Complete list of press releases

(Washington, DC – April 27, 2010) Ten events in cities across the country this year will bring together leading thinkers and practitioners from business, government, academia and nonprofits to share ideas and brainstorm solutions to corporate environmental sustainability challenges.

Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), in partnership with DIG IN, Greenbiz.com, Net Impact, Sony and Ashoka, is coordinating a series of Solutions Labs providing industry with the opportunity to explore the next generation of business sustainability—one that balances profit growth for companies with environmental concerns. At these one-day, interactive events, participants help craft the agenda themselves and spend the day actively brainstorming ideas for accelerating green innovation while sharing best practices.

“The experience and knowledge needed to make business environmentally sustainable already exists inside the businesses doing the work,” said David Witzel, Director of the EDF Innovation Exchange. “The Solutions Labs will bring together corporate “doers” and thinkers to share what they’ve learned and tackle the hard problems together. Our goal is to spark a network effect throughout Corporate America, pushing innovation to the next level to solve our biggest environmental challenges.”

The Solutions Labs are part of the Green Innovation in Business Network (GIBN), an online and offline community focused on creating a well-informed, well-connected, rapidly-learning network of innovators making business more sustainable.

The series of 2010 Solutions Labs will take place as follows:

• May 21: Bloomberg, New York City, NY
• May 27: George Washington University, Washington DC
• June 17: Best Buy, Minneapolis, MN
• July 13: University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR
• July 15: eBay, San Jose, CA
• August 5: IIT Stuart School of Business, Chicago, IL
• August 10: Seattle University, Seattle, WA
• September 16: Microsoft, Cambridge, MA
• September 29: AMD, Austin, TX

The first 2010 Solutions Lab event was held at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business where over a hundred participants attended in January. Read more about the event on our blog.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Claudia Gunter, ITDP: 212-629-8001, Sean Crowley, EDF: 202-572-3331, scrowley@edf.org

(Washington, DC—April 22, 2010) Environmental and transportation groups praised a just-released U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) report to Congress for laying out a new road map to curb U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and support a healthier economy.

“With today’s report to Congress on transportation’s role in reducing greenhouse gases, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood made an important contribution to addressing the climate change,” said Michael Replogle, global policy director of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. “Key strategies in this report would cut emissions at less cost than most other approaches to greenhouse gas reduction when considering vehicle operating cost savings. Such smart transportation strategies would put money in the pockets of consumers and businesses, create good jobs, support livable communities, and more efficient mobility. That’s good for business, the economy, and environment.”

“Congress should use the report’s findings to guide investments and policy for transportation,” said Kathryn Phillips, an expert on federal transportation policy for the Environmental Defense Fund.

The report looks at how greenhouse gas emissions from transportation could be cut by increasing, vehicle fuel economy and carbon efficiency of fuels, improving transportation system efficiency, and reducing travel that involves high levels of carbon emissions.

According to the report, 29 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are due to burning fuel to power U.S. vehicles. The bulk of these emissions, 59 percent, are from light-duty vehicles, with freight trucks contributing 19 percent and aircraft 12 percent. Between 1990 and 2007, U.S. transportation greenhouse gas emissions grew 27 percent, and accounted for nearly half of the total national increase during that time.

The report notes, for example, that strategies to curb traffic growth through better public transportation, coordinated transportation and land use strategies, and greater opportunities for walking and biking – key themes in DOT’s livability initiative – could cut transportation greenhouse emissions by as much as 17 percent by 2030. Combining these with smart transportation pricing and system management could sharply boost transportation reliability and limit global warming.

The report, Transportation’s Role in Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions, was mandated by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. It is available at: http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/32000/32700/32779/DOT_Climate_Change_Report_-_April_2010_-_Volume_1_and_2.pdf.
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The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) is a leading international non-profit organization founded in 1985 that promotes environmentally sustainable and equitable transportation worldwide. www.itdp.org.
Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national nonprofit organization, represents more than 700,000 members. Since 1967, Environmental Defense Fund has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems. www.edf.org
 

Contact:
Barbara Bramble, bramble@nwf.org, 202-797-6601
Steve Schwartzman, sschwartzman@edf.org, 202-746-9201
Alfredo Sirkis, +55-21-81299925

(WASHINGTON, April 22) – Brazilian presidential candidate Marina Silva will meet with Obama administration officials this week to discuss climate change and new avenues for U.S.-Brazil cooperation. She also will address Washington’s Earth Day commemoration Sunday* on the National Mall.

Sen. Silva, the presidential candidate of Brazil’s Green Party and a current senator, will discuss Brazil’s successes in slowing Amazon deforestation and establishing national emissions reduction targets in meetings with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson and Nancy Sutley, who heads the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Sen. Silva, who grew up in a remote village of rubber tappers in the western Amazon, has made climate change an integral part of Brazil’s presidential campaign platforms, and has pressed the Brazilian delegation to the United Nationals Framework Convention on Climate Change to take a leading role in the global negotiations.

