Complete list of press releases

(Harrisburg, PA – December 8, 2016) Pennsylvania officially took the first step toward improved air quality as the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced new draft general permits to reduce methane emissions and other pollution emitted by Pennsylvania’s natural gas facilities. The permits were presented today at a meeting of the DEP’s Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee (AQTAC). These are the first state standards that directly address oil and gas methane pollution in Pennsylvania.

Methane and other industry emissions can worsen air quality, increase global warming and result in unnecessary waste of natural gas resources. The draft permits require natural gas operators to check new equipment for leaks on a quarterly basis. Companies must then attempt to repair the leak within five calendar days.

Smart, Proven Standards

According to recent data from the Environmental Protection Agency, Pennsylvania’s oil and gas producers emit 100,000 tons of methane a year. Leaks are one of the leading sources of emissions, and EPA finds quarterly inspections are effective at reducing 80% of leaks, where annual inspections reduce only 40%.

With today’s proposal, the Wolf administration moves forward with its four-point plan to reduce methane emissions from natural gas operations, a plan announced in January 2016. The plan also calls for standards that will reduce leaks at existing oil and gas facilities, and for companies to establish best management practices for reducing emissions from the production, gathering, transmission and distribution sectors.

“Today, Governor Tom Wolf took an important step to follow through on his commitment to protect Pennsylvania families from the impacts of oil and gas development,” said Andrew Williams, Senior State Regulatory and Legislative Affairs Manager for Environmental Defense Fund. “These commonsense controls are cost-effective, readily available and already used by many Pennsylvania companies. We still have a long way to go but today, Pennsylvania has served notice to industry claims that these measures have no environmental benefit when they absolutely do.”

(Washington, D.C. – December 6, 2016) If press reports are accurate, President-elect Donald Trump today nominated Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to be Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a decision that EDF president Fred Krupp called “deeply troubling.”

“President-elect Trump’s choice for EPA Administrator has a record of attacking the environmental protections that EPA is charged with enforcing,” said Krupp. “Every President-elect has a right to assemble his team, and many nominations are approved by a simple voice vote in the Senate. Scott Pruitt has built his political career by trying to undermine EPA’s mission of environmental protection. He is a deeply troubling choice to head the agency that protects the clean air all Americans breathe and the clean water we drink. Our country needs – and deserves – an EPA Administrator who is guided by science, who respects America’s environmental laws, and who values protecting the health and safety of all Americans ahead of the lobbying agenda of special interests.”

Since becoming Oklahoma’s top legal officer in 2011, Scott Pruitt has sued EPA to stop vital protections for public health – including standards for reducing the soot and smog pollution that crosses state lines; protections against emissions of mercury, arsenic, acid gases and other toxic pollutants from power plants; and standards to improve air quality in national parks and wilderness areas. These common-sense efforts to cut pollution will save lives, prevent brain damage in children, and reduce asthma attacks. In all, the Clean Air Act has saved more than a hundred thousand lives each year, and reduced heart disease and other serious conditions. The benefits have outweighed costs by more than 30 to 1. Since the Clean Air Act was passed, we’ve decreased emissions of common pollutants by 70 percent while our national Gross Domestic Product tripled and private sector jobs almost doubled.

Mr. Pruitt has also questioned “the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind.” He claims, falsely, that the climate “debate is far from settled.”

The New York Times reported in 2014 that Mr. Pruitt led an “unprecedented, secretive alliance” with large energy companies to attack clean air rules. According to the newspaper, Mr. Pruitt sent letters to senior federal officials that had been written by industry lawyers. He also received more than three hundred thousand dollars in campaign contributions from those industries.

“This is not the leadership America needs. Mr. Pruitt’s confirmation would ensure we are left behind as we move toward a global clean energy economy,” said Krupp. “A majority of Americans of both parties support the vital safeguards that keep our air and water clean. We at EDF will continue fighting for America’s environmental protections, because they improve all our lives.”

(Washington, D.C. – December 07, 2016)  Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) became the first energy company in the U.S. to pilot an innovative methane detection device developed for the Methane Detectors Challenge (MDC), a groundbreaking partnership between Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), oil and gas companies and distributors, U.S.-based technology developers, and other experts.

