Complete list of press releases

(WASHINGTON, DC) Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) and Don Bacon (R-NE) today introduced the Growing Climate Solutions Act. The same bill was introduced by a bipartisan group of senators earlier this month.

“The Growing Climate Solutions Act would enable farmers to generate revenue from delivering verifiable climate benefits. It’s a big step toward ensuring that they are part of the climate solution.

“Climate-smart farming practices can reduce emissions of potent greenhouse gasses like methane and nitrous oxide and increase resilience to climate impacts like more frequent and variable floods and droughts.

“With support from farmers and environmentalists, Republicans and Democrats, this bill shows that there truly is growing momentum for agricultural climate solutions in Congress. We look forward to both chambers continuing to advance this and other bipartisan bills to accelerate climate-smart agriculture.”

• Callie Eideberg, Director, Government Relations

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) Environmental Defense Fund is challenging a decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to approve the Spire STL project, a 65-mile long gas pipeline in Illinois and Missouri. Today, EDF filed a brief asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to overturn FERC’s approval of the project.

In carrying out its statutory duty under the Natural Gas Act, FERC must determine whether a pipeline is in the public interest before approving the project. In the case of Spire STL, FERC failed to engage in a rigorous determination of need, basing its approval solely on a contract between Spire STL and its affiliated company, gas utility Spire Missouri. FERC’s failure to perform its statutory duties leads to a host of negative consequences for local communities and the environment.

“FERC unlawfully approved the Spire STL pipeline without a sound determination that the project is in fact needed,” said EDF attorney Erin Murphy. “When FERC relies exclusively on an affiliate contract to justify need for a pipeline, as it did with the Spire STL project, it threatens market integrity and harms ratepayers, who ultimately end up footing the bill for unnecessary gas infrastructure.”

In explaining to the court why FERC’s action was unlawful, EDF writes:

“FERC’s orders represent an abdication of its statutory obligation to protect the public by ensuring that new interstate pipelines will serve a genuine need. Instead of rigorously analyzing whether the public interest will be served, FERC performed an illusory ‘analysis’ that rubber-stamped an unnecessary pipeline based solely on the existence of an affiliate precedent agreement that required captive ratepayers to support a project that benefits’ the affiliates’ owner. The aligned interests of the affiliates, and the ability to pass costs through to captive customers, would put any reasonably vigilant regulator on high alert. At a minimum, it would trigger FERC to perform some analysis of whether the affiliate relationship diminished the evidentiary value of the precedent agreement when evaluating need. But a majority ignored the potential for affiliate abuse entirely.”

FERC issued its initial approval for the Spire STL project in August 2018. EDF sought rehearing of that decision, which FERC denied. FERC allowed Spire STL to complete construction and begin operating the pipeline despite serious legal concerns. EDF filed a legal challenge to FERC’s approval of the Spire STL project in January.

More rigorous oversight by FERC of affiliate contracts, such as the one between Spire STL and Spire Missouri in this case, could prevent the imposition of unnecessary costs on utility customers; and could prevent locking in long-term greenhouse gas pollution and locking out clean energy alternatives over the 50-year life of new pipelines.

(RALEIGH, NC – June 26, 2020) The North Carolina Legislature recently passed House Bill 1087, (HB 1087) which includes a measure that would help reduce flooding incidents and keep flood-prone North Carolina communities safer. The provision expands the Division of Mitigation Services (DMS) program, allowing the state to further leverage private sector resources for nature-based flood mitigation projects such as wetland, floodplain and stream restoration. Nature-based solutions can often be completed more quickly and at a lower cost than hardened structures such as dams and levees.

“This program expansion comes at a time when flood-prone communities across the state need increased assistance, especially those communities that have been marginalized and disadvantaged for too long. Rep. Bell has championed this provision from the onset, and thanks to his, Sen. Newton’s and Rep. McGrady’s leadership, North Carolina can leverage the competitive and innovative spirit of the private restoration sector to rapidly advance work that saves lives, protects homes and businesses and preserves wildlife habitats.

“This effort puts North Carolina in a position to create a marketplace like no other in the country.  Once signed by the governor, state leaders can build on these efforts by moving quickly to fund this vital work utilizing state or federal pre-disaster programs.”

Background: North Carolina’s Legislature moves toward greater flood protection and climate resilience

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.  – June 25, 2020) The California Air Resources Board approved a new regulation that requires manufacturers of medium- and heavy-duty trucks to build more electric options, requiring a certain percent on the market to be zero emission vehicles. The rule will make it so that, by 2035, about 60% of all trucks and buses sold in California will be clean. Recent research also suggests the economic benefits of the rule could reach $12 billion.