Sen. Silva learned to read at 16, worked her way to a post-graduate degree, and became a labor organizer alongside the famed Amazon environmental champion Chico Mendes. She was elected to the city council in the capitol of Acre State, won a state representative seat, and in 1994 become the youngest member ever elected to the national Senate.

She was appointed Environment Minister in 2003 and served in the Lula Administration until 2008, implementing unprecedented environmental protection programs, including the first serious enforcement of laws curbing deforestation. Sen. Silva has pressured the government to make commitments to reduce deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in Brazil’s strong announcements before and during the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen last December.

*Sen. Silva will be speaking between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. on the Earth Day stage, on the National Mall at 8th St. facing the Washington Monument.

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Just added: BREAKFAST BRIEFING, Monday, April 26, 9 a.m.

Senator Marina Silva will discuss her Earth Day visit, climate change, and meetings with Obama Administration officials. Location: National Wildlife Federation, 901 E Street, NW, # 400. Contact: Barbara Bramble, 202 262 8236, bramble@nwf.org; Alfredo Sirkis, 202 509 5874, sirkis@alternex.com.br.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
Annie Petsonk, International Counsel, 202-365-3237, apetsonk@edf.org
Tony Kreindler, National Media Director, 202-445-8108, tkreindler@edf.org

(Washington D.C. – April 19, 2010) Nations participating in the Major Economies Forum that ended here today reaffirmed their interest in moving forward on actions that could lay a foundation for a new international framework on cutting carbon emissions, according to Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).

“These countries recognize that the first to seize the initiative will have the strongest advantages in the race for the low-carbon economy of the future,” said EDF’s International Counsel Annie Petsonk.

Actions that have put some nations in the forefront of international efforts include: Brazil’s decision to reduce emissions from deforestation, its largest source of carbon pollution; voluntary emissions cuts offered by nations under last December’s Copenhagen Accord; and state-level actions linking California and other U.S. states with emission reduction efforts in provinces in Brazil and Indonesia, the world’s third and fourth largest emitting countries.

Petsonk noted that by 2012, China will have opened 42 high-speed train lines, technology and infrastructure now found primarily in Europe and Japan.

“China’s recent offer to bring its high-speed rail expertise to the United States underscores the need for the U.S. Senate to move swiftly to pass climate and energy legislation to ensure that America holds its rightful place in the economic revitalization of the 21st century,” Petsonk said.

With more high-level ministerial meetings scheduled within the next few weeks, Petsonk added, “The rapid succession of high-level talks on climate change in various forums demonstrates the growing focus on the need for action.”

The next ministerial meetings will be convened by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Petersberg, Germany from May 2-4 and by Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg in Oslo, Norway on May 27. High-level talks among Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) concluded last week in Brasilia, Brazil. The UN Climate Treaty Parties are expected to conduct a ministerial meeting shortly after their next round of talks in Bonn, Germany, in June.

“Having the climate talks proceed in May in several international forums presents challenges, but it also creates opportunities for coalitions to emerge among nations that move swiftly to embrace carbon regulation and position themselves for clean economic growth,” Petsonk said. “That competition presents an even greater imperative for the Obama Administration to make a serious push now for a balanced energy-climate bill in the U.S. Senate.”

IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

CONTACT: Sean Crowley, EDF, (202) 572-3331, scrowley@edf.org
Loren Martin, Terra-Gro, (717) 286-3198, terragro@frontiernet.net

(Lancaster County, PA—April 19, 2010) Local and regional leaders today broke ground on an innovative facility that may be the first-of-its-kind to turn both excess manure from local farms and waste from yards and kitchens into compost and prevent polluted runoff from reaching Lancaster County’s streams and rivers. By composting manure from local farms, food waste from local schools and restaurants, and leaves and yard waste from Manheim Township, the new facility—Oregon Dairy Organics—will turn trash into treasure for organic farmers, home gardeners, landscapers, and park and athletic field managers. Oregon Dairy Organics will be selling finished compost by this fall.

Most manure composting takes manure from the host farm only and is managed by the host farmer, which usually results in low quality final compost, with higher emissions of ammonia, and compost that is only suitable for on farm use. While many townships operate larger regional composting facilities for greenwaste, few of them accept manure because of the odor and transporting manure can be expensive beyond about 10-15 miles. These municipal facilities must add commercial nitrogen to make the composting work because greenwaste contains very little nitrogen, which is a required ingredient to make compost.

“The Oregon Dairy Organics composting facility will play an important role in helping Pennsylvania meet the co-equal goals of clean water and viable farms,” said Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell C. Redding. “Knowing the important role Pennsylvania plays in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, we must find innovative ways to protect our natural resources and increase the profitability of our farms. The Oregon Dairy Organics team has created a model that will benefit the community, the farms and our waterways.”