The technology, which is being tested as a tool to continuously monitor for unplanned releases of methane, was installed last month at a PG&E natural gas storage facility in northern California.

Methane, the key component of natural gas, is emitted across the U.S. oil and gas supply chain at a rate of more than 9.8 million metric tons per year. Technologies that continuously detect methane emissions offer opportunities to not only improve air quality and operational efficiency, but also recapture resources that would otherwise be wasted—all while limiting contributions to climate change. About 25 percent of today’s global warming is driven by emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

Continuous 24-hour monitoring offered by this technology could cut the time it takes to detect leaks from months to hours. This would lead to improved environmental performance and operational efficiency of gas infrastructure.

“At PG&E, we believe that climate change is, in fact, a reality and we maintain a steadfast conviction to doing all we can to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The State of California has set clear goals regarding emissions reductions, which PG&E proudly supports and is actively working to help achieve. This work with EDF and innovative methane detection technologies will be instrumental to this effort as well as our support of industry partners as they set and achieve their own emissions reductions goals,” said Gas Regulatory Senior Director Jim Howe.

The low-cost laser technology being piloted by PG&E was developed by Acutect Inc., a San-Francisco-based startup company. The Acutect technology was selected as one of 20 submissions received as part of the Methane Detectors Challenge, which aims to catalyze and bring to market new technologies that quickly detect methane leaks. By working with EDF’s oil, gas and utility partners, Acutect will gain insight and data about how its solar-powered design performs under field conditions.

“The Methane Detectors Challenge created the framework through which I was able to bring together a Chinese manufacturer of laser-based methane detection components and a team of product development engineers I’d previously helped spin out of Carnegie-Mellon, SenSevere LLC,” said Peter Foller, founder of Acutect Inc. “After our technology successfully made it through third party testing during the Methane Detectors Challenge, Acutect is now in licensing negotiations with a well-established supplier of industrial sensing solutions. We feel we will be able to, together with this licensee, go to market on a national scale.”

The pilot conducted by PG&E will study the reliability, accuracy and durability of the technology over three months in a true field setting.

“The U.S. oil and gas industry loses about $2 billion of natural gas a year from leaks at dispersed sites, much of them undetected for months due to lack of continuous monitoring,” said Aileen Nowlan, manager of the Methane Detectors Challenge. “By building bridges between innovators and customers that need scalable solutions, EDF is accelerating technologies that can help the oil and gas industry improve operations and forging solutions that build safer communities and let the planet thrive.”

The entrepreneurs participating in the Methane Detectors Challenge are part of a growing U.S. sector focused on helping oil and gas operators control emissions. By advancing technologies to market, this innovative partnership is adding to the pool of more than 75 U.S. companies creating jobs by offering solutions to the methane problem.

The partnership will reach another major milestone in 2017 when Statoil, a leading energy company in oil and gas production, conducts real-world pilot testing of another laser-based technology developed by Quanta3, a Colorado startup founded specifically to participate in the Methane Detectors Challenge.

Learn more about the EDF-led Methane Detectors Challenge at edf.org/methanedetectorschallenge.

(NEW YORK – December 5, 2016) Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, announced today it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions in its U.S. supply chain 25 percent by 2025. Smithfield is the first major livestock company to set an absolute supply chain goal to reduce the emissions that cause climate change. 

The reductions will generate benefits for the environment and rural economies by improving fertilizer use on feed grain, installing improved manure management technologies, and increasing energy efficiency in processing and transportation. The company’s manure management improvements will nearly eliminate emissions of methane, a potent climate pollutant, on the farms where they are installed. Manure management changes can also benefit communities by substantially reducing emissions of ammonia nitrogen – which is linked to human respiratory illness and impaired water quality – and reducing other gases that can cause odor.

“Smithfield’s new commitment is impressive,” said Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp. “It shows that environmental progress goes hand-in-hand with strong agricultural and thriving rural economies. The actions Smithfield takes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will generate important benefits not only for our climate, but also for clean water, human health, and quality of life in rural communities.

