Complete list of press releases

 

“According to a Wall Street Journal report, at their summit meeting tomorrow President Obama and Prime Minister Trudeau are poised to elevate the crucial importance of controlling methane. If the report proves accurate, and President Obama commits to controlling methane from existing oil and gas facilities, it marks a new level of collaboration and will be a watershed moment in the fight to get serious about this potent climate pollutant. Prime Minister Trudeau’s reported pledge to reduce methane emissions from oil-and-gas operations by 40 percent to 45 percent in the next decade makes clear that this issue has taken on international scope and urgency. I thank them for their leadership and look forward to learning more details about these new commitments, as well as other aspects of the joint U.S.-Canada climate strategy, later today.”

 

                    - Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense Fund

(NEW ORLEANS – March 8, 2016) Today, the Restore the Mississippi River Delta Coalition sent a letter to President Obama signed by 330 groups, ranging from local governments and business and industry to environmental organizations and community groups, in response to his 2017 proposed budget that redirects funds from the Gulf of Mexico Energy and Security Act (GOMESA) away from Gulf Coast restoration. In the letter, the signers urge the President to reconsider, saying the move would weaken Louisiana’s ability to address its severe land loss crisis for the benefit of the region and the country.

“You have demonstrated a long-standing commitment to Louisiana’s ongoing recovery and its importance to the nation,” the groups stated in the letter. “We believe your proposal to redistribute GOMESA dollars is inconsistent with that very worthy commitment, and we were disappointed to see it again as a part of the budget discussion this year.” The letter continues, “The restoration of coastal Louisiana’s wetlands is one of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time. The Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA) will soon provide the only consistent source of federal funds to continue its implementation.”

The U.S. Congress passed GOMESA in 2006 by an overwhelming majority, authorizing the sharing of 37.5 percent of revenues from oil and gas leasing activities with the five Gulf states. Other states receive 50 percent of revenues from similar activity that occurs on their lands, with no restrictions on how to use the money. At the time of passage of GOMESA, advocates argued that the Gulf states should receive similar treatment, as they support and bear the effects of these activities.  

The letter concludes, “We respectfully request that you reconsider that approach as you work with us and our communities to build the kind of long term resilience we can achieve.”

Revenue sharing from GOMESA is set to begin in earnest in 2017. GOMESA funding is critical to implementing the state’s Coastal Master Plan – a science-based blueprint that ties ecosystem restoration with community protection and resiliency. In 2006, Louisiana voters constitutionally dedicated this funding stream to the state’s Coastal Trust Fund, which supports master plan implementation.

“This move is not only bad for Louisiana, it’s bad for the nation, as it threatens the Louisiana communities, industries and wildlife that help feed and fuel our entire country,” said Steve Cochran, Campaign Director for the Restore the Mississippi River Delta Coalition.

Read the letter in full along with all signers here.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced an update of its mitigation policy to help counteract the extinction crisis with stronger, more consistent standards for offsetting impacts to wildlife.

The following is a statement by Eric Holst, associate vice president of working lands at Environmental Defense Fund:

“By creating stronger and more consistent standards, I am hopeful that this new mitigation policy will create a more efficient and effective means for safeguarding our nation’s iconic wildlife, from the greater sage-grouse in the West to the gopher tortoise in the Southeast, from California’s Chinook salmon to the beloved North American monarch butterfly.

“This guidance has been long sought after by industries, landowners and the conservation community. The existing policy was created in 1981 and has not been able to meet 21^st century conservation demands, as evidenced by the hundreds of species awaiting listing decisions under the Endangered Species Act.

“With new threats posed by climate change, the time is ripe for policy that reflects the latest developments in science and economics. We now have the ability to better quantify impacts to species and habitats, and to trigger market mechanisms like habitat exchanges that create net benefit, ensuring long-term success. We also have the ability now to create conservation at an unprecedented scale and pace, to achieve results for an entire landscape.

“Today’s policy will help us tap into these advanced, landscape-scale approaches to maximize mitigation dollars, and to help unlock the vast, untapped conservation potential of America’s private working lands to protect wildlife.