“By working together and embracing a new approach to an old technology—composting—Oregon Dairy Organics has been able to develop a program that will benefit farmers, the community and water quality,” said Suzy Friedman, the project’s manager and deputy director of the Center for Conservation Incentives at Environmental Defense Fund. “Oregon Dairy Organics is an example of farmers stepping forward to improve water quality in local creeks, the Conestoga River, and all the way to the Chesapeake Bay.”

Oregon Dairy Organics brings together an innovative partnership to demonstrate how composting can play a bigger role in improving water quality in southeastern Pennsylvania and other areas of the Chesapeake Bay by giving farmers expanded options for nutrient management. The project combines the efficiencies and professional management of composting multiple waste streams at one site, with the need to avoid the size, traffic, and hauling expenses of a large-scale regional composting facility.

“This project is another example of the positive steps farmers can and are taking to clean up both Lancaster County streams and the Chesapeake Bay in an economically sustainable way,” said George Hurst, owner of Oregon Dairy in Lititz, Pennsylvania five miles north of Lancaster. “As a result of this project, manure, yard waste, and food waste will become an asset to agriculture and the Chesapeake Bay region.”

Oregon Dairy Organics has the diversity of partners and stakeholders needed to make it work: Oregon Dairy and the Hurst Family to provide a farm site for the project; a professional composting company, Terra-Gro Inc., will help manage the facility and market the finished compost; a local agricultural consulting company, TeamAg Inc., to coordinate farmer participation in the project; and a nonprofit conservation organization, Environmental Defense Fund, to coordinate the overall project and secure needed funding.

“This unique venture is truly visionary in terms of environmental sustainability and economic viability for farming in Lancaster County,” said Loren Martin, general manager of Terra-Gro Inc. “Oregon Dairy’s leadership in conservation reaches a new level with this project by helping turn what some view as waste into something we want and can use to grow beautiful and healthy flowers, grass, and vegetables.”

The project has been developed in close collaboration with Manheim Township, local farmers and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. It is funded by the Chesapeake Bay Funders Network, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Pennsylvania’s Rural Education Achievement Program (with corporate sponsorship from Trout Ebersole & Groff LLP, The Phillips Group, B R Kreider & Son Inc., and Worley & Obetz Inc.), the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and Terra-Gro.

“Creating high-quality compost from manure and other wastes will help the region meet looming local and Chesapeake Bay-related pollution reduction mandates,” said Harry Campbell, senior scientist at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. “The compost improves the soil health without chemical fertilizers. Oregon Dairy is a shining example on how the farming community, businesses, and residents can support the local economy and the environment.”

Oregon Dairy, well known for its conservation efforts, is home to a 500-cow and 450-heifer dairy farm, grocery store, restaurant and lawn and garden center. The farm has been recognized numerous times for its efforts to protect water quality and other natural resources, including being awarded the prestigious Outstanding Cooperator Award by the Lancaster Conservation District in March of 2008.

For more information and to follow construction updates, visit www.oregondairyorganics.org.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Dr. Sacoby Wilson, Alpha Phi Alpha, 202-230-2881, green@apa1906.net
Michael Regan, EDF, 919-862-6593, mregan@edf.org

(WASHINGTON, DC – April 19, 2010) Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the nation’s oldest black fraternity, and Environmental Defense Fund are launching a transformational partnership to increase the number of diverse environmental leaders on university and college campuses and in communities of color. The Alpha and EDF partnership will educate the fraternity’s student and alumni chapters about climate change, environmental justice, energy efficiency, clean energy and green jobs. Sustainability projects designed by students and alumni will help African American and other populations become more involved in public health and environmental issues caused by air and water pollution and social inequity.

Academic institutions are among the nation’s top energy consumers and often do not have the resources to implement energy efficiency measures. Universities that serve a large percentage of minority students and national environmental groups traditionally have not worked together on environmental and public health issues. The Alpha Phi Alpha Goes Green Initiative (http://green.apa1906.net) is a fraternity initiative that will fill that gap and create a corps of environmental leaders specially trained to work with college students and diverse communities. EDF will provide online training materials to the partnership.

EDF’s Climate Corps works to identify energy improvements that help companies cut costs and reduce emissions. A new focus for Climate Corps is helping campuses increase energy efficiency.

“Colleges are the perfect place to spread the word about energy efficiency. Alpha Goes Green will be a pipeline for sustainability information,” said Michael Regan, director of the Southeast Energy Program for EDF. “EDF’s partnership with Alpha is an innovative way to help college students and communities of color better understand the direct connection between saving energy and money, and living in a healthy and prosperous community.”

“Alpha Phi Alpha is known for its strong student and alumni commitment to community service, and the Alpha Phi Alpha Goes Green Initiative provides the structure to launch sustainability projects across the country,” said Herman “Skip” Mason, Jr., (national) general president of Alpha. “Understanding how behaviors affect communities – on a small campus or in a major city – will create better stewards of the environment. That’s service to the planet we can all salute.”

“The Alpha Phi Alpha Goes Green Initiative is committed to helping underserved communities impacted by social inequities and environmental issues become healthier and more sustainable through education, capacity building and empowerment. The Alpha Phi Alpha Goes Green website will be an excellent portal and primary means by which members will learn about environmental issues important to the Fraternity and the communities we serve,” said Dr. Sacoby Wilson, chair of the initiative and co-chair of the Alpha partnership with EDF. “The online educational materials will be a reliable resource for members and chapters who are committed to environmental leadership and positive social and environmental change.”

The fraternity has 5,000 student members on more than 350 US campuses and 95,000 alumni members.

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About Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
Founded on December 4, 1906, at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., has continued to supply voice and vision to the struggle of African Americans and people of color around the world. The fraternity has long stood at the forefront of the African-American community’s fight for civil rights through Alpha men such as Martin Luther King Jr., Adam Clayton Powell, Thurgood Marshall, Andrew Young, Edward Brooke and Cornel West. The fraternity, through its college and alumni chapters, serves the community through more than 600 chapters in the United States, Europe and the Caribbean. Visit http://green.apa1906.net and follow on Twitter @apa1906network.

About Environmental Defense Fund
A leading national nonprofit organization, Environmental Defense Fund represents more than 700,000 members. Since 1967, Environmental Defense Fund has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems. Visit www.edf.org and follow on Twitter @EDFCleanEnergy.
 

(Austin, DC – April 19, 2010) Environmental Defense Fund agreed today not to oppose an air quality permit for the Tenaska Trailblazer Energy Center under development in Sweetwater, Texas.

Under the agreement, Tenaska has agreed that the plant will contain equipment designed to capture at least 85 percent of the carbon dioxide (CO₂) produced by the plant. The company will also contract for delivery and sequestration of the captured CO₂ to third parties authorized by Texas and federal law to inject the gas into approved geologic formations. Tenaska also agrees the water obtained from sources other than that produced during operation of the plant will not exceed 2,000 acre-feet of water per year, enough to support the most water efficient cooling design for the plant.

“The era of building traditional coal plants without carbon capture and storage is over,” said Jim Marston, EDF national energy program director. “This groundbreaking agreement addresses carbon as well as water, a scarce resource in that region. Tenaska is to be commended for ending business-as-usual coal-fired power production.”

Tenaska, an energy company based in Omaha, Neb., is developing a site between Abilene and Sweetwater in West Texas for construction of Trailblazer, a 600-megawatt (net) coal-fueled, advanced technology power plant. Trailblazer would be among the first conventional, commercial coal-fueled power plant in the world to capture 85 to 90 percent of the CO₂ that would otherwise be emitted and provide for its geologic storage. Tenaska plans to send the CO₂ to nearby Permian Basin oil fields for use in enhanced oil recovery, a well-established petroleum industry process.

On April 6, Tenaska announced its decision to employ water-conserving dry cooling technology at the Trailblazer Energy Center. Dry cooling equipment uses air to cool water and steam rather than evaporating water. Because dry cooling substantially reduces evaporation, the consumption of water is reduced by more than 90 percent when compared to traditional “wet cooling” methods predominantly used by power plants today.

Tenaska Vice President of Environmental Affairs Dr. Greg Kunkel said the agreement with EDF is “another example of Tenaska doing what it says it’s going to do.

” A few years ago, we determined it would be shortsighted to build new coal-fueled electric generating plants without answering the CO₂ question. Our philosophy hasn’t changed. If anything, our strategy in developing large-scale carbon capture has been reinforced since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has officially recognized CO₂ as a pollutant.”
 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Sean Crowley, 202-572-3331, scrowley@edf.org
Sara Hopper, 202-572-3379, shopper@edf.org

(Washington, DC—April 16, 2010) President Obama is correct that “it’s the right thing to do for our economy” to conserve American landscapes, including the working lands— farms, ranches and private forestlands—that make up two-thirds of the continental United States, according to Environmental Defense Fund.

The president made his remarks just before he signed a Presidential Memorandum outlining his administration’s conservation goals during today’s White House Conference on America’s Great Outdoors. The conference included panel discussions with local leaders from across the country. Agriculture Secretary Vilsack moderated a panel focused on “Conserving working lands for the benefit of all Americans,” and Interior Secretary Salazar moderated a panel focused on “Connecting people to our lands, water and wildlife.”

“President Obama is right to focus on the urgent need for action to conserve American landscapes, including the working lands—farms, ranches and private forestlands—that make up two-thirds of the continental United States,” said Sara Hopper, director of agricultural policy for Environmental Defense Fund and a former staff member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. “”America’s working lands are essential pieces of the conservation puzzle. Without healthy, productive agricultural lands, efforts to protect wildlife, improve water quality and curb global warming are doomed to fail. “

Unfortunately, the Senate Agriculture Committee last month passed a child nutrition reauthorization bill that would pay for necessary increases in funding for school meals by cutting $2.8 billion over 10 years from USDA’s largest working lands conservation program, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). EQIP is one of several voluntary conservation programs administered by USDA and funded through the Farm Bill. These programs assist producers nationwide who sign up to spend their own time and money through cost-share agreements to improve the management of their land to benefit the environment.