“It is clear, now more than ever, that we need to make advancements that reduce harmful air pollution. This policy benefits public health, the climate and the economy because going electric saves money and cleans the air. Costly business as usual technologies for these vehicles cannot continue.”

• Lauren Navarro, Senior Manager of Regulatory and Legislative Affairs, Environmental Defense Fund  
   

“Ford Motor Company has shown bold environmental leadership by working with California on Clean Car standards starting in 2019, and through its continued commitment to working with the state, to keep our nation moving forward in the urgent race to cut climate and air pollution.

Today, Ford builds on its record with an industry-leading goal to become carbon neutral by 2050. If policymakers and other automakers follow Ford’s lead in working with California, making substantial near-term investments in zero emitting technologies, and committing to a zero-emission future, we can shift the needle on climate change while creating much-needed jobs across our country.

Ford’s action also importantly recognizes that we must rapidly electrify the automotive sector to enable all Americans to breathe cleaner, healthier air.”

 “As health officials and medical professionals work to protect the nation from COVID-19, they have become increasingly subject to threats and harassment. These attacks are inexcusable and must be strongly and loudly denounced by our elected leaders and organizations, companies, institutions and individuals that care about this country’s ability to protect all residents from threats to our health from viruses to pollution. 

“The difficult decisions made by public health officials are based on science and have likely saved tens of thousands of lives, or more. They deserve not only our profound thanks, but our vigorous defense.

“The Trump administration is not responsible for the death threats against public health officials, but their dismissive attitude toward science and the president’s deliberate undermining of expert guidance on coronavirus fuels these violent responses. It is therefore the responsibility of this administration to make clear this harassment is unacceptable and, in many cases, may be criminal.”

- Sarah Vogel, EDF Health Vice President

(Carson City, NV – June 22, 2020) Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak announced a new rulemaking effort on Clean Car Standards today that could lead to crucial clean air and economic benefits for all Nevadans.

The effort initiates a process at the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) to develop rules for Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) and Low-Emission Vehicles (LEV) standards —  joining more than a dozen other states across the country that have already fully adopted or partially adopted such standards. If adopted, the LEV and ZEV standards would require that automakers deliver new vehicles to Nevada that emit either fewer or zero greenhouse gases and harmful air pollutants beginning in 2024.

“Governor Sisolak’s Clean Cars Nevada announcement today represents an important first step toward more clean transportation options for Nevadans, a move that can save lives from air pollution and help address climate change.” said Pam Kiely, Senior Director of Regulatory Strategy for EDF. “Nevada’s transportation sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the state and a major contributor to harmful air pollution —stepping up action in this sector is essential.”

“We commend the Governor’s leadership in proposing to accelerate these clean technologies, while recognizing that Nevada must simultaneously double down on comprehensive efforts to reduce air and climate change pollution across the state’s economy. Strong limits on carbon pollution will be needed to deliver concrete action on the climate goals set forth in Senate Bill 254 and Executive Order 2019-22 — reducing emissions 45 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2050.”

By ensuring a greater selection of cleaner and lower polluting vehicles – including electric vehicles, Clean Car Standards can substantially reduce dangerous air pollution in Nevada. Pollution from fossil-fuel vehicles exacerbates health problems for Nevada’s communities of color and its most vulnerable citizens, including children, the elderly, and anyone with respiratory conditions like asthma.

Nevada Clean Car Standards will also save drivers money at the gas pump and deliver quality jobs in a time of great economic need. Analysis shows that Nevadan families will save an estimated $500 per year in fuel cost saves and maintenance. Furthermore, over 1,000 Nevadans already have clean transportation jobs, with major potential for growth.

The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) will start the process of developing the regulations for Clean Car Standards, which will first involve a public stakeholder process throughout 2021. You can read more on the benefits of a Nevada Clean Cars program in EDF’s new fact sheet.

(Washington, D.C. – June 19, 2020) Almost two dozen health, environmental and civil rights groups – including the NAACP, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and EDF – are suing the Trump EPA for its harmful and unlawful effort to reverse its own finding that the regulation of mercury and other toxic air pollution from coal-fired power plants is appropriate and necessary to protect public health. That finding is the legal grounding for the life-saving Mercury and Air Toxics Standards.

Trump’s EPA recently reversed the finding, which rested on a large and robust scientific and technical record, to improperly conclude that regulation of mercury and other toxic emissions is not appropriate. EDF and its allies filed a petition for review with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today challenging the reversal.

Many of the same groups also filed with the D.C. Circuit today to intervene in a case in which Westmoreland Mining Holdings, a coal company, is trying to use the Trump EPA’s reversal as a means to topple the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards themselves.