“Now that the Service has committed to raising the bar, there is a clear path for all federal agencies to follow. Next up will be the Bureau of Land Management as it develops its regional mitigation plans for the greater sage-grouse – the largest-ever wildlife conservation effort on public lands.”

Today, Chief Justice John Roberts denied an emergency application filed by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette and allied Attorneys General to “stay” our nation’s landmark limits on toxic pollution from power plant smokestacks. The request for an emergency stay follows on the heels of the Supreme Court’s 5-to-4 decision to grant a highly unusual emergency stay of the Clean Power Plan. It also follows news of a disastrous health crisis in Michigan because of lead-contaminated drinking water in Flint. Both lead and mercury are highly toxic and linked to brain damage in children.

Yesterday, EDF and 15 states, the District of Columbia, the cities of New York, Chicago and Baltimore, the NAACP, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Lung Association, the American Nurses Association, and many others vigorously opposed the stay application.

“We call on the state Attorneys General to end the litigation on these lifesaving rules and to protect our children from the poisons in our air and water. The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards are safeguarding millions of American children from poisons such as mercury, arsenic and acid gases,” said Vickie Patton, general counsel for EDF, which is a party to the case. “While the children of Flint were being poisoned by lead in drinking water, the Michigan Attorney General was using hard-earned tax payer dollars to try to block our nation’s first-ever and long overdue limits on the air toxics discharged by coal plants.”

The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards set the first-ever national limits on hazardous air pollutants from power plants, including mercury, arsenic, chromium, and hydrochloric acid gas. Power plants are our nation’s single largest source of those pollutants, which are dangerous to human health even in small doses – mercury causes brain damage in children, metal toxics like chromium and nickel cause cancer, and acid gases cause respiratory problems.

Last June, a sharply divided Supreme Court remanded the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards to the D.C. Circuit Court. The Supreme Court ruled that the EPA must consider the costs of regulation in making its threshold determination whether it is “appropriate and necessary” to regulate hazardous air pollution from power plants.

EPA issued a proposed supplemental finding, considering costs through a range of different assessments, that it is “appropriate and necessary” to establish emissions standards for these toxic contaminants, and has indicated that its proposed supplemental finding will be completed by mid-April. Despite the fact that EPA will complete its finding in just a few weeks, a group of states led by the Attorney General of Michigan asked the Supreme Court for an emergency stay of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards last week. 

The D.C. Circuit Court unanimously rejected requests for a stay in December.

You can find more about the history of the case and all the legal briefs on EDF’s website.

(NEW ORLEANS – March 3, 2016) The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) today launched NutrientStar, a new independent, science-based program that reviews the performance of commercially available nutrient management tools.

Nitrogen fertilizer is one of the most important inputs in agriculture, but up to 50 percent of nutrients applied are not absorbed by crops, leading to air and water pollution and wasted money for farmers, who spend approximately half of their input costs (seed, nutrients, and chemicals) on fertilizer. 

Major food companies are launching sustainable sourcing programs to reduce fertilizer runoff, improve air and water quality, and reduce the risk of supply chain disruptions. Precision agriculture tools, in particular those that improve nutrient management, can help farmers meet this demand and reduce fertilizer losses, but little data is publicly available on how these tools work in the field.

“NutrientStar will showcase how well products work in real-world farming scenarios,” said Karen Chapman, agricultural sustainability project manager at EDF and administrator of the NutrientStar program. “NutrientStar’s independent science review panel conducts rigorous assessments of all tools on the market, particularly looking at on-farm field trials, to determine how a tool works in croplands, in different regions, and on different soil types.”

Fertilizer management tools reviewed through NutrientStar include enhanced efficiency fertilizer compounds, such as nitrogen stabilizers, and decision support tools, such as optical sensor technologies or models used to aid nutrient applications in the field. Tools and products already assessed or soon to be assessed include:

• Adapt-N (made by Agronomic Technology Corp.), an online software program that uses a linked crop model and soil model to estimate nitrogen rates for individual fields or areas within fields.
• Fertilizer management products including N-Serve® (made by Dow AgroSciences); AGROTAIN®, AGROTAIN PLUS®, and SUPER U® (made by Koch Agronomic Services).
• Reviews being made public this spring include: Nutrisphere N (made by Verdesian); Instinct II (made by Dow AgroSciences), ESN (made by Agrium); DCD; Thiosulfate; and, Slow Release Foliar N products made from methylene urea.

