Editing Natural Resources Defense Council

{{Short description|Non-profit environmental advocacy group}}
{{Infobox organization
| name                     = Natural Resources Defense Council
| established              = {{start date and age|1970}}
| founders                 = {{ubl|[[John H. Adams (environmentalist)|John Adams]]|Richard Ayres|[[John Bryson]]|[[James Gustave Speth]]|Edward Strohbehn}}
| logo                     = NRDC bear logo.svg
| logo_size                = 180px
| logo_alt                 = Logo of the Natural Resources Defense Council
| logo_caption             = 
| leader_title             = President and CEO
| leader_name              = Manish Bapna
| abbreviation             = NRDC
| type                     = [[501(c)(3) organization|Non-profit]]
| purpose                  = [[Environmental activism]]
| headquarters             = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]], US
| area_served              = Worldwide<ref name="NRDC offices" />
| origins                  = 
| key_people               = 
| subsidiaries             = NRDC Action Fund
| method                   = Advocacy, education, litigation
| membership               = 2.4 million<ref name="2015report"/>
| membership_year          = 2015
| budget                   = [[US$]]151.6 million<ref name="2015report">{{cite web |url=https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/nrdc-annual-report-2015.pdf|title=NRDC 2015 Annual Report |publisher=Natural Resources Defense Council|date=December 2015|access-date=18 November 2016}}</ref>
| budget_year              = 2015
| staff                    = 700
| staff_year               = 2020
| owner                    = 
| dissolved                = 
| website                  = {{URL|https://nrdc.org/}}
| footnotes                = 
}}

The '''Natural Resources Defense Council''' ('''NRDC''') is a United States–based [[501(c)(3) organization|501(c)(3)]] [[non-profit]] international [[environmental advocacy group]], with its headquarters in [[New York City]] and offices in [[Washington, D.C.]], [[San Francisco]], [[Los Angeles]], [[Chicago]], [[Bozeman, Montana|Bozeman]], [[India]], and [[Beijing]].<ref name="NRDC offices">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nrdc.org/our-offices|title=Our Offices|work=NRDC|access-date=2017-11-20|language=en}}</ref> The group was founded in 1970 in opposition to a [[Hydroelectricity|hydroelectric]] power plant in New York.

As of 2019, the NRDC had over three million members, with online activities nationwide, and a staff of about 700 lawyers, scientists and other policy experts.<ref name="fy2015financials">{{cite web|url=https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/nrdc_financials_fy2015.pdf|title=NRDC FY2015 Consolidated Financial Statements|website=Natural Resources Defense Council|date=30 June 2015|access-date=18 November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nrdc.org/about|title=About Us|website=NRDC|language=en|access-date=2019-06-13}}</ref>

==History==
NRDC was founded in 1970.<ref name="Gottlieb">Robert Gottlieb, ''Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement'' (revised ed.: Island Press, 2005), pp. 193–94.</ref><ref>Jon Bowermaster, "Green Giants: On the Front Lines with Two Rival Guardians," ''New York'' (April 16, 1990).</ref> Its establishment was partially an outgrowth of the ''[[Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference v. Federal Power Commission]]'', the Storm King case.<ref name="Gottlieb"/> The case centered on [[Con Ed]]'s plan to build the world's largest [[hydroelectric]] facility at [[Storm King Mountain (New York)|Storm King Mountain]] in New York's [[Hudson Valley]]. The proposed facility would have pumped vast amounts of water from the [[Hudson River]] to a reservoir and released it through turbines to generate electricity at [[peak demand]].<ref name="Young">McGee Young, "The Price of Advocacy: Mobilization and Maintenance in Advocacy Organizations" in ''Advocacy Organizations and Collective Action'' (eds. Aseem Prakash & Mary Kay Gugerty), pp. 40-42.</ref>

A dozen concerned citizens organized the [[Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference]] in opposition to the project, citing its environmental impact, and the group, represented by [[Whitney North Seymour Jr.]], his law partner Stephen Duggan, and [[David Sive]], sued the [[Federal Power Commission]] and successfully achieved a ruling that groups such as Scenic Hudson and other environmentalist groups had the [[standing (law)|standing]] to challenge the FPC's administrative rulings.<ref name="Young"/> Realizing that continued environmentalist litigation would require a nationally organized, professionalized group of lawyers and scientists, Duggan, Seymour, and Sive obtained funding from the [[Ford Foundation]]<ref name="Gottlieb"/><ref name="Young"/> and joined forces with [[James Gustave Speth|Gus Speth]] and three other recent [[Yale Law School]] graduates of the class of 1969: Richard Ayres, Edward Strohbehn Jr., and [[John Bryson]].<ref>James Gustave Speth, ''Angels by the River: A Memoir'' (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2014), pp. 96, 127.</ref><ref>[https://news.yale.edu/2010/05/07/law-school-honors-four-alumni-who-helped-create-natural-resources-defense-council Law School Honors Four Alumni Who Helped Create the Natural Resources Defense Council], [[Yale Law School]] (May 7, 2010).</ref>