“Farmer demand for assistance through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and other conservation programs routinely outstrips available funding,” concluded Hopper. “We are thrilled the President recognizes the need to assist farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners who want to improve and protect their lands for future generations. We hope Senate and House leadership will reject cuts to these critical programs and ensure the funding is there over the long term to support the Administration’s bold land conservation vision.”

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Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national nonprofit organization, represents more than 700,000 members. Since 1967, Environmental Defense Fund has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems. For more information, visit www.edf.org.
 

A broad coalition of more than 200 public health and environmental organizations announced their support for the “Safe Chemicals Act of 2010”, introduced today by Senator Lautenberg and Congressmen Waxman and Rush. The long-awaited, landmark legislation would overhaul the way the federal government protects the public from toxic chemicals.

“The Safe Chemicals Act goes a long way toward bringing chemical policy into the 21st century,” said Andy Igrejas, Director of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, on a press teleconference held today. “We look forward to working with Congress to strengthen the bill to keep dangerous chemicals out of the marketplace.”

Representatives Waxman and Rush have announced an aggressive schedule in the House of Representatives to complete committee action by mid-summer.

While there are differences between the House and Senate versions of the legislation, the Safe Chemicals Act includes a number of essential reforms that would substantially improve public health protections:

• Requiring chemical companies to develop and make publicly available basic health and safety information for all chemicals.
• Requiring chemicals to meet a safety standard that protects vulnerable sub-populations, including pregnant women and children.
• A new program to identify communities that are “hot spots” for toxic chemicals and to take action to reduce exposures.
• Expediting safety determinations and actions to restrict some of the most notorious chemicals, like formaldehyde, vinyl chloride, and flame retardants.

While supporting the legislation, the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families coalition called for improvements in three critical areas. As currently drafted, the legislation would:

• Allow hundreds of new chemicals to enter the market and be used in products for many years without first requiring them to be shown to be safe.
• Not provide clear authority for EPA to immediately restrict production and use of the most dangerous chemicals, even persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) chemicals, which already have been extensively studied and are restricted by governments around the world.
• Not require EPA to adopt the National Academy of Sciences’ recommendations to incorporate the best and latest science when determining the safety of chemicals, although the Senate bill does call on EPA to consider those recommendations.

The Safe Chemicals Act would amend the federal Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA). The current TSCA law is widely acknowledged to be ineffective. TSCA ‘grandfathered in’ 62,000 chemicals at the time it passed without requiring any testing or demonstration of safety. In the ensuing three decades under TSCA, EPA has required testing for only a few hundred of those chemicals, and has only partially restricted five. Meanwhile, a growing body of science has documented widespread human exposures to toxic chemicals in everyday products, and has linked those exposures to the rising incidence of a number of serious chronic diseases and disorders, including reduced fertility, learning disabilities, breast and prostate cancer, and certain childhood cancers.

“We applaud Senator Lautenberg and Congressmen Waxman and Rush for introducing legislation that would dramatically improve our nation’s chemical safety system,” said Richard A. Denison, Ph.D., senior scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund. “Their continued leadership will be vital, however, to make several needed improvements in the bill as it moves through the legislative process, to ensure it delivers on its promise to implement a safety system that truly protects all Americans.”

Environmental justice groups applauded in particular the provisions mandating EPA to develop action plans to reduce the disproportionately high exposures to toxic chemicals in some communities.

“There are many communities, especially communities of color, tribal lands, and low-income communities, where people are dying at extraordinary rates because of toxic chemical exposure. This bill, for the first time, would give EPA authority to identify these communities and protect them from major sources of toxic chemicals,” said Mark Mitchell, MD, President of the Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice.

Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families promises a robust campaign to educate the public and members of Congress about both the positive aspects and the shortcomings of the Safe Chemicals Act.

“It’s high time we closed the gap between what scientists say is safe, and what our government allows on supermarket shelves,” said Maureen Swanson from the Learning Disabilities Association of America. “This bill represents a major advance toward giving American families the peace of mind they’ve been seeking.”

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Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families

is a broad coalition of groups, including major environmental organizations like the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Defense Fund, health organizations like the Learning Disabilities Association, Breast Cancer Fund, and the Autism Society, health professionals and providers like the American Nurses Association, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the Mt. Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Center, and concerned parents groups like the 1 million-member MomsRising. For more information and analysis of the Safe Chemicals Act, visit our website at www.saferchemicals.org.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Tony Kreindler, tkreindler@edf.org, 202-445-8108

(Washington — April 15, 2010) Nine Senate Democrats considered key swing votes on comprehensive climate and energy legislation today signaled their commitment to working with the bill’s authors to help American manufacturers compete in the global clean energy marketplace.

