutions for agriculture was valued and completely transferable to her new role to make sustainable agriculture the norm across the United States.”

(Washington, D.C. –  May 24, 2017) A new report from Environmental Defense Fund reveals key barriers to innovation in an important, but challenging class of chemistry – preservatives. Data gaps were identified among all 16 preservatives evaluated – including around endocrine activity and neurotoxicity. Common hazards among the preservatives included skin allergies and aquatic toxicity. The report finds that to meet increasing consumer and retailer demand for safer chemicals, health and safety information must be more widely shared along the supply chain. 

Market demand for safer chemicals is growing - 87% of consumers globally seek out beauty and personal care products made without harsh or toxic chemicals. Major retailers including Walmart Target, and CVS have released chemicals policies that aim to drive chemicals of concern off their shelves and ensure consumer access to safer chemicals and products. Notably, all three retailers have targeted certain preservatives for removal from products including baby and beauty and personal care products. Smart innovation is necessary to ensure that products are adequately preserved against problematic microbial contamination while also satisfying demands for safer chemicals.

Zach Freeze, Senior Director of Sustainability at Walmart notes, “Walmart works with suppliers and organizations like EDF to advance sustainable chemistry –encouraging reducing, restricting and eliminating priority chemicals in products. EDF’s baseline information on preservatives can help companies make more informed choices and deliver more sustainable innovations.”

Companies face challenges in designing and delivering products to meet demand, in part because of lack of access to comprehensive health and safety information on chemicals.

Dr. Nicole Acevedo, Principal Scientist at Beautycounter notes, “There is no doubt that consumers are actively seeking products that contain the safest possible ingredients, and that the need for more comprehensive information on chemical hazards is critical to putting safer products on the market. As a company dedicated to driving this cause, Beautycounter has seen phenomenal business growth since our launch four years ago, which is further evidence of consumers’ appetite for increased education, advocacy, and safer products.”

EDF launched the Preservatives Innovation Project (PIP) to better understand the barriers and enablers to safer chemicals innovation in the marketplace, with particular interest in exploring how a consistent toxicological evaluation of a chemical class can guide innovation and data development via the identification of hazard hotspots and data gaps.

The report finds that without transparent, structured sets of baseline health and safety information, safer chemical innovation will remain difficult. Shared hazard assessment information through a new “Chemicals Assessment Clearinghouse” would accelerate innovation.

“President Trump’s proposed 2018 budget is a full-scale attack on America’s most fundamental health and safety protections. It would gut our ability to keep our air and water clean, and would put the health of all Americans at risk.

“Today’s proposal would slash the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget by 31 percent, even though it has already been cut to the bone – in real dollars, the agency’s budget is at almost its lowest level in 40 years. 

“President Trump’s proposed budget would hobble our efforts to reduce dangerous, and sometimes deadly, types of pollution – mercury, smog, carbon, and even lead. It would cut funding for popular programs that Americans rely on to keep their families safe, and would slash the grants that state and local governments need to protect their own citizens. For example, the program that warns us about “Code Red” days – when the air is so polluted that it is unsafe for children with asthma or seniors with heart conditions to be outdoors – would be cut by almost one-third. There would be about 30 percent less money to clean up the hundreds of thousands of hazardous waste sites in communities across America. It would even undermine the popular and successful Energy Star program that helps families buy energy-efficient products for their homes, and the budget would cut funding for the Department of Energy’s renewable energy and energy efficiency programs by an obscene 70 percent. The budget would also cut by 21 percent the ability of USDA to help farmers implement conservation practices while completely eliminating the ability of USDA to leverage private sector dollars to get conservation projects on the ground efficiently and effectively.

“President Trump has proposed this draconian budget in spite of the fact that 60 percent of American voters oppose cutting the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget – and 78 percent of Trump voters want the same or stronger clean air protections. Fouling our air and water will not make America great again. 

“President Trump’s budget shows a hostility to the programs that keep our air and water clean. The result will be more asthma attacks for our kids, more health problems for elderly Americans, and more pollution in our communities. We hope Members of Congress recognize the dangers of this budget proposal and choose to protect our bedrock environmental safeguards.” 

            - Fred Krupp, president, Environmental Defense Fund  

Read more about how EPA’s budget cuts could impact your state on our website

(Washington D.C. – May 23, 2017) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is delaying common sense standards to reduce methane and other toxic pollution from landfills – weeks after agency Administrator Scott Pruitt promised industry interests that he would.

Pruitt signed a notice yesterday to stay the safeguards for 90 days. The standards would reduce pollution from new and existing municipal solid waste landfills — the third largest industrial source of methane in the U.S. and a significant source of smog-forming pollutants and air toxics. 

“This action is the latest in a series of deeply concerning efforts Administrator Pruitt has taken to undermine core public health protections — actions taken in the dark, behind closed doors, and at the behest of powerful industry interests,” said EDF Lead Attorney Peter Zalzal. “Communities across the nation will bear the heavy pollution burden of secretive, unjustified delays in implementing common-sense clean air protections for landfill emissions.” 

EPA’s notice to stay the safeguards references a May 5^th letter that Pruitt sent to waste industry trade associations and to major landfill operators Waste Management and Republic which promised to suspend these protections. The letter was just made publicly available today – more than two weeks after it was sent – and the original industry requests from October of 2016 are not yet publicly available. The delays shield from public scrutiny actions that will have harmful effects in communities impacted by landfill pollution.  

EPA’s landfill pollution standards require greater use of widely-available and cost-effective systems to capture landfill gas pollution. EPA estimates that the standards will reduce climate destabilizing methane emissions by more than 330,000 metric tons — the equivalent of reducing 8.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide – in 2025.

The standards would also directly cut carbon dioxide by more than 300,000 metric tons and would reduce non-methane organic compounds by approximately 2,000 metric tons by 2025. The organic compounds include air toxics that cause serious harm to human health – including some that cause cancer. 

The standards would deliver up to 10 dollars in public benefits for every dollar spent.

EPA’s landfill pollution standards were last updated more than 20 years ago despite the Clean Air Act’s requirement that they be reviewed every 8 years. 

(NEW ORLEANS – May 23, 2017) Earlier today, President Trump unveiled a budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2018 that would significantly set back coastal restoration and protection efforts in Louisiana. The proposal upends the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA), which is a commitment from Congress to share offshore energy revenues with four of the Gulf states that are impacted by its production.

National and local conservation organizations committed to coastal Louisiana restoration – Environmental Defense Fund, National Wildlife Federation, National Audubon Society, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, and Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation – issued the following statement in response:

“We urge our Congressional leaders – particularly those who have experienced extreme weather and mega-storms like Katrina, and who understand that our communities rely on the restoration of wetlands and barrier shorelines for our safety and well-being – to fight this proposal with everything they can.

“Louisiana is home to a true working coast. Its people and industries feed and fuel our great nation, and rebuilding the coast protects vital national infrastructure. It is disappointing – to say the least – that the White House would leave Louisiana behind in this budget proposal. We look now to our Congressional leaders to make this right moving forward.”

• Under the law, Louisiana receives a percentage of GOMESA revenue generated in waters off the state’s coast – expected to reach hundreds of millions of dollars each year – every dollar of which is dedicated under the state’s constitution to protect and restore coastal Louisiana and the Mississippi River Delta.

• Additionally, the budget would cut funding to other regionally-based programs such as the EPA Gulf of Mexico Program, the EPA National Estuary Program, the EPA Lake Pontchartrain Restoration Program, the NOAA National Estuarine Research Reserves, the state Coastal Zone Management Programs, and the state Sea Grant Programs – all of which support restoration efforts throughout Louisiana and across the Gulf Coast.

“President Trump’s proposed 2018 budget is a full-scale attack on America’s most fundamental health and safety protections. It would gut our ability to keep our air and water clean, and would put the health of all Americans at risk.

“According to news reports, the proposed budget would slash the Environmental Protection Agency’s funding by 31 percent, even though it has already been cut to the bone – in real dollars, the agency’s budget is at almost its lowest level in 40 years.

“President Trump has proposed this draconian budget in spite of the fact that 60 percent of American voters oppose cutting the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget – and 78 percent of Trump voters want the same or stronger clean air protections. Fouling our air and water will not make America great again.

“President Trump’s budget shows a hostility to the programs that keep our air and water clean. The result will be more asthma attacks for our kids, more health problems for elderly Americans, and more pollution in our communities. We hope Members of Congress recognize the dangers of this budget proposal and choose to protect our bedrock environmental safeguards.”   

            - Fred Krupp, president, Environmental Defense Fund 

(HARRISBURG, Pa — May 22, 2017) Today the Pennsylvania legislature confirmed Patrick McDonnell to serve as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

“We are glad the Senate has finally confirmed Sec. McDonnell, so the agency can go about the business of protecting Pennsylvanians from the impacts of oil and gas development. Eight months is far too long for this critical agency to be without a confirmed leader. With Sec. McDonnell now confirmed, the Wolf administration should live up to its promises to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector.”

• Andrew Williams, Director, Regulatory and Legislative Affairs, US Climate and Energy

(Washington, D.C. – May 18, 2017) The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today agreed to pause litigation over common sense standards to reduce methane and other dangerous pollution from oil and gas sources.  

“The Environmental Protection Agency’s methane standards are already providing vital public health and environmental protections to communities across America,” said Peter Zalzal, Lead Attorney for Environmental Defense Fund, which is a party to the case. “We will continue to stand with Americans across the country to defend these clean air measures against any attempts to weaken or undermine them.”

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. The Environmental Protection Agency finalized standards last year to substantially reduce methane pollution from new and modified oil and gas facilities. The standards also reduce significant amounts of other dangerous pollutants, including smog-forming volatile organic compounds and toxic air pollutants like benzene. 

Oil and gas industry groups and several states challenged the standards in court. Last month, the Trump Administration asked the court to delay considering that litigation while the Environmental Protection Agency reviews and reconsiders – and likely weakens – the standards.

Today the court agreed to indefinitely delay the litigation (or “hold it in abeyance”). The court ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to report on its review every 60 days. 

These vital methane standards are in full force and effect providing cleaner, healthier air for families and communities across our nation.

The methane standards enjoy broad and cross-cutting public support, and they leverage proven methods for reducing emissions – using highly cost-effective technologies that help to capture natural gas that would otherwise be wasted. 

The standards reflect best practices that are firmly grounded in law and science and are already required by several major energy-producing states — including Colorado and Wyoming.

You can find more information – including all legal documents in the case – on EDF’s website.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Today, the American Petroleum Institute (API), an industry trade group, asked the Bureau of Land Management to postpone compliance dates for oil and gas companies to limit flaring, venting, and equipment leaks on public and tribal lands.

“Having lost in federal district court in Wyoming, and again last week in Congress, industry is wasting no time trying to find an alternative path to avoid implementing basic, long-overdue measures to reduce waste and protect public health. Americans strongly support these protections, and the rules as adopted already provide ample opportunities for the Secretary to grant flexibility to those wells and operators truly in need of it.

“Any changes to BLM’s safeguards to reduce waste must be made available to the public for comment before they are finalized, and must be based on sound evidence. BLM’s waste standards reflect proven, cost-effective best practices that are already being implemented by some leading companies and major energy-producing states, and are supported by a vast record reflecting years of public outreach and agency deliberation. We believe that there would be no valid basis for delaying these vital protections, and will defend vigorously against any effort to prevent them from being implemented.”

• Mark Brownstein, Vice President, U.S. Climate and Energy, Environmental Defense Fund

(COLUMBUS) The Ohio House’s Public Utilities Committee yesterday suspended further hearings on FirstEnergy’s nuclear subsidy proposal. The Ohio-based utility has been seeking a $5.25 billion bailout for its two nuclear reactors, which have been struggling to compete in the state’s competitive electricity market. Environmental Defense Fund has long opposed subsidies for FirstEnergy’s uneconomic power plants, but has supported comprehensive packages that advance investment and innovation in a clean-energy future.

“Hats off to the Ohio House’s Public Utilities Committee for stopping the hearings on FirstEnergy’s nuclear bailout plea, the latest in a long line of attempts to force Ohioans to pay for the utility’s mistakes. The decision reflects the growing, diverse coalition that is challenging unnecessary subsidies to FirstEnergy, which would raise electricity rates and hurt the state’s economy. We hope Ohio policymakers will instead focus on spurring investment and innovation in reliable, efficient, and clean energy markets.”

• Dick Munson, Director, Midwest Clean Energy

Today Governor Cuomo announced a plan to reduce methane emissions across the state – including emissions from the state’s oil and gas infrastructure. 

“Governor Cuomo should be commended for making New York a leader on reducing this powerful climate pollutant.  Many of the efforts in his plan will target pollution from the oil and gas industry – the exact kind of protections that American’s expect. With this action, New York is now among a growing number of states that are stepping up to take action on industry’s emissions.When the fate of our federal protections is uncertain, leadership like this is needed now more than ever.”

• Mark Brownstein, Vice President, U.S. Climate and Energy, Environmental Defense Fund

(Boston, MA) Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) today commended the pledge by DTE Energy, one of the largest utilities in Michigan, to reduce its carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050. The company plans to achieve these reductions by incorporating substantially more renewable energy, retiring a total of 11 coal plants by the early 2020s, and strengthening options for customers to save energy and reduce bills.

“A public commitment to system-wide carbon reductions of this magnitude is significant. DTE Energy deserves credit for its leadership to move away from coal, and expand investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency.  

“EDF expects that DTE Energy will also be a leader in addressing methane reductions across the natural gas supply chain to ensure its use will also help drive the greenhouse gas reductions to which the company is committing. We look forward to seeing this plan come to fruition in the next decades.”