[[John H. Adams (environmentalist)|John H. Adams]] was the group's first staff member and Duggan its founding chairman;<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/13/nyregion/stephen-duggan-environmentalist-dies-at-89.html|title=Stephen Duggan, Environmentalist, Dies at 89|last=Saxon|first=Wolfgang|date=1998-11-13|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-11-02|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Seymour, [[Laurance Rockefeller]], and others served as members of the board.<ref name="Gottlieb"/>

In September 1979 The Ford Foundation pulled funding for the NRDC alongside the [[Environmental Defense Fund]] after [[Henry Ford II]] said groups receiving foundation money were "antibusiness" and "biting the hand that feeds them."<ref>{{cite journal  | title = Public interest groups lose foundation backing | journal = Chemical & Engineering News | volume = 57 | issue = 39|date=1979-09-24 | url = https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/cen-v057n039.p023a | pages = 23 | doi=10.1021/cen-v057n039.p023a  }}</ref> The NRDC had recently challenged the FDA's interim approval for Coca-Cola's first plastic bottle made of acrylonitrile/styrene.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1977-02-23 |title=Cancer Experts Warn of Dangers in Some Plastic Wrap Chemicals |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/02/23/archives/cancer-experts-warn-of-dangers-in-some-plastic-wrap-chemicals.html |access-date=2024-11-26 |work=The New York Times }}</ref> The FDA reported that test animals exposed to [[acrylonitrile]] had "significantly lowered body weight and other adverse effects, including lesions in the central nervous system and growths in the ear ducts."<ref>{{Cite web |date=1977-03-08 |title=Plastic Beverage Bottles Made From Acrylonitrile Are Banned by the F.D.A.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/03/08/archives/plastic-beverage-bottles-made-from-acrylonitrile-are-banned-by-the.html |access-date=2024-11-26 |work=The New York Times }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal  | title = Monsanto Loses Plastic Bottle Fight | journal = Chemical & Engineering News | volume = 55 | issue = 39|date=1977-09-26 | url = https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/cen-v055n039.p006  | pages = 6 | doi=10.1021/cen-v055n039.p006 }}</ref> and suspended its approval. 

=== Position on nuclear power ===
In the 1970s, NRDC sought to block expansion of the [[Indian Point Energy Center|Indian Point]] nuclear power plant in New York.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lifset |first=Robert D. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7zw8tw |title=Power on the Hudson: Storm King Mountain and the Emergence of Modern American Environmentalism |date=2014 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |isbn=978-0-8229-6305-9 |chapter=Chapter 10|doi=10.2307/j.ctt7zw8tw |jstor=j.ctt7zw8tw }}</ref> It has historically until the plant's closure in 2021, sought to close the plant.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Weisbrod |first=Katelyn |date=2021-05-06 |title=Inside Clean Energy: Indian Point Nuclear Plant Reaches a Contentious End |url=https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06052021/inside-clean-energy-indian-point-nuclear-plant-reaches-a-contentious-end/ |website=Inside Climate News |language=en-US}}</ref> NRDC has also sought to close the [[Diablo Canyon Power Plant|Diablo Canyon nuclear plant]] in California.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Halper |first=Evan |date=2022-05-31 |title=Climate worries galvanize a new pro-nuclear movement in the U.S. |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/05/24/diablo-canyon-nuclear-climate/ |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> In 2018, the NRDC took no position on legislative proposals in New Jersey to subsidize three of its nuclear reactors.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2018-04-18 |title=Environmentalists and Nuclear Power? It's Complicated |language=en |work=New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/18/climate/climate-fwd-green-nuclear.html}}</ref> NRDC has argued that nuclear power is not a viable energy source to mitigate climate change, arguing that it poses public health and safety risks through nuclear waste and nuclear proliferation.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-10-22 |title=Should states rely on nuclear power to combat climate change? |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/should-states-rely-on-nuclear-power-to-combat-climate-change |website=PBS NewsHour |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Patterson |first=Thom |date=2013-11-03 |title=Climate change warriors: It's time to go nuclear |url=https://www.cnn.com/2013/11/03/world/nuclear-energy-climate-change-scientists/index.html |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref> In 2014, NRDC president [[Frances Beinecke]] said that the NRDC could not support nuclear power because it would lose donations.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2017 |title=The left's nuclear problem |work=Axios |url=https://www.axios.com/2017/12/15/the-lefts-nuclear-problem-1513307026}}</ref>