“These Senators understand that we can reduce carbon pollution and create jobs with a well-designed bill,” said Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense Fund. “Their engagement is critical to passing smart climate legislation that helps American manufacturers compete with China and the world.”

The letter was delivered today to Senators John Kerry (D-MA), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who are drafting a bipartisan climate and energy bill that is expected to come to the Senate floor in late spring. Signatories to the letter include Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Carl Levin (D-MI), Arlen Specter (D-PA), Clare McCaskill (D-MO), Kay Hagan (D-NC), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Robert Casey (D-PA), Mark Warner (D-VA), Robert Byrd (D-WV), and Evan Bayh (D-IN).

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
Annie Petsonk, International Counsel, +1-202-365-3237, apetsonk@edf.org
Tony Kreindler, National Media Director, 202-445-8108, tkreindler@edf.org

(Bonn – April 11, 2010) United Nations climate change negotiators agreed today to hold more sessions aimed at bridging differences left unresolved by last December’s contentious talks in Copenhagen. While some developing nations signaled support this week for the accord reached in Copenhagen, others questioned the role of the accord in future talks, according to U.S.-based Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).

“The U.N. climate negotiations are facing a crucial test over whether this process can serve as the global guidance system for tackling climate change,” said Annie Petsonk, EDF’s international counsel who is monitoring the talks here in Bonn.

“There is still momentum in the U.N. process, but it is fragmenting,” Petsonk said. “In the absence of U.S. legislation, and with the corresponding slow progress in the U.N., there is a new focus on national action as talks continue toward a global agreement.”

Petsonk said those actions include Brazil’s decision to reduce its emissions from deforestation, the voluntary emissions cuts that nations have accepted under the Copenhagen Accord, and state-level actions linking California and other U.S. states with provinces in Brazil, Indonesia, and elsewhere.

“This fragmentation presents challenges, but it also creates opportunities, as nations that move swiftly to embrace carbon regulation position themselves for economic growth in the 21st century,” Petsonk said. “That competition presents an even greater imperative for the Obama administration to make a serious push for a balanced energy-climate bill in the U.S. Senate.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
Tony Kreindler, 202-445-8108, tkreindler@edf.org
Peter Goldmark, 212-616-1273, pgoldmark@edf.org

(Washington – April 8, 2010) The World Bank voted today to approve a $3.75 billion loan to South Africa’s public utility Eskom, the bulk of which would finance construction of what will be the world’s seventh-largest coal plant. The U.S. abstained from the vote.

“Giving the go-ahead to the Medupi coal plant, which will release massive amounts of greenhouse gases for decades, without a clear South African plan to level off and then decrease emissions amounts to a step backward when the world is moving forward to a clean energy future,” said Peter Goldmark, director of Environmental Defense Fund’s climate and air program. “This was a missed opportunity for the U.S. and the World Bank to move away from a traditional focus on fossil-fueled growth and toward a new model of low-carbon economic development.”

The vote comes less than four months after the U.S. Treasury proposed guidelines for multilateral development bank lending for coal-fired power generation. Those guidelines reflect a strong preference for low-carbon energy sources and a transition away from coal, and call for full consideration of alternatives before approval is given for a coal-fired plant. The Eskom loan does not appear to meet those tests.

“An abstention is a weak position for the U.S. to take in defense of its own proposal. Next time, the U.S. and others must vote no if we’re really going to reverse the headlong stampede to build coal plants in the developing world,” Goldmark said. “The coal lending guidelines are a good start — but now the Bank should adopt them and Treasury must show, at a minimum, that it is willing to act on them.

“The problem here is not giving South African citizens access to cheap energy – we all want that,” Goldmark said. “The challenge is to do that within a framework that clearly puts South Africa, and the world, on a course where greenhouse gas emissions will peak and then decline.”

South Africa has made a conditional commitment to reduce its emissions growth 34% from its “business as usual” (BAU) course by 2020, and by 42% by 2025, with emissions declining a decade after that.

“But BAU is a fuzzy concept and a plastic, moving target, and South Africa has not explained how the Medupi plant, or the successor coal plant right behind it, fits into a realistic program to level off and then decline the level of greenhouse gas emissions,” Goldmark said.

In a larger sense, this decision highlights the challenge the World Bank is facing in adhering to its own Development and Climate Change Strategic Framework, which looks to “support sustainable development and poverty reduction at the national, regional, and local levels, as additional climate risks and climate-related economic opportunities arise.” The vote also apparently conflicts with the leaders’ statement from the September 2009 Pittsburgh meeting of the G-20, of which South Africa is a member. That statement commits all members to “phase out and rationalize over the medium term inefficient fossil fuel subsidies” that “encourage wasteful consumption.”

Eskom is controlled by the South African government, and by its own representation, private financing for this project would be much more expensive than public financing, like that they’re seeking from the World Bank. This loan would serve as a direct subsidy by the G-20 countries towards the continued use of carbon-intensive fossil fuels.

EDF’s 2009 report “Foreclosing the Future: Coal, Climate and International Public Finance” urged multilateral development banks, including the World Bank, to hasten the shift to renewable energy by adopting recommendations like deploying public international finance in support of renewable energy, energy efficiency and other alternatives to coal.

As the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and other multilateral financial institutions seek a capital increase from the U.S. Congress, they will be faced with a decision as to when cheap, dirty development will finally take a backseat to clean, sustainable alternatives. EDF strongly encourages the U.S. Congress and Treasury to help shift World Bank resources and strategy towards a fundamental rethinking of development priorities – both by providing sufficient funding for the Bank’s dedicated Clean Investment Funds and by reorienting the Bank’s overall lending portfolio toward low-carbon development.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Caitlin Seeley, Environment New York, 617-747-4315, cseeley@environmentamerica.org  
Sean Crowley, Environmental Defense Fund, 202-572-3331, scrowley@edf.org  
Edna Ishayik, Institute for Policy Integrity, NYU School of Law, 212-998-6085, ednai@nyu.edu  

(New York City—April 1, 2010) The Obama administration today announced new fuel economy benchmarks for automobiles and the first national standards for greenhouse gas emissions in U.S. history that will save New York car owners approximately $3,000 in fuel costs over the life of a 2016 model year car. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood made the announcement during a 12pm teleconference.

The collective savings of nearly half a billion gallons (467 million) of gas in New York alone by 2016 will reduce global warming pollution in New York by the equivalent of taking nearly 862,000 of today’s cars off the road for a year. Those are the findings of an analysis by Environment New York of the proposed rule issued last September, which is very similar to the final rule.

New York and 13 other states—Arizona, California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington—adopted state clean car standards that provided the foundation for national scale emission standards.

“Thanks to New York’s leadership, the cars of tomorrow will be cleaner and cost less to fuel than the cars of today,” said Caitlin Seeley, Federal Field Associate with Environment New York “Today’s announcement is a huge step toward breaking our dependence on oil and tackling global warming.”

The new standards from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation will apply to model year 2012 to 2016 vehicles.

“The new standards deliver a wide range of benefits to New Yorkers, and all Americans, including reducing our dependence on Middle Eastern oil, less pollution, and more money saved at the gas pump,” said Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense Fund, which is headquartered in New York. “Cleaner cars are a key part of the effort to fight climate change and to develop a clean energy economy in America. The new standards will start to make a difference immediately, while the Senate continues its work on bipartisan climate and energy legislation.”

Passenger vehicles affected by the rule account for about 40 percent of all U.S. oil consumption. The standards require vehicles to meet a combined average emissions level of 250 grams of carbon dioxide (CO₂) per mile in 2016, comparable to 35.5 miles per gallon.

“These efficiency standards make good economic sense,” said Michael Livermore, executive director of the Institute for Policy Integrity at NYU School of Law. “In addition to generating billions of dollars in annual pump-side savings for Americans, these rules will push Detroit to continue investing in new technologies.”

Today’s action responds to a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court mandate and will carry out President Obama’s landmark May 19th accord with major automakers, the Governor of California, the United Auto Workers’ Union, and environmental groups. The accord followed the auto industry’s unsuccessful federal lawsuit to block states from setting new rules limiting global warming pollution from cars. Environmental Defense Fund and four environmental groups joined the State of Vermont in defending the case.

Passenger cars and light-trucks emit nearly 20 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gases in the form of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and hydrofluorocarbons. In December, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found that these four contaminants and two other greenhouse gases endanger the human health and welfare of current and future generations. Cars, sport utility vehicles, minivans, pick trucks used for personal transportation and passenger vehicles emit about 60 percent of all mobile source greenhouse gases, the nation’s fastest-growing source of greenhouse gases.

The new standards will reduce gasoline consumption by as much as 11.6 billion gallons per year in 2016—nearly as much as is consumed by all the vehicles in Texas in a year and equal to half the oil we import from Saudi Arabia annually, according Environment New York’s analysis of the proposed rule. Cutting gasoline consumption by this much would collectively save consumers up to $31.8 billion annually at the pump in 2016.

The new standards will reduce global warming pollution from vehicles by 108 million metric tons per year in 2016, according to Environment New York’s analysis of the proposed rule. By 2016, the new vehicle standards will eliminate as much global warming pollution annually as is produced by 28 500-MegaWatt coal-fired power plants or 21.4 million of today’s vehicles, according to Environment New York’s analysis of the proposed rule.

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Environment New York is a state-based, citizen-funded environmental organization working for clean air, clean water, and open space.

Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national nonprofit organization, represents more than 700,000 members. Since 1967, Environmental Defense Fund has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems. For more information, visit www.edf.org .

The Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law is a non-partisan think-tank that works with advocacy organizations and governments to use economics and law to protect the environment, public health, and consumers.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:

Tony Kreindler, National Media Director, Climate, 202-445-8108, tkreindler@edf.org
Pamela Campos, Deputy General Counsel, 720-205-2366, pcampos@edf.org

(Washington – March 22, 2010) The Obama administration today finalized new fuel economy benchmarks and the first national standards for greenhouse gas emissions in U.S. history, putting the nation on a path to more efficient fuel use and significant pollution reductions from cars and light trucks over the next two decades.

“These standards deliver a trifecta of benefits to Americans: less dependence on Middle Eastern oil, less pollution, and more savings at the gas pump,” said Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp. “Cleaner cars will deliver immediate results as the Senate finishes work on bipartisan climate and energy legislation.”

The new standards from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation will apply to model year 2012 to 2016 vehicles, improving fuel efficiency by about five percent annually and reducing fleet-wide greenhouse gases 21 percent by 2030.

These passenger vehicles account for about 40 percent of all U.S. oil consumption and nearly 20 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

The standards require vehicles to meet a combined average emissions level of 250 grams of carbon dioxide (CO₂) per mile in 2016, comparable to 35.5 miles per gallon.

Today’s action responds to a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court mandate and will carry out President Obama’s landmark May 19th accord with major automakers, the Governor of California, the United Auto Workers’ Union, and environmental groups. Passenger cars and light-trucks emit nearly 20 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gases in the form of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and hydrofluorocarbons. In December, EPA found that these four contaminants and two other greenhouse gases endanger the human health and welfare of current and future generations.

California and 13 other states – Arizona, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington – adopted state clean car standards that provided the foundation for national scale emission standards.

The new national standards will save consumers approximately $3,000 in fuel costs over the life of a 2016 model year car, and begin breaking America’s addiction to foreign oil. EPA projects the standards would cut carbon dioxide emissions by an estimated 960 million metric tons and 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the lifetime of the vehicles sold under the program.

Cars, sport utility vehicles, minivans, pickup trucks used for personal transportation and passenger vehicles emit about 60 percent of all mobile source greenhouse gases, the nation’s fastest-growing source of greenhouse gases.
The standards will strengthen national security by curbing America’s reliance on foreign oil and by beginning to address climate-disrupting emissions that exacerbate geopolitical instability. Military leaders have pointedly recognized these dual policy imperatives:
“We will pay to reduce greenhouse gas emissions today … [o]r we will pay the price later in military terms. And that will involve human lives.” Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni, former commander of U.S. Central Command. Source: John M. Broder, Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security, N.Y. Times, Aug. 9, 2009.

“Energy security and a sound response to climate change cannot be achieved by pursuing more fossil fuels. Our nation requires diversification of energy sources and a serious commitment to renewable energy. Not simply for environmental reasons—for national security reasons.” Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn, USN, Retired, Member of CNA Military Advisory Board. Source: Statement of Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, July 21, 2009, at 4, available at http://foreign.senate.gov/testimony/2009/McGinnTestimony090721p.pdf.

“Our dependence on foreign oil reduces our international leverage, places our troops in dangerous global regions, funds nations and individuals who wish us harm, and weakens our economy; our dependency and inefficient use of oil also puts our troops at risk.” CNA Military Advisory Board Report—Powering America’s Defense: Energy and the Risks to National Security. Source: General Charles F. “Chuck” Wald et al., CNA Military Advisory Board, Powering America’s Defense: Energy and the Risks to National Security, at i (2009), available at http://www.cna.org/documents/PoweringAmericasDefense.pdf.
 

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About EDF
Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national nonprofit organization, represents more than 700,000 members. Since 1967, Environmental Defense Fund has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems. For more information, visit www.edf.org.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Sharyn Stein, 202-572-3396 sstein@edf.org

Washington DC (March 31, 2010)— “Without comprehensive climate and energy legislation, the failed, narrow energy policies of the past will continue. We believe the President’s announcement demonstrates his continued commitment to work towards the bi-partisan majority that will be necessary to pass climate legislation in the Senate.

“The President has put forward his plans on offshore drilling after hearing from key Senators that it’s a necessary step to succeed in passing climate and energy legislation in the Senate.

“Now it’s time for the supporters of new drilling and an “all-of-the-above” approach to energy policy to step forward and support comprehensive legislation, including a limit on carbon pollution. And the President must provide the leadership and drive to make that happen.

“From an environmental prospective, we believe any exploration and drilling must be carried out with effective environmental safeguards, including protection of key coastal and ocean habitats. Explicit funding for repair of the damage caused by historic energy extraction and transportation infrastructure must be addressed as well.”

About Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national nonprofit organization which represents more than 700,000 members. Since 1967, Environmental Defense Fund has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems. www.edf.org