“Smithfield has challenging work ahead to achieve its goal,” Krupp added, “and success will require collaboration with farmers and others throughout the agriculture industry. We commend Smithfield’s leadership and urge other agricultural corporations to make ambitious commitments to protect our natural resources.”

“Today’s announcement by the Army Corps of Engineers to consider alternative routes for the Dakota Access Pipeline makes right a great wrong inflicted on the Standing Rock Sioux. Tribal rights and community concerns can never be satisfied when government proceeds in a bureaucratic ‘check the box’ manner as was the case here. The Army Corps of Engineers is to be commended for having the courage to take a second, more meaningful look at this situation.”

-                    Dan Grossman, Rocky Mountain Regional Director, Environmental Defense Fund

(December 2, 2016) Fifteen national, regional, tribal and local public health and environmental groups representing millions of Americans took legal steps today to defend new standards that will reduce natural gas waste on public and tribal lands, protect public health, and guard against climate change.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) standards, finalized in November, will limit the amount of natural gas that oil and gas companies can leak, vent, or flare on the hundreds of millions of acres of federal and tribal lands in the U.S. – a problem that not only costs industry money in waste but costs taxpayers millions of dollars and results in harmful air pollution. Two oil and gas industry groups challenged the rule within 40 minutes of its release. The states of Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota have also challenged the rule.

Today, 15 health and environmental groups filed a motion with the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming seeking to enter the case on the side of BLM and defend the standards.

“Lessees wasted over 462 billion cubic feet (“bcf”) of natural gas on public and tribal lands between 2009 and 2015 — enough gas to serve about 6.2 million households for a year … As a result of this waste, States, Tribes and federal taxpayers are losing millions of dollars annually in royalty revenue that could be used to fund schools, health care, and infrastructure,” the groups said in their motion.

“Because wasted natural gas is comprised largely of methane — a powerful greenhouse gas — the Rule will also help to reduce the significant climate impacts of oil and gas development on federal and Indian leases … Additionally, the Rule will benefit communities suffering the impacts of such development by reducing emissions of smog-forming compounds and carcinogens, like benzene … BLM estimates that the Rule could have net benefits of up to $204 million per year.” (Motion page 1)

The groups petitioning to intervene in the case are the Wyoming Outdoor Council, Center for Biological Diversity, Citizens for a Healthy Community, Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment, Environmental Defense Fund, Environmental Law & Policy Center, Montana Environmental Information Center, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, San Juan Citizens Alliance, Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, Western Organization of Resource Councils, Wilderness Workshop, and WildEarth Guardians. Several of these parties are represented by counsel from Clean Air Task Force, Earthjustice, and the Western Environmental Law Center.

You can find all the legal documents in the case here.

(SPRINGFIELD– December 1, 2016) In a bipartisan victory, Illinois lawmakers today passed the Future Energy Jobs Bill. The bill will fix Illinois’s Renewable Portfolio Standard and significantly expand the state’s successful energy efficiency programs, lowering harmful pollution and customers’ electric bills.

“Today, Illinois passed the most significant clean energy economic development package in the state’s history, bringing Illinois one step closer to a cleaner, more reliable energy system. The Future Energy Jobs Bill will help people save money on their electric bills, create jobs, and bring more than ten billion investment dollars into the state. Illinois now stands at the forefront of a smarter, healthier energy future.”

• Andrew Barbeau, Senior Consultant, Clean Energy

(Washington, D.C. – November 30, 2016) America’s Clean Car Standards will remain strong, and continue to protect families from dangerous air pollution while helping them save money, under a proposal announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today. 

EPA announced that the Clean Car Standards “remain appropriate and that a rulemaking to change them is not warranted.”

“The Clean Cars Standards are already protecting both Americans’ lungs and their wallets, and they are doing it while driving innovations in car design that are creating jobs and helping automakers earn money,” said Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense Fund. “Keeping the Clean Car Standards strong makes sense for all of us. Today’s proposal is welcome good news, and will keep us moving in the right direction.” 

EPA is undertaking a mid-term review of the historic Clean Car Standards. The review, which includes extensive feedback from the auto industry and the public, will determine whether to adjust the target goals for model year 2022 to 2025 vehicles.   

Today, EPA proposed that the strong, protective standards are working well and can remain in place. 