=== Position on solar power ===
In 2012, NRDC sued the federal government to stop the 663.5-megawatt Calico solar station in the Mojave Desert in California. NRDC said the solar plant would imperil protected wildlife.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Woody |first=Todd |date=2012 |title=Sierra Club, NRDC Sue Feds To Stop Big California Solar Power Project |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwoody/2012/03/27/sierra-club-nrdc-sue-feds-to-stop-big-california-solar-power-project/ |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref> In 2022, NRDC supported proposals to subsidize rooftop solar power generation.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Weisbrod |first=Katelyn |date=2022-03-07 |title=Environmental Groups Are United In California Rooftop Solar Fight, with One Notable Exception |url=https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07032022/california-rooftop-solar-nrdc/ |website=Inside Climate News |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Position on hydropower ===
NRDC's position on hydropower is that it is not a [[renewable energy]] source. When Indian Point was scheduled for closure, NRDC held no position on a proposal to build a transmission line to Quebec to access excess hydropower while arguing, "we certainly would not be on board where [hydropower] gobbles up the space we think should be covered by true renewables".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-01-17 |title=With Indian Point closing, Quebec sees an opportunity for hydropower |url=https://www.politico.com/states/states/new-york/albany/story/2017/01/with-indian-point-closing-quebec-looking-to-make-a-deal-108767 |website=POLITICO |language=en}}</ref>

==Programs==
NRDC states the purpose of its work is "safeguard the earth—its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends," and to "ensure the rights of all people to the air, the water and the wild, and to prevent special interests from undermining public interests." Their stated areas of work include: "[[climate change]], communities, energy, food, health, oceans, water, the wild".<ref>{{Cite web|url= https://www.nrdc.org/work|title=Our Work|access-date=2021-06-06}}</ref>

As a legal [[advocacy group]], the NRDC works to accomplish environmental goals by operating within the legal system to reduce pollution and protect natural resources through litigation, and by working with professionals in science, law, and policy at the national and international level.<ref>{{Cite web|url= https://www.nrdc.org/node/157#litigation|title=How We Work|access-date=2021-06-06}}</ref> The NRDC's Center for Campaigns & Organizing (CC&O) also oversees the NRDC Action Fund, a separate [[501(c)4|501(c)(4) nonprofit organization]] which engages in political and electoral activities.<ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=Center for Campaigns & Organizing |url=https://www.nrdc.org/center-campaigns-organizing |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428184346/https://www.nrdc.org/center-campaigns-organizing |archive-date=2024-04-28 |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=Natural Resources Defense Council |language=en}}</ref>

NRDC published ''onEarth'', a quarterly magazine that dealt with environmental challenges, through 2016.  It was founded in 1979 as ''The Amicus Journal''.<ref>{{cite web |title=About Us - OnEarth Magazine |url=http://www.onearth.org/about}}</ref> As ''Amicus'', it won the [[George Polk Awards|George Polk Award]] in 1983 for special interest reporting.<ref>{{cite web |title=George Polk Award Winners |url=http://www.liu.edu/About/News/Polk/Previous.aspx#1983 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140924041643/http://www.liu.edu/About/News/Polk/Previous.aspx#1983 |archive-date=September 24, 2014}}</ref>

==Staff==
The council's first president was [[John H. Adams (environmentalist)|John H. Adams]], who served until 2006.<ref>{{Cite web|title=John Adams|url=https://www.nrdc.org/experts/john-adams|access-date=2020-12-28|website=NRDC|date=18 December 2020 |language=en}}</ref> He was replaced by [[Frances Beinecke]], who served as president from 2006 to 2015.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Frances Beinecke|url=https://www.nrdc.org/experts/frances-beinecke|access-date=2020-12-28|website=NRDC|date=14 February 2018 |language=en}}</ref> The third president was [[Rhea Suh]], who served from 2015 to 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rhea Suh|url=https://www.nrdc.org/experts/rhea-suh|access-date=2020-12-28|website=NRDC|date=19 June 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

In 2020, [[Gina McCarthy]] served as the CEO and president.  She previously served as the head of the [[Environmental Protection Agency]] in the Obama administration and became White House National Climate Advisor in the Biden administration in 2021.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Coleman |first1=Zack |title=Trump aims to weaken prime environmental law |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/09/donald-trump-national-environmental-policy-act-096679 |website=Politico |date=9 January 2020 |access-date=January 10, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nrdc.org/media/2019/191105|title=NRDC Announces Gina McCarthy as President & CEO|date=November 5, 2019|website=NRDC|language=en|access-date=2019-11-28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=2020-12-15|title=Exclusive-Biden taps former EPA chief for White House climate coordinator role -sources|language=en|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biden-mccarthy-exclusive-idUSKBN28P35Y|access-date=2021-07-07}}</ref> In 2021, NRDC selected Manish Bapna, formerly of the [[World Resources Institute]], as their new president and CEO.<ref>{{Cite web|date=June 23, 2021|title=NRDC Appoints Manish Bapna as President and CEO|url=https://www.nrdc.org/media/2021/210623|access-date=2021-07-07|website=NRDC|language=en}}</ref> At their web site NRDC state they have about 700 employees including scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates.

==Legislation==
''NRDC v. U.S. EPA'' (1973), with [[David Schoenbrod]] caused the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency]] to begin reducing [[Tetraethyllead#Phaseout and ban|tetraethyl lead]] in gasoline sooner than they were going to.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rosner |first1=David |authorlink=David Rosner |last2=Markowitz |first2=Gerald |authorlink2=Gerald Markowitz |date=May 1, 2005 |title=Standing up to the Lead Industry: An Interview with Herbert Needleman |url= |journal=Public Health Reports |volume=120 |issue=3 |pages=330–337 |doi=10.1177/003335490512000319 |pmid=16134577 |pmc=1497712}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bridbord |first1=Kenneth |last2=Hanson |first2=David |date=August 2009 |title=A Personal Perspective on the Initial Federal Health-Based Regulation to Remove Lead from Gasoline |journal=Environmental Health Perspectives|volume=117 |issue=8 |pages=1195–1201 |doi=10.1289/ehp.0800534 |pmid=19672397 |pmc=2721861 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2009EnvHP.117.1195B }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.--> |title=Set Lead Cut In Gasoline EPA Ordered - Agency is Given 30 Days to Make Reduction Ruling |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=r9FOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EAIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6426%2C5687720 |work=Toledo Blade |location=Ohio |date=October 30, 1973 |access-date=March 12, 2021}}</ref>

NRDC opposed the [[Water Rights Protection Act]], a bill that would prevent federal agencies from requiring certain entities to relinquish their water rights to the United States in order to use [[public lands]].<ref name=3189cbo>{{cite web|title=H.R. 3189 - CBO|date=9 December 2013|url=http://www.cbo.gov/publication/44956|publisher=Congressional Budget Office|access-date=11 March 2014}}</ref><ref name=riversatrisk1>{{cite news|title='Water Rights Protection Act' puts rivers at risk|url=http://www.postindependent.com/news/crime/9385035-113/bill-rivers-fish-federal|access-date=12 March 2014|newspaper=Post Independent|date=20 December 2013|author=Nathan Fey|author2=Matt Rice}}</ref>

NRDC supported the [[EPS Service Parts Act of 2014 (H.R. 5057; 113th Congress)]], a bill that would exempt certain [[external power supply|external power supplies]] from complying with standards set forth in a final rule published by the [[United States Department of Energy]] in February 2014.<ref name=cbo5057>{{cite web|title=CBO - H.R. 5057|date=23 July 2014|url=http://www.cbo.gov/publication/45574|publisher=Congressional Budget Office|access-date=9 September 2014}}</ref><ref name=ITIhankin>{{cite web|last1=Hankin|first1=Christopher |title=House Energy & Commerce Committee passes bipartisan regulatory relief for external power supplies|url=http://blog.itic.org/blog/house-energy-commerce-committee-passes-bipartisan-regulatory-relief-for-external-power-supplies|publisher=Information Technology Industry Council|access-date=10 September 2014|date=15 July 2014}}</ref>

==Effect on administrative law==
NRDC has been involved in the following [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] cases interpreting [[United States administrative law]].

* ''[[Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.]]'', {{ussc|435|519|1978|el=no}}, which held that courts could not impose additional procedural requirements on administrative agencies beyond that required by the agency's organic statute or the [[Administrative Procedure Act (United States)|Administrative Procedure Act]].<ref>{{ussc|name=Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.|435|519|1978}}.</ref>
* ''[[Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.]]'', {{ussc|467|837|1984|el=no}}, which gave administrative agencies broad discretion to interpret [[statute]] to make policy changes if Congressional intent was unclear.<ref>{{ussc|name=Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.|467|837|1984}}.</ref> 
* ''[[Baltimore Gas & Elec. Co. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.]]'', {{ussc|462|78|1983|el=no}}<ref name="BGE-Case">{{ussc|name=Baltimore Gas & Elec. Co. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.|462|78|1983}}.</ref> is a United States Supreme Court decision which held to be valid a [[Nuclear Regulatory Commission]] (NRC) rule that the permanent storage of nuclear waste should be assumed to have no environmental impact during the [[Nuclear licensing|licensing]] of [[nuclear power plant]]s.

== See also ==
{{Portal|Environment|Ecology|Earth sciences|Energy}}
* [[Anti-nuclear movement]]
* [[Biodiversity]]
* [[Building Codes Assistance Project]]
* [[Environmental impact of mining]]
* [[Environmental movement]]
* [[Environmental Protection Agