Natural Resources Defense Council

Founded in 1970, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a major national environmental organization active in most areas of concern to environmentalists and conservationists. It boasts a membership of 500,000 nationwide and had an annual budget in 2001 of nearly $41 million dollars. These resources are employed in the organization's quest to use science and law to create "a world in which human beings live in harmony with our environment." NRDC seeks a sustainable society and believes that economic growth can continue only if it does not destroy the natural resources that fuel it. NRDC's stated goals include access to pure air and water and safe food for every human being. NRDC's philosophy is based increasingly on a belief in the inherent sanctity of the natural environment . As its mission statement proclaims, NRDC ultimately "strives to help create a new way of life for humankind, one that can be sustained indefinitely without fouling or depleting the resources that support all life on Earth." The organization is headquartered in New York City, with regional offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

Generally regarded as an influential and highly effective mainstream environmental organization, NRDC's successes have often come from its expertise in lobbying governmental officials, helping to draft environmental laws, and working with public utility officials to reduce wasteful and environmentally destructive practices. NRDC has also made considerable use of the judicial system in defense of environmental causes and retains on its staff some of the nation's top environmental lawyers.

Among its many notable achievements, NRDC has been instrumental in setting national standards for building and appliance efficiency. It collaborated with over a dozen states and Canadian provinces on the reform of electric utilities and helped the Soviet Union design an electrical planning program in the late 1980s. NRDC has helped protect dozens of national forests from abusive logging practices, including forests in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem and old-growth forests in the Sierra Nevada. In addition, NRDC led the fight for the national phase-out of lead from gasoline and lobbied intensively for passage of the 1990 Clean Air Act . It was a sponsor of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act and helped prove that an underground nuclear test ban treaty could be verified.

The NRDC is active in several areas, including Air and Energy; Global Warming; Clean Water and Oceans; Wildlife and Fish; Parks, Forests, and Wildlands; Toxic Chemicals and Health; Nuclear Weapons and Waste; Cities and Green Living; and Environmental Legislation. Its ongoing projects are numerous and include the continuing protection of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and California coastal areas from oil drilling . NRDC continues to monitor the policies and practices of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and has convinced the EPA to strengthen its rules regarding the reporting of releases of toxic substances into the environment. It has lobbied the government to designate new funds for the protection of endangered species ; to include environmental standards and controls in the North American Free Trade Agreement ;to close loopholes in proposed rules for controlling acid rain ; and to strengthen automobile pollution standards, as well as on many other environmental issues. In addition, the organization publishes a quarterly magazine of environmental thought and opinion, entitled OnEarth (formerly the Amicus Journal ).

Internationally, NRDC seeks the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons, the protection of habitat and ecosystems in developing countries, and the worldwide phaseout of chlorofluorocarbons .It promotes alternative agricultural techniques to reduce the use of pesticides, the strengthening of regulations governing the disposal of waste in landfills, and the testing and treatment of poor children for lead poisoning . NRDC is urging states and municipalities to stop the ocean dumping of sewage sludge and encouraging mass transit programs as an alternative to automobiles and new highways.

The NRDC urged President Bill Clinton to create six new National Monuments and protect 4 million new acres from development in the United States. By 2002, the NRDC had initiated a "BioGems Defender" program, which relies upon the e-mails of 250,000 members to pressure lawmakers to protect endangered areas or species . With the help of actor Robert Redford, who e-mailed letters on behalf of the BioGems program, the NRDC helped protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) from oil drilling in 2002. The NRDC also made headlines in 2002 when it successfully sued the George W. Bush Administration, under the Freedom of Information Act, to release documents produced by the National Energy Policy Development Group concerning U.S. energy policies.

[Lawrence J Biskowski and Douglas Dupler ]

RESOURCES

ORGANIZATIONS

Natural Resources Defense Council, 40 W 20th Street, New York, NY 10011 (212) 727-2700, Fax: (212) 727-1773, Email: [email protected], <www.nrdc.org/>