Among their findings:

• The current standards will save consumers money and provide benefits to the health and welfare of Americans.

• Automakers have outperformed the standards for the first four years of the program (from model year 2012 to 2015) and manufacturers are adopting fuel efficient technologies at unprecedented rates – all while vehicle sales have increased for 6 consecutive years.

• There are more than 100 car, SUV, and pickup versions on the market today that already meet 2020 or later standards.

• Auto manufacturers can meet the model year 2022 to 2025 standards at slightly lower costs than predicted when the standards were finalized in 2012.

EPA will now hold a public comment period on the proposal that will end on December 30, 2016.

The Clean Car Standards are already increasing fuel economy in our cars, reducing unhealthy air pollution, and helping families save money at the gas pump. The current standards build from the first phase of standards adopted earlier for model years 2012 to 2016. The overall U.S. Clean Cars program is expected to double the average fuel economy of the nation’s fleet of cars and light trucks, and has won widespread support from automakers and unions alike.

You can find more about the Clean Car standards on EDF’s website.

“As winter settles on the Northern Plains, the standoff in North Dakota over the Dakota Access Pipeline grows more perilous. While the tribal, environmental and economic interests of this issue are complex, we urge all sides to exercise non-violence and respect for the rights of both private property and free speech.

“Governor Jack Dalrymple’s executive order directing protestors to leave federal lands immediately, the eviction notice from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the announcement by the Morton County Sheriff that people and supplies will be blocked from reaching the camp site are all ominous and worrisome developments. 

“While the Army Corps has clarified it has ‘no plans for forcible removal,’ threats to withhold emergency services to campers and blockade supplies to the settlement raise serious concerns about the safety of those protesting the Dakota  Access Pipeline. Law enforcement and private security personnel have used force against Native American protesters as recently as Thanksgiving week. This must stop. Images of protesters being sprayed with fire hoses in freezing temperatures have moved many Americans, regardless of their beliefs about the merits and demerits of the pipeline, to voice support for those braving the elements to exercise their First Amendment rights. 

“We remain hopeful that the continued litigation over the Dakota Access Pipeline will result in more comprehensive review of the cultural and environmental impacts of the project. And we reemphasize that violence in any form – either in support or opposition to this project – is wholly unacceptable.”

            - Dan Grossman, Rocky Mountain Regional Director, Environmental Defense Fund

(LONDON – 30 November, 2016) The European Commission today published the “Winter Package,” a major energy policy update, calling the Investor Confidence Project Europe (ICP Europe) a “best practice” to maximize investment in buildings requiring energy efficiency upgrades and advance clean energy market reforms. The new package outlines legislative proposals for Energy Union governance, electricity market design and the review of key directives on the energy performance of buildings, energy efficiency and renewables.

“The potential of the Investor Confidence Project to develop good practice in de-risking energy efficiency investments has been recognised and described in the Commission Staff Working Document on good practice in energy efficiency that accompanies the Energy Efficiency Directive legislative proposal adopted today,“ said Paul Hodson, Head of the European Commission’s energy efficiency unit. “The ICP approach addresses the needs of investors looking for standardised projects that reduce the time, risk and costs involved in funding energy efficiency building retrofits.”

ICP Europe is a project of Environmental Defense Fund to standardise energy efficiency upgrades in a way that makes them more attractive to investors and building owners alike. ICP investor-ready projects are accredited against industry standards and best practices, which ultimately grants them the Investor Ready Energy Efficiency™ (IREE) certification. This reduces transaction costs and increases confidence in energy savings to help engage private capital and scale up energy efficiency investments globally.

“Today’s endorsement will accelerate energy efficiency deal-flow and help us reach the €100 billion per year needed to meet the European Union’s energy security and environmental goals,” said Panama Bartholomy, Director of ICP Europe. “Together with our Investor Network and our partnership with Green Business Certification Inc., ICP is on its way to becoming the premier global underwriting standard for energy efficiency projects around the world.”

Members of the ICP Europe’s Investor Network, which brings together investors with over €1 billion available for energy efficiency retrofit projects, welcomed the endorsement. Charter Investor Network members include the European Energy Efficiency Fund administered by Deutsche Bank, SUSI Partners, The Carbon and Energy Fund, Menhaden Capital, Joule Assets, Royal Bank of Scotland and Banco BPI.