Assessments later in 2016 will focus on Fieldview Pro Nitrogen Advisor (made by Climate Corporation) and Encirca (made by DuPont Pioneer).

“NutrientStar is the first-ever review program to provide famers, their advisors, and agricultural supply chain companies with reliable data on the performance of these popular tools,” added John McGuire, EDF advisor and precision agriculture expert. “Farmers need certainty that the tools they purchase will work as advertised.”

An independent review panel, composed of leading soil and agronomy scientists from across the country, establishes the criteria for NutrientStar review. The panel assesses tools based upon available data demonstrating their ability to improve nutrient use efficiency, defined as unit of yield over unit of applied nutrient, in the field. NutrientStar review will also show yield impacts from use of a tool and summarize key characteristics important to farmers and advisors such as cost/benefit, ease of use, and required data inputs.

The NutrientStar program also establishes guidelines for field testing nutrient-use efficiency tools, setting standards and providing a geographical framework that can substantially advance the research agenda in ways that will benefit the entire agriculture industry.   

NutrientStar assessments provide numerous other benefits, including:

• Farmers gain confidence by knowing that the nutrient management tools they purchase will work as advertised to reduce fertilizer losses, improve soil health, lower input costs, and maintain yields. Farmers can also showcase their stewardship to food companies and suppliers by using the NutrientStar review to inform their decisions.
• Ag retailers and crop advisors earn a competitive advantage by offering field-tested and geographically relevant products to their grower customers.
• Food companies improve transparency with customers, more easily navigate the fertilizer management world, and can now directly support farmers in implementing on-farm conservation practices.
• Agribusinesses ensure they are offering the most competitive, farm-tested products to growers, thereby earning customer loyalty.

“As food companies’ demand for sustainably produced ingredients continues to skyrocket, they’ll need to support farmers and the entire supply chain in implementing on-farm conservation practices,” added Chapman. “NutrientStar will help food companies navigate the fertilizer management world, and will spark further innovation, research and development for better nutrient management tools.”

“NutrientStar also enables farmers to more easily execute the 4Rs of nutrient stewardship, which include applying fertilizer at the right source, the right rate, the right time, and the right place,” noted McGuire. “NutrientStar complements the 4Rs by informing farmers on tools that will most effectively help implement these important practices.”

For more information on NutrientStar, including scientific assessment criteria, visit www.nutrientstar.org.

What companies, ag retailers and ag associations are saying about NutrientStar [listed alphabetically]:

Campbell Soup Company

“Campbell is committed to growing and sourcing ingredients as sustainably as possible while supporting farmers in their stewardship efforts. NutrientStar will provide science-based review of fertilizer efficiency tools so that farmers and companies can invest in the best available technologies and products to optimize their crop.”

• Dan Sonke, Manager of Agricultural Sustainability Programs at Campbell

Kellogg Company

“At Kellogg, we strive to make great-tasting food people love. People care about where their food comes from, the people who grow and make it, and that there’s enough for everyone. NutrientStar is a great tool for farmers to ensure the highest quality ingredients for our foods.”

• Amy Braun, Senior Sustainability Manager at Kellogg Company

National Corn Growers Association

“Our corn farmers rely on a growing set of tools to help make better decisions to improve entire farm sustainability. The NutrientStar review system can help us find solutions that are tested and effective – saving time and money while promoting better yields, improved economics and healthier soils.”

• Chip Bowling, Newburg, Maryland; President, National Corn Growers Association

Smithfield Foods

“We’ve been overwhelmed with the positive response to Smithfield’s MBGro program, which offers free agronomic advice to independent grain growers to help them improve productivity, profitability and sustainability. The program also offers farmers free trials of precision agriculture tools that help to improve fertilizer applications and soil health. NutrientStar is the perfect complement to MBGro because it provides growers certainty that the tools we’re recommending work as advertised.”

