natural resources defense council

On June 8, We Celebrate Our Oceans, Our Future

On June 8, We Celebrate Our Oceans, Our Future

By Sarah Chasis June 8 is World Oceans Day, dedicated to celebrating our beautiful, mysterious, and life-giving oceans. As our oceans make up more than 70 percent of the earth’s surface, their health drives the future of our planet. Oceans give us every other breath we take, provide a critical source of protein and a […]

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    Neonic Pesticide May Become More Toxic in Tap Water

    Neonic Pesticide May Become More Toxic in Tap Water

    By Jennifer Sass Yet again, our government scientists—the oft neglected but so important brain trust of our nation—bring the public some very important new data. Pesticide water monitoring experts at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) paired up with scientists from the University of Iowa in a federally funded collaboration to track neonicotinoid pesticides or ” […]

    ‘Absolutely Unconscionable’: Trump EPA Refuses to Limit Toxic Chemicals Contaminating Drinking Water

    ‘Absolutely Unconscionable’: Trump EPA Refuses to Limit Toxic Chemicals Contaminating Drinking Water

    By Jessica Corbett In a decision deemed by critics unsurprising but also “absolutely unconscionable,” the Trump administration’s U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reportedly plans to refrain from regulating a pair of toxic chemicals linked to kidney and testicular cancer, even though they are contaminating millions of Americans’ drinking water. Sources familiar with an unreleased draft […]

    Monarch Butterfly Population Plummets in California

    Monarch Butterfly Population Plummets in California

    The population of monarch butterflies that spend winter along the California coast dropped 86 percent since 2017, according to a recent count by the Xerces Society, an invertebrate conservation group. Preliminary results from the Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count, an annual citizen science program, recorded less than 30,000 butterflies overwintering in California, a significant decline from […]

    2019 Will Be a Big Year for Water

    2019 Will Be a Big Year for Water

    By Tara Lohan In the last few weeks of 2018, the Trump administration set the stage for a big battle over water in the new year. At stake is an important rule that defines which waters are protected under the Clean Water Act. The Trump administration seeks to roll back important protections for wetlands and […]

    EPA Bows to Coal Industry, Moves to Weaken Mercury & Air Toxics Standards

    EPA Bows to Coal Industry, Moves to Weaken Mercury & Air Toxics Standards

    In its latest attack on clean air protections, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its new proposal to weaken the Obama-era Mercury & Air Toxics Standards (MATS), putting public health at risk from more than 80 dangerous pollutants, some of which are known to cause brain damage in children. “This is an unconscionable rollback […]

    Are Democratic Party Leaders Shying Away From a Green New Deal?

    Are Democratic Party Leaders Shying Away From a Green New Deal?

    Congressional Democratic leaders have tapped Florida Representative Kathy Castor to chair a renewed climate change committee, the congresswoman confirmed to E&E News Thursday, dampening the hopes of activists and progressive Democrats that the committee would focus on drafting a Green New Deal to provide jobs while transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy in 10 years. […]

    Why Aren’t School Buses Electric? These Coloradans Are Sick of Diesel

    Why Aren’t School Buses Electric? These Coloradans Are Sick of Diesel

    By Corey Binns Before her two kids returned to school at the end of last summer, Lorena Osorio stood before the Westminster, Colorado, school board and gave heartfelt testimony about raising her asthmatic son, now a student at the local high school. “My son was only three years old when he first suffered from asthma,” […]