Many voices in the private and non-profit sector also praised the European Commission’s recommendation of ICP.

“In many ways, the energy efficiency opportunity seems too good to be true: profits from waste, jobs from new investments, cleaner air and savings for customers.  If member states follow the European Commission’s endorsement and use the Investor Confidence Project in public funds leveraging energy efficiency investment, the financial community will have far more confidence in these outcomes.”  – Jessica Stromback, Chairwoman, Joule Assets Europe 

“Our retrofit project in Liverpool was the first in Europe to receive the Investor Confidence Project’s Investor Ready Energy Efficiency™(IREE) certification. Now, we have £100 million worth of projects in the pipeline that will be certified – a clear signal to the market we are open for business.” – David Mackey, Director, Carbon and Energy Fund. 

“The European Commission’s endorsement of ICP as a standard approach to energy efficiency investments not only means that financiers can take advantage of a market with tremendous potential, but also makes legislation work for the environment.” – Ben Goldsmith, CEO, Menhaden Capital Management Ltd.

“Standardized energy upgrade approaches such as the Investor Confidence Project accelerate project progress, facilitating a more structured project development approach, which greatly enables access to financing.” – Lada Strelnikova, Director, Deutsche Asset Management and Investment Manager for the European Energy Efficiency Fund (eeef), which provides financing for energy efficiency projects in the public sector in Europe. 

Interested parties can find more information on ICP Europe’s Investor Network here. For further details, please email panama.bartholomy@eeperformance.org.

EDF Statement on EPA First Ten Chemicals Under Reformed TSCA
List Marks Progress Under New Chemical Safety Law

(November 29, 2016)  Today, EDF released the following statement upon EPA’s announcement of the first ten chemicals to be reviewed under the reformed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA):

“Earlier this year, Congress overwhelmingly passed legislation to fix our main chemical safety law. Today’s announcement is an important mark of progress under the new law and an important step forward for America’s health. The potentially dangerous chemicals on this list are long overdue for attention from EPA. This action is a sign that the reformed law, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, is on the right track. As directed by Congress, EPA is meeting this first of many deadlines for decisions under the law. We expect that process to continue in order to give both consumers and industry new confidence in our chemical safety system.

“This science-based process will ultimately lead to a safer, healthier world for our children and grandchildren.” 

(HARRISBURG, PA. — Nov. 23, 2016) The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection today released a draft of new permits that will reduce the amount of methane and other pollution that oil and gas companies emit in Pennsylvania.

Statement from Andrew Williams, Senior State Regulatory and Legislative Affairs Manager

“Reducing oil and gas methane emissions is essential to protecting air quality and conserving an important domestic energy resource. Common sense methane controls — such as those proposed by the Wolf administration today — are cost-effective, present economic opportunities in the methane mitigation industry, and benefit public health, the environment and energy security.  We will review the proposal carefully over the coming days but we are pleased that Governor Wolf is following through on his commitment to protect Pennsylvania’s families from the impacts of oil and gas development.”

• Andrew Williams, Senior State Regulatory and Legislative Affairs Manager, Environmental Defense Fund

(November 22, 2016) New standards that will reduce the waste of a valuable natural resource, protect the climate, and save American taxpayers tens of millions of dollars are now facing a legal challenge.

The standards will limit the amount of valuable natural gas that oil and gas companies can leak, vent, or flare on the 245 million acres of federal and tribal lands – a problem that worsens climate change and if unaddressed could cost taxpayers millions of dollars over the next decade. 

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) finalized the protections just one week ago, and the Attorneys General of Wyoming and Montana as well as oil and gas industry groups the Western Energy Alliance (WEA) and Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) have already sued in an attempt to stop these needed protections. 

“It’s unfortunate that opponents of the BLM standards have chosen to waste yet more taxpayer money to block commonsense protections that will prevent the waste of a valuable public resource,” said EDF Lead Attorney Peter Zalzal. “BLM’s waste prevention standards are legally and technically sound, they’ll help protect our families’ health and our climate, and they’ll recoup tens of millions of dollars for American taxpayers that are now being left on the table. EDF intends to vigorously defend the BLM standards.” 