• Kraig Westerbeek, VP of Engineering and Environmental Support Services, Smithfield Foods 

Unilever

“At Unilever, our purpose is to help make sustainable living commonplace. Through our sustainable sourcing goals, Unilever is working to find the best ways to support farmers in their sustainability efforts. NutrientStar is a great instrument for growers to utilize to help determine which tools work best for achieving tangible environmental results.”

• Stefani Grant, Senior Manager, External Affairs and Sustainability at Unilever
  
  

What growers and ag experts are saying about NutrientStar [listed alphabetically]:

Keith Alverson, Corn & Soybean Farmer & President, South Dakota Corn Association (South Dakota)

“The more information growers have on the tools and technologies available to them, the better choices we can make to save money and protect the land. NutrientStar will help growers keep their strong tradition of stewardship.”

Brent Bible, Corn & Soybean Farmer, Farmer of the Soil Health Partnership (Indiana)

“As a corn producer, my highest input cost after land and seed is fertilizer, specifically nitrogen.  A tool that can objectively verify, with confidence, ways to make more efficient use of this input will absolutely help us save money and reduce our environmental footprint. In a time where profit may be measured in single dollars per acre, NutrientStar has can positively impact the economic return for our operation.”

Todd Hesterman, Farmer and Certified Crop Advisor (Ohio)

“We really don’t know which nutrient management tools work, since there isn’t adequate data to prove their efficacy. I welcome NutrientStar as a way to help me make better decisions on fertilizer efficiency products.”

Bruce Knight, Consultant and former Chief, Natural Resources Conservation Service

“The more we can help farmers meet the dual challenges of increased production and greater fertilizer efficiency, the better off we’ll be. Programs like NutrientStar that step into the void by providing third-party, unbiased efficacy information and ratings not served by university or government agencies is a big step forward in helping them meet those challenges.”

Fred Yoder, Farmer and Chairman of the North American Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance (Ohio)

“The Paris Climate Accord didn’t include specifications for agriculture, but that won’t stop global momentum for climate-smart agriculture practices. Agriculture must do its part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and farmers must adapt to climate change impacts. They are invested in stewardship because land is their livelihood, and resilience must constantly be improved. Margins are tight these days, so it makes great sense to strive to do better in stabilizing the nutrients in the soil profile. NutrientStar is a proven way to help farmers reduce the environmental impacts of farming, with great potential for reducing input costs. NutrientStar is an important tool for moving the ag industry towards adoption of climate-smart practices.”

A coalition of states, cities, medical associations, civil rights organizations and environmental groups, including EDF, asked the Supreme Court today to leave the life-saving Mercury and Air Toxics Standards in place while the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) completes its supplemental rulemaking – a process that will take only a few weeks.

EPA issued a proposed supplemental finding, considering costs through a range of different assessments, that it is “appropriate and necessary” to establish emissions standards for these toxic contaminants, and has indicated that its proposed supplemental finding will be completed by mid-April. Despite the fact that EPA will complete its finding in just a few weeks, a group of states led by the Attorney General of Michigan asked the Supreme Court for an emergency stay of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards last week. 

In a brief filed today, EDF and 15 states, the District of Columbia, the cities of New York, Chicago and Baltimore, the NAACP, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Lung Association, the American Nurses Association, and many others vigorously opposed the stay application, stating:

“[U]nrebutted evidence showed that vacating the rule would result in the release of large quantities of extremely toxic pollution — including mercury … Congress listed these pollutants under section 7412, the Clean Air Act’s ‘most-wanted’ list of contaminants, because those pollutants are extremely dangerous to humans. They cause serious, debilitating public health harms, including increased risk of permanent neurological damage (especially to developing fetuses and children) from mercury exposure … No useful purpose could be served by Applicants’ requested short-term blocking of the Rule, which would harm public health, create difficulties for states that depend upon the Rule, and introduce instability in the power industry.” (Brief at pages 17/18 and 7)

The request for an emergency stay follows on the heels of the Supreme Court’s 5-to-4 decision to grant a highly unusual emergency stay of the Clean Power Plan. It also follows news of a disastrous health crisis in Michigan because of lead-contaminated drinking water in Flint. Both lead and mercury are highly toxic and linked to brain damage in children.

“It is time to end this damaging litigation and to protect our children from the poisons in our air and water. The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards are safeguarding millions of American children from poisons such as mercury, arsenic and acid gases,” said Vickie Patton, general counsel for EDF, which is a party to the case. “While the children of Flint were being poisoned by lead in drinking water, the Michigan Attorney General was using hard-earned public resources to try to block our nation’s first-ever and long overdue limits on the air toxics discharged by coal plants.” 

The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards set the first-ever national limits on hazardous air pollutants from power plants, including mercury, arsenic, chromium, and hydrochloric acid gas. Power plants are our nation’s single largest source of those pollutants, which are dangerous to human health even in small doses – mercury causes brain damage in children, metal toxics like chromium and nickel cause cancer, and acid gases cause respiratory problems.

Last June, a sharply divided Supreme Court remanded the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards to the D.C. Circuit Court. The Supreme Court ruled that the EPA must consider the costs of regulation in making its threshold determination whether it is “appropriate and necessary” to regulate hazardous air pollution from power plants.

The D.C. Circuit Court unanimously rejected requests for a stay in December.

EPA issued a proposed supplemental finding reaffirming the enormous health benefits of reducing mercury and other toxic air pollution in November. (The agency had already found that the public health benefits of the standards were valued at up to $90 billion annually, but that finding was made later in the process of creating the standards.) EPA has said the supplemental finding will be finished by mid-April.

EPA had also found that the value of the benefits far exceeded the compliance costs – and since then, power companies have been able to comply with the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards at a fraction of EPA’s original cost estimates.

You can find more about the history of the case and all the legal briefs on EDF’s website.

(Washington, D.C. – March 1, 2016) Today, the Obama Administration announced a new chair for the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (RESTORE Council). The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will replace the U.S. Department of Commerce as the lead agency on the Council, driving restoration planning and implementation as the Gulf states continue to recover from the 2010 Gulf oil disaster.

Groups, including Environmental Defense Fund, National Wildlife Federation, National Audubon Society, Ocean Conservancy and The Nature Conservancy, issued the following statement:

“As the new chair of the RESTORE Council, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is going to help lead the largest environmental restoration effort in American history. The USDA is up to this considerable challenge. We look forward to working with them to establish a Comprehensive Plan that includes a clear framework for success.

“We are grateful for the service of the Department of Commerce and Secretary Penny Pritzker as the first chair of the Council. The startup of the RESTORE Council was a huge task, and the Department of Commerce provided important leadership in organizing the Council and securing approval of the first round of projects under the provisions of the RESTORE Act. 

“We stand ready to help and support the new chair, the RESTORE Council and its individual state and federal agency members in taking advantage of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to use Deepwater Horizon-related funding to advance our mutual goal of Gulf of Mexico restoration.”

(BRUSSELS – 1 March 2016) Environmental Defense Fund’s Investor Confidence Project Europe (ICP Europe), supported by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme, today released a robust set of project guidelines to facilitate investment in the building energy renovation market. Building owners, project developers, finance and energy service providers, insurers, local authorities, and utilities all stand to gain from the ICP system, which offers transparency and accountability to the energy efficiency market by standardising how projects are developed, maintained, and measured.

Only half of the estimated €60 – 100 billion investment needed annually to achieve Europe’s 2020 building energy efficiency targets is being met, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. ICP Europe’s new protocols aim at narrowing this gap significantly by enabling investment for building energy renovation.

In collaboration with industry stakeholders and with support from philanthropic donors, the Investor Confidence Project developed its ICP Europe Protocols to define European best practices for predicting energy savings, optimising performance, and monitoring the results of energy efficiency investments. These protocols enable the acceleration of energy efficiency investments and the emergence of a robust and thriving commercial renovation sector by increasing confidence in the engineering fundamentals and financial returns of projects.