• Gwen Ruta, Senior Vice President, EDF Climate and Energy Program

(Washington, D.C. – May 15, 2017) Environmental Defense Fund and a coalition of 14 other public health and environmental organizations filed a brief today urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to rule on the merits in the litigation over the Clean Power Plan, America’s only nationwide standards limiting harmful carbon pollution from existing fossil fuel power plants.   

“The Environmental Protection Agency has a clear responsibility under our nation’s clean air laws to protect the public from the massive quantities of harmful carbon pollution emitted by fossil fuel power plants,” said Tomás Carbonell, Lead Attorney for Environmental Defense Fund, which is a party to the case. “Americans in red and blue states alike have been waiting for the Environmental Protection Agency to fulfill that obligation for almost twenty years, and can’t afford any further delay in implementing the vital climate and health protections of the Clean Power Plan.”

Today’s filing by the public health and environmental organizations notes: 

“The Clean Air Act requires EPA to protect citizens from dangerous air pollutants.  The effort to curb power plants’ dangerous carbon dioxide pollution began nearly 20 years ago, and with each year of delay, the blanket of heat-trapping pollution in the atmosphere thickens … Once emitted, each additional ton of carbon dioxide causes harm that is irreversible: much of that carbon dioxide persists in the atmosphere  for centuries. Under the Clean Air Act, EPA must address that peril.” (Brief, pages 1 and 2)

Other parties supporting the Clean Power Plan also filed, or are expected to file, briefs today, including 18 states and 7 municipalities, power companies representing nearly 10 percent of the nation’s generation, and associations representing America’s vibrant $200 billion clean energy industry. 

The briefs all respond to a D.C. Circuit order issuing a temporary abeyance in the case. The court directed all parties to the litigation to submit briefs on whether to continue the abeyance or instead terminate the case and hand the Clean Power Plan back to the Environmental Protection Agency for further review (known as “remand”).

The Clean Power Plan is a common sense climate and public health protection that will reduce harmful carbon pollution from existing power plants – one of the nation’s largest sources of that pollution. The Clean Power Plan is expected to save thousands of lives each year once it is implemented.  

Coal producers, coal-intensive power companies, and their political allies have been waging a massive, years-long litigation campaign to obstruct this safeguard – a campaign that recently got an assist when the Trump Administration issued an executive order that took aim at the Clean Power Plan and many other vital clean air protections. Just hours after that executive order was signed, the Administration filed a motion in the D.C. Circuit demanding an indefinite pause in the litigation while the Environmental Protection Agency undertakes the long process of reviewing – and likely rescinding or weakening – the Clean Power Plan.

As legal experts have noted, and as the health and environmental groups argue in their brief, the Administration’s arguments in favor of its request to place the Clean Power Plan litigation in indefinite abeyance have little force in this situation, where massive investments of resources have already been made by the court and all the parties to the case. Because the Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 to temporarily block enforcement of the Clean Power Plan for the duration of the litigation, the Administration’s motion for abeyance would also indefinitely delay the enforcement of these urgently needed and long-overdue limits on carbon pollution.  

Regardless of how the court rules on today’s filings, there is firm legal precedent establishing that the Environmental Protection Agency has a clear legal obligation to protect the public from carbon pollution. The Supreme Court has affirmed the agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act three times since 2007, including affirming its authority to limit carbon pollution from power plants under the Clean Air Act provision that is the basis for the Clean Power Plan. 

Environmental Defense Fund stands ready and resolved – together with millions of Americans across the country – to ensure that the Environmental Protection Agency fulfills that vital obligation. 

You can find more information – including all legal documents in the case – on EDF’s website.

(WASHINGTON – May 11, 2017) Today, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced a massive reorganization of the agency. Among other changes, the Secretary plans to create a new Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation to oversee the Farm Service Agency (FSA), the Risk Management Agency (RMA), and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Previously, NRCS reported to the Undersecretary of Natural Resources and the Environment, and both RMA and FSA reported to the Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services. 

“On the surface, combining conservation and farm productivity programs makes sense, since sustainability is almost always good for a producer’s bottom line. Reducing duplication and bureaucracy between these agencies could streamline efforts to implement conservation practices while protecting farmers’ incomes. However, a lot remains to be seen and will depend on who fills the Undersecretary position. We’re advocating for someone committed to the long-term success of production agriculture, strong environmental outcomes, and programs that improve farm resiliency. 

Ultimately, as long as conservation priorities do not take a back seat to farm production goals, both the environment and farmers can benefit. Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA) funding and outreach should remain a top priority under the new organization. CTA provides the experts, tools, and resources needed to support farmers, and it ensures the best investment of conservation dollars.”

-         Callie Eideberg, Senior Policy Manager, EDF Ecosystems Program 

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