Elected officials and thousands of community members from across the West have voiced support for BLM’s efforts to reduce waste. In a recent bipartisan poll, 80 percent of respondents in the Western U.S. supported the BLM’s common sense efforts to curtail waste of this valuable resource.  

Methane is the main component of natural gas, and is also a potent greenhouse gas that exacerbates climate change when it’s leaked into the atmosphere. That leakage is also a waste of natural gas that could otherwise be used – and sold to the benefit of the federal treasury, states and tribes.  

A recent study from ICF International found that in 2013 drilling on federal and tribal lands– mostly in the rural Western U.S. – leaked natural gas worth about $330 million. An analysis from the Western Values Project estimates taxpayers could lose almost $800 million over the next decade if wasteful venting and flaring practices continue. 

BLM’s standards will reduce the waste of this important domestic energy resource, and will help protect communities across the West that are impacted by oil and gas operations. The standards require use of low-cost, readily-available technologies to capture methane – technologies that are already being deployed by industry leaders and several states across the west to reduce pollution and curtail waste. 

The case will be heard by Judge Scott Skavdahl in the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming. Briefing and argument dates have not been announced yet. 

(Washington, D.C. – November 21, 2016) Coal companies, coal-based power companies, and their allies have filed their opening legal brief in the latest attack against the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards – a life-saving clean air measure that is already implemented and successfully protecting children across America from brain damage and adults from other serious illnesses.

“The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards are already in place, cost-effective, and vitally important for protecting the health of American families from some of the most deadly types of air pollution,” said Graham McCahan, Senior Attorney for Environmental Defense Fund. “It is time for polluters and their allies to stop attacking these critical clean air safeguards that protect our children – and all Americans – from the single largest source of toxic air pollution.” 

EDF is a party to the case, and will join a broad coalition of supporters to defend the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards in court.

The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards set the first-ever national limits on hazardous air pollutants – including mercury, arsenic, chromium, and hydrochloric acid gas – from power plants, the largest source of those pollutants. 

The pollutants covered by the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards are dangerous to human health even in small doses — mercury causes brain damage in infants and children, metal toxics like chromium and nickel cause cancer, and acid gases cause respiratory problems. The Mercury Standards will prevent up to 11,000 deaths and tens of thousands of other serious health problems each year.

The standards are already in place, protecting Americans from dangerous pollutants. And since 2011, major power companies have dramatically reduced their estimates of the costs to comply with the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, while the body of scientific evidence supporting them continues to grow. However, polluters and their allies continue suing to stop them. 

When EPA issued the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards in 2011, it found that the public health benefits of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards were up to $90 billion annually, and far exceeded compliance costs. However, in June 2015, a sharply divided Supreme Court ruled 5-to-4 that EPA should have also considered the costs in its initial, or threshold, decision to regulate these hazardous emissions from power plants. EPA had considered costs in establishing the resulting emissions standards. (EDF was a party to the case.)

EPA then fulfilled the Supreme Court’s directives with a final supplemental finding confirming that the cost of compliance for the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards is eminently reasonable when considered in light of the serious public health and environmental hazards of toxic emissions from power plants. Polluters and states challenged the final finding; this latest brief, which was filed on Friday, is the first merits briefs in that lawsuit. 

You can find more about the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, including all legal briefs, on EDF’s website. 

“Throughout his career in Congress, Senator Tom Carper has worked to protect Americans from polluted air and water, from the dangers of climate change, from toxic chemicals, and from other environmental hazards. Senator Carper has worked tirelessly to support environmental initiatives – and to stop legislation that would have gutted our environmental protections.

“Now those protections are more threatened than ever before, so we are especially grateful for Senator Carper’s leadership. The announcement that Senator Carper will serve as Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in the 115^th Congress is welcome news to those who of us who are fighting for clean air, clean energy, and a safer future for our children. 

“We congratulate Senator Carper, and look forward to working with him in his new capacity as Ranking Member to protect the health and safety of American families.”

            - Fred Krupp, president, Environmental Defense Fund