“We are happy to fund Investor Confidence Project through the Horizon 2020 programme. It has the potential to transform the market by making building energy retrofits a standardised product for the finance industry,” said Vincent Berrutto, Head of the Energy Unit at the European Commission’s Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. “This will contribute to reducing transaction costs and make finance more affordable.”

“We are involved in the Investor Confidence Project Europe for purely business reasons: we believe it is a necessary step to unlock the capital our sector requires to meet Europe’s energy goals,” said  Stephen Barker, Head of Energy Efficiency and Environmental Care at Siemens in the United Kingdom.

“The ICP Europe project is key to put in place the right framework in order to unlock the financial stream needed to achieve the cost-effective potential of energy savings which exists in the buildings sector, therefore unleashing the multiple benefits linked to building renovation,” added Adrian Joyce, Secretary General of EuroACE.

“For all stakeholders, a clear positioning of the values and benefits of Energy Performance Contracting, together with project financing represent the most crucial issues. The ICP Europe Protocols structure the necessary data, which in turn enables the underwriting and facilitates the management of energy performance risks. This is a welcome support for the development of the European Energy Performance Contracting market with the longer term goal of reaching maturity”, said Volker Dragon, Chairman of eu.esco.

“We are honored to partner with public and private sector leaders in Europe to help accelerate a global asset class for energy efficiency,” said Andy Darrell, Chief of Strategy Global Energy and Finance, Environmental Defense Fund. “Wasting less energy is an essential step to prosperity with less pollution: the Investor Confidence Project can help bring that future within reach for families, businesses, communities and cities across Europe.”

ICP Europe has forged strategic alliances with the financial, real estate, and efficiency sectors to develop project origination and underwriting standardisation through its protocols, which help to reduce transaction costs and accelerate deal flow for building renovation projects. ICP has attracted interest from the Energy Efficiency Financial Institutions Group, (including Siemens Financial Services, Deutsche Bank, ING, Allianz, and BNP Paribas) which cited investor confidence as the top priority for transforming the energy efficiency market.

“Governments and NGOs have for years been talking about how energy efficiency is the low hanging fruit that can bring a healthy return on investment. But, despite the actions of a few market leaders, investing in it is not as easy as it’s made out to be – or everybody would be doing it,” said Dr. Steven Fawkes, Senior Advisor for ICP Europe and a member of the Investment Committee of the London Energy Efficiency Fund with 30 years of experience in the energy efficiency sector. “With the release of the first six renovation protocols, ICP Europe is helping energy efficiency become a standardised product and, thus, an indispensable part of every institutional investor’s portfolio.”

Interested parties are invited to contribute to ICP Europe’s efforts through the Technical Forum and help make energy efficiency a global asset class by joining the ICP Europe Ally Network.

(NEW ORLEANS – February 25, 2016) The water management sector represents the largest economic driver in southeast Louisiana and the second largest in southwest Louisiana, according to new analysis released today by the Restore the Mississippi River Delta Coalition. Economic drivers, such as water management, oil and gas, maritime, petrochemical, video production, and hospitality and tourism, are industries that drive regional growth and are indicators of economic development. With nearly 44,000 jobs, water management is the second largest industry driver across the entire Louisiana Coastal Zone – second only to oil and gas. In southeast Louisiana, the water management industry has eclipsed the oil and gas, maritime and hospitality industries as the leading jobs creator.

The water management industry is growing faster than any other major sector within Louisiana’s Coastal Zone and has the highest average wage among driver industries – $69,277 per year. And while other industries have been losing jobs, water management – which includes coastal restoration, coastal protection and urban water management – has added more than 5,700 jobs in southeast Louisiana since 2010 and provides significant opportunities for Louisiana workers.

Also today, Greater New Orleans, Inc. released its State of the Sector report on the water management industry. This analysis focuses on specifics of current and future water management workforce/job opportunities over the next ten years in the Greater New Orleans region. The report includes detailed information on current workforce demographics, projected top middle and high skill occupations, and sample career ladders. The report also provides insights into the factors driving growth and determining the current and future water management workforce needs in southeast Louisiana. See more at http://gnoinc.org/stateofthesector.