“The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards save 11,000 lives each year and protect babies and other vulnerable people from deadly air pollutants. The Trump EPA’s unethical and unlawful decision to weaken them endangers all Americans, especially communities of color and low-income communities. Now Westmoreland is trying to take advantage of the Trump EPA’s decision in order to get rid of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards altogether, which would be even worse. We will vigorously oppose both attacks in court,” said EDF attorney Liana James.

The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards are the first-ever national policy to reduce certain hazardous pollutants from coal-burning power plants, including:

• Mercury, which causes brain damage, especially in babies
• Arsenic, which causes neurological and other harms
• Lead, which causes neurological and other harms
• Chromium and nickel, which cause cancer
• Acid gases, which cause serious lung disease

Mercury discharged from coal plant smokestacks contributes to localized pollution hot spots, which can disproportionately harm communities of color and low-income communities. It also contaminates lakes and rivers – and, in turn, the fish we eat. Mercury contamination in fish spans lakes and rivers across all regions of the U.S. Pregnant women are routinely warned not to eat certain kinds of fish because of the high levels of mercury. Children exposed to mercury in the womb have been shown to have lower IQ’s, impaired memory and language skills, and difficulty thinking and learning later in life. Mercury can also harm the vision, motor function, and muscle coordination of adults. At high levels it can cause coma and death.

The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards are already fully implemented and are successfully protecting Americans. The power sector has achieved an 86% reduction in mercury, an 81% reduction in other metals, and a 96% reduction in acid gases since 2010.

However, in April, the Trump EPA finalized a proposal to undermine the foundation of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, in spite of almost universal opposition to the move. Power sector leaders, labor leaders, the Chamber of Commerce, Members of Congress from both parties, health experts and many others had all asked the administration to leave the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards alone. EDF and its allies are now challenging the Trump EPA’s action in court.

After the Trump EPA undermined the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, Westmoreland Mining Holdings filed a lawsuit seeking to use the agency’s action to eliminate the standards.EDF is part of the coalition that filed a Motion to Intervene today asking to join that case.

“We will defend the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards from all attacks,” said James. “These are fundamental, life-saving clean air protections and all Americans are safer because of them.”

(Washington, D.C. – June 19, 2020) Almost two dozen health, environmental and civil rights groups – including the NAACP, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and EDF – are suing the Trump EPA for its harmful and unlawful effort to reverse its own finding that the regulation of mercury and other toxic air pollution from coal-fired power plants is appropriate and necessary to protect public health. That finding is the legal grounding for the life-saving Mercury and Air Toxics Standards.

Trump’s EPA recently reversed the finding, which rested on a large and robust scientific and technical record, to improperly conclude that regulation of mercury and other toxic emissions is not appropriate. EDF and its allies filed a petition for review with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today challenging the reversal.

Many of the same groups also filed with the D.C. Circuit today to intervene in a case in which Westmoreland Mining Holdings, a coal company, is trying to use the Trump EPA’s reversal as a means to topple the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards themselves.

“The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards save 11,000 lives each year and protect babies and other vulnerable people from deadly air pollutants. The Trump EPA’s unethical and unlawful decision to weaken them endangers all Americans, especially communities of color and low-income communities. Now Westmoreland is trying to take advantage of the Trump EPA’s decision in order to get rid of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards altogether, which would be even worse. We will vigorously oppose both attacks in court,” said EDF attorney Liana James.

The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards are the first-ever national policy to reduce certain hazardous pollutants from coal-burning power plants, including:

• Mercury, which causes brain damage, especially in babies
• Arsenic, which causes neurological and other harms
• Lead, which causes neurological and other harms
• Chromium and nickel, which cause cancer
• Acid gases, which cause serious lung disease

Mercury discharged from coal plant smokestacks contributes to localized pollution hot spots, which can disproportionately harm communities of color and low-income communities. It also contaminates lakes and rivers – and, in turn, the fish we eat. Mercury contamination in fish spans lakes and rivers across all regions of the U.S. Pregnant women are routinely warned not to eat certain kinds of fish because of the high levels of mercury. Children exposed to mercury in the womb have been shown to have lower IQ’s, impaired memory and language skills, and difficulty thinking and learning later in life. Mercury can also harm the vision, motor function, and muscle coordination of adults. At high levels it can cause coma and death.

The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards are already fully implemented and are successfully protecting Americans. The power sector has achieved an 86% reduction in mercury, an 81% reduction in other metals, and a 96% reduction in acid gases since 2010.

However, in April, the Trump EPA finalized a proposal to undermine the foundation of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, in spite of almost universal opposition to the move. Power sector leaders, labor leaders, the Chamber of Commerce, Members of Congress from both parties, health experts and many others had all asked the administration to leave the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards alone. EDF and its allies are now challenging the Trump EPA’s action in court.

After the Trump EPA undermined the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, Westmoreland Mining Holdings filed a lawsuit seeking to use the agency’s action to eliminate the standards.

EDF is part of the coalition that filed a Motion to Intervene today asking to join that case.

“We will defend the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards from all attacks,” said James. “These are fundamental, life-saving clean air protections and all Americans are safer because of them.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

"Environmental Defense Fund is dedicated to building a healthier and more just world where people – especially those most vulnerable to public health and environmental harms – and nature can prosper together. That is why we welcome today's Supreme Court decision keeping the Dreamers program intact.

"This decision benefits not only the over 700,000 Dreamers who came here as children and are now adults making vital contributions to our nation -- including thousands of healthcare workers on the frontlines of the tragic coronavirus pandemic; it benefits all of our communities. This is a significant step toward a more just society, one that lets everyone live with dignity, rewards and encourages hard work and innovation and keeps families whole. Let's all work together to find a permanent solution for Dreamers as also we work to create a healthier and more equitable future for all."

· Fred Krupp, president, Environmental Defense Fund

(WASHINGTON, DC – June 17, 2020) Today the Senate voted to permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), a popular federal program that protects our public lands and waters including national parks, forests, wildlife refuges and recreation areas. This follows last year’s passage of the John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management and Recreation Act that permanently authorized LWCF.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund provides critical grants for state and local parks and recreational facilities, and promotes voluntary conservation on private land.

“Permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund is good news for all Americans. Not only does this mean critical investments in our nation’s land and water resources, it also brings jobs and economic opportunities to local communities at a time when they are urgently needed.

“EDF supported the permanent authorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund last year, and we welcome permanent funding for this important program. We look forward to the House passing this measure and the President signing it into law.”

(AUSTIN, TX) In an online hearing today, the Texas Railroad Commission heard from a panel of industry trade groups that had been asked by Chairman Wayne Christian to recommend ways to reduce flaring. EDF and other concerned stakeholders also delivered testimony during the hearing. 

“Operators in this state have sent a trillion cubic feet of natural gas up in smoke since 2013, enough to meet the yearly needs of every home in Texas three times over. The unnecessary waste and pollution from routine flaring is an affront to the values we all hold true. That’s why you hear everyone from mineral owners, investors, and environmentalists, to oil and gas companies themselves, calling for an end to flaring. The commission should listen to these calls and set a firm goal for an end to routine flaring by 2025.” 

• Colin Leyden, Director, Regulatory and Legislative Affairs 
   

“For the second time today, the Trump administration has attacked America’s vital health and environmental protections. This time they’re proposing to make it harder to issue clean air protections that save lives and protect the health of our communities – by cooking the books to downplay the benefits of these clean air safeguards, distorting science, and adding new hurdles for issuing clean air protections.

“For fifty years, the Clean Air Act has stood for the promise of healthy air for all Americans. The Trump administration has utterly betrayed that promise through its relentless campaign to dismantle vital climate and health protections. Today’s proposal is unfortunately a continuation of that shameful legacy, and would be especially detrimental to low-income and communities of color that are already suffering disproportionately from the harmful impacts of air pollution.

“As EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler told reporters today, this proposal would open the door for the agency to selectively disregard the benefits of reduced air pollution when making decisions about vital clean air safeguards. That would mean disregarding benefits like fewer premature deaths and fewer childhood asthma attacks. It echoes key elements of Wheeler’s unlawful and harmful proposal to sharply restrict EPA’s ability to consider the best available health science when crafting clean air protections.

“Today’s proposal would make it harder for EPA to carry out its responsibility under the law, and it comes on the same day that President Trump was expected to sign an executive order allowing federal projects to bypass the National Environmental Policy Act. It also follows closely on the administration’s rollback of the Clean Car Standards and its decision to leave America with inadequate protections against particulate pollution.”EDF will keep fighting for the laws that keep us all safe from dangerous pollution.”

- Tomás Carbonell, EDF Director of Regulatory Policy and Lead Attorney

EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler gave a June 2^nd speech trying to take credit for America’s relatively clean air without acknowledging that he is trying to tear down the safeguards that created it.

“Wheeler’s speech only makes sense if he’s trying to praise past Presidents who put in place clean air protections – rules the Trump administration has been relentlessly trying to dismantle,” said EDF General Counsel Vickie Patton. “This is like someone with a wrecking ball admiring the building they are knocking down.”

On Wheeler’s watch, EPA has undertaken a series of rollbacks that threaten to increase lethal air pollution and exacerbate the climate crisis. His attacks on these vital clean air protections would cause thousands of additional premature deaths, lead to more asthma attacks and respiratory illnesses, and lead to dirtier air in communities across the country. Many of these burdens will fall hardest on communities of color that already suffer disproportionately from air pollution.

Just since the coronavirus pandemic began, Trump EPA Administrator Wheeler has:

• Finalized a rollback of America’s Clean Car standard – an action that all by itself will result in an additional 18,500 premature deaths, 250,000 asthma attacks, and 350,000 respiratory ailments, and increase carbon pollution by 1.5 billion tons.
• Issued a final rule undermining life-saving protections against mercury, arsenic, acid gases, lead and other toxic air pollution from coal-fired power plants. Those protections are currently saving 11,000 lives and preventing 130,000 childhood asthma attacks each year.
• Issued a proposal to reject any strengthening of air quality standards for particle pollution, a pollutant that is responsible for 85,000 premature deaths each year.
• Issued a sweeping industry non-compliance policy relaxing enforcement of specific clean air protections at the height of the pandemic.
• Expanded his initiative to censor the health science that saves numerous lives from deadly air pollution.

Since 2017, the Trump administration has undertaken approximately 100 rollbacks of environmental and public health protections. The administration’s shameful legacy also includes:

• A rollback of the historic Clean Power Plan, which would cause nearly one in five of the nation’s coal plants (two-thirds of which are located in disproportionately low-income and minority communities) to increase soot and smog-forming pollution.
• A proposal that would create an air toxics loophole allowing nearly 4,000 large industrial facilities nationwide, many of which are located in overburdened communities, to stop complying with rigorous protections against hazardous air pollution.
• A proposal to eliminate limits on methane pollution from oil and gas development, which would expose communities of color, low income communities, children and the elderly to toxic benzene, volatile organic compounds and other health-harming contaminants (as mapped here).

Wheeler’s speech also completely neglected the large body of evidence that shows too many Americans are still suffering from poor air quality, and that some types of dangerous air pollution are increasing. The American Lung Association’s 2020 State of the Air report found that 150 million Americans live in counties with unhealthy ozone or particulate pollution – a sharp increase from its reports for 2018 and 2019. The report found that many of those areas are experiencing higher levels of pollution because of climate change – a trend that the administration’s rollbacks of vital climate safeguards will make worse.

“Wheeler’s remarks shock the conscience in claiming credit for air pollution protections that he is systematically eviscerating,” said Patton. “Any recent progress in reducing overall air pollution has come in spite of, not because of, Wheeler’s actions. EDF will continue fighting to protect our bedrock clean air protections.”

(Washington, D.C. – June 4, 2020) President Trump is once again planning to undermine America’s bedrock environmental protections, and he is doing it while hiding behind the the COVID-19 crisis.

The President is poised to sign an executive order this afternoon that will aim to waive environmental laws that require consideration of the health and environmental harms of major industrial projects like major pipelines. The executive order appears to target the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA – the underpinning of U.S. environmental protections, which was signed into law half a century ago by President Richard Nixon.

“The health burdens of today’s expected executive order would be heavily imposed on people and communities – especially communities of color – that have suffered from industrial pollution for far too long,” said EDF General Counsel Vickie Patton. “These are the actions of a President who, unjustly and unlawfully, disregards the health and safety of the people.”

President Trump is invoking the economic crisis caused by the new coronavirus for today’s expected executive order, but he was already trying to weaken NEPA. The Trump EPA proposed widespread changes to the long-standing implementation of the law in January, and those changes are expected to be finalized in the next few weeks.

EDF strongly opposed the proposed changes to NEPA in written submissions in early March, and testified against them at EPA hearings.

NEPA was enacted by Congress in 1970. It requires agencies take a “hard look” at the environmental impacts of their actions by carefully considering consequences of a proposed action, alternatives, and mitigation measures. The Trump administration’s proposed changes would abdicate those responsibilities and instead allow major industrial activities to move forward without adequate consideration or disclosure of harmful impacts.

The proposed changes, and today’s executive order, would also restrict communities’ ability to learn about and address the health and environmental harm of projects in their neighborhoods. That would especially burden communities of color and low-income communities.

Today’s order follows Trump administration attempts to weaken or roll back other major environmental protections, often under the guise of reducing government regulation, including the Clean Car Standards, the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, the Clean Power Plan, safeguards against soot, and the Censored Science proposal.