“As our state works to address its budget challenges, it is important to remember that investing in coastal restoration will create jobs and grow the economy, in addition to protecting existing businesses and communities,” said David Muth, National Wildlife Federation’s Gulf Restoration Director, representing the Restore the Mississippi River Delta Coalition. “Investments made today in water management will more than pay off in the long run as our region becomes an economic hub for coastal restoration and climate resiliency, while also helping to protect the people, industries and wildlife that call coastal Louisiana home.”

With the influx of funds from the Gulf oil disaster and other federal sources, the water management sector is poised to continue to grow, fueling the economy of coastal Louisiana and the entire state. In addition to creating well-paying jobs in state, this sector has the potential to be a major export industry for our region, like that of technology for Silicon Valley. Coastal restoration and resiliency expertise gained in Louisiana can be exported to other coastal regions around the world facing similar threats from land subsidence and sea level rise.

“This data confirms that water management is the fastest growing sector in Louisiana. If we make the right decisions and protect coastal funding in the years ahead, we have a golden opportunity to set our region on a course of greater economic prosperity and improved environmental health for generations to come,” said Muth.

The analysis was produced by the Restore the Mississippi River Delta Coalition, which includes Environmental Defense Fund, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation and Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana. The full analysis can be found on our website here.

Learn why coastal restoration is urgently needed to protect and grow businesses in Louisiana and across the Gulf. Visit OurCoastOurEconomy.org.

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The Restore the Mississippi River Delta Coalition is working to protect people, wildlife and jobs by reconnecting the river with its wetlands. As our region faces the crisis of threatening land loss, we offer science-based solutions through a comprehensive approach to restoration. Composed of conservation, policy, science and outreach experts from Environmental Defense Fund, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana and Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, we are located in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Washington, D.C.; and around the United States. Learn more at MississippiRiverDelta.org and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

NEWS RELEASE

“The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards are vitally important clean air protections that were the subject of rigorous review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit – which just decided unanimously against a stay in December. The lower court’s decision means that millions of Americans will remain safe from the serious, and sometimes deadly, health problems caused by mercury, arsenic and acid gases while the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) carries out its responsibilities under the law.

“EPA has already issued a proposed supplemental finding reaffirming the enormous public health benefits of reducing mercury and other toxic air pollution for our communities, as well as the cost-effective solutions that are at hand. EPA has made clear that it will complete its work within the next two months – by April of 2016. An emergency stay would put American families, our children, in harm’s way of hazardous, devastating air pollution.

“The state of Michigan is already suffering from an environmental disaster right now, with lead-contaminated water in Flint. Both lead and mercury are linked to brain damage in children – yet, instead of focusing vital public resources to clean up Flint’s drinking water, Michigan officials have devoted years of public resources to undermining efforts to protect children from mercury, arsenic and other toxics. Michigan families, and all Americans, need leaders who will fight to protect children from dangerous toxics instead of obstructing those safeguards.

“We look forward to presenting a rigorous and legally sound argument against a stay to the Supreme Court.”

- Vickie Patton, general counsel for EDF, which is a party to the case

(WASHINGTON – February 23, 2016) Members of the oceans subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee held a hearing today to review progress under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the nation’s landmark fisheries law. The Honorable Samuel D. Rauch III, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, offered testimony.

Below is a statement from Matt Tinning, Senior Director, U.S. Oceans Program:

“Today’s Senate hearing offered another reminder that the Magnuson-Stevens Act is a remarkable bipartisan success story. As a number of Senators noted, the MSA has made the United States a global model for sustainable fisheries management. It has led to strong and sustainable American fisheries that are set to benefit coastal small businesses, seafood lovers, and recreational anglers for generations to come.

“In some fisheries, improvements in management must be considered. But needed changes can be advanced within the existing legal framework, including through the stakeholder-driven regional council process that the MSA created.

“A complicated and protracted process of opening up the Magnuson-Stevens Act for reauthorization at this time is not only unnecessary but would be counter-productive. We urge Congress to keep what’s working.”

(New Orleans – February 23, 2016) Gulf restoration advocates are calling on federal agencies to increase transparency and public feedback opportunities as the agencies implement a $7-billion restoration program over the next 15 years. These renewed calls for openness come in response to the release of the Final Programmatic Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan, which describes how the BP Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustees will plan for, administer and implement restoration efforts.

Groups, including Environmental Defense Fund, National Wildlife Federation, National Audubon Society, Ocean Conservancy and The Nature Conservancy, issued the following statement:

“The Trustees are about to embark on the biggest restoration program in American history. The choices they make now will have repercussions for Gulf ecosystems and communities over the next decade and a half – and potentially for generations to follow. 

“As the Trustees develop their Standard Operating Procedures, a key element in the design of this program, we hope they will outline additional opportunities for the public to provide meaningful feedback throughout the restoration process. A lot can change in 5, 10 and 15 years, and the people who live and work in the Gulf should have regular opportunities to engage in this process.

“The Trustees have done a tremendous amount of work, and we’re grateful for their efforts. We were pleased to see the Trustees commit to several measures for coordination across state lines and across funding streams – which will enable more successful restoration.

“We look forward to working with the Trustees to make sure the important work of Gulf restoration gets done right.”

 

“While some of the largest greenhouse gas emitters in America and their allies litigate to block clean air safeguards, our communities continue to suffer from dangerous pollution, the public support for climate action grows, and both citizens and businesses in red and blue states across our nation work to reduce pollution while building a stronger economy for all.  

 

“The Clean Power Plan has a rock-solid anchor in our nation’s clean air laws, and will help us protect our families and communities from the threat of climate change. We look forward to presenting our case on the merits.”

 

                    - Vickie Patton, general counsel for EDF, which is a party to the case

(LOS ANGELES – February 11, 2016) Reports that Southern California Gas Company has temporarily stemmed the massive methane leak at the Aliso Canyon storage facility mean attention now shifts to the sweeping legal and political ramifications of the disaster. While official measurements are still being tallied, EDF estimates that since the problem was first detected last October 23, at least 95,000 metric tons of potent, climate-forcing methane have escaped – the same 20-year climate impact as burning nearly a billion gallons of gasoline.

“Now comes the critical process of making sure this doesn’t happen again and holding the company accountable,” said Tim O’Connor, California Oil & Gas Director at Environmental Defense Fund. “SoCalGas can’t respond with its checkbook alone. It has to take care of the neighbors it has harmed and take enough methane out of the air to make up for the damage this leak has caused.

“This disaster is what happens when aging infrastructure meets lax oversight, and it’s just one example of a problem that is plaguing the oil and gas industry across the country. We need comprehensive national action to hold industry accountable for reducing these emissions and keeping disasters like this from happening again in the future.

“Aliso Canyon has revealed gaping holes in our regulatory safety net. But it’s also done an enormous amount to improve public understanding, and put tremendous new momentum behind efforts to fix the problem.”

(Washington, D.C.—February 10, 2016) In response to the release of President Obama’s fiscal year 2017 budget proposal and the U.S. Senate debate on energy legislation, national and local conservation groups working together on Mississippi River Delta restoration – Environmental Defense Fund, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation and Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana – released the following statement:

“We oppose any efforts by the Administration or Congress that undercut commitments to restore critical ecosystems in Louisiana’s Mississippi River Delta, where we are losing 16 square miles of vital wetlands every year – a preventable coastal erosion crisis. 

“These wetlands, which are nationally significant for both our environment and economy, will be lost without concerted and immediate investments. And those investments – currently underway through implementation of the 2012 Louisiana Coastal Master Plan – absolutely depend upon Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA) funding, which is constitutionally committed in Louisiana to a Coastal Trust Fund that supports that plan. Failure to honor that federal commitment would directly result in accelerated land loss, habitat destruction and further degradation of this world-class ecosystem.

“The Mississippi River Delta is a national treasure that is home to millions of Americans, provides vital wildlife habitat, and supports billions of dollars in seafood industries, navigation interests, and energy production. This landscape deserves our full attention, including a comprehensive restoration strategy dependent on continued GOMESA funding, which must not be withdrawn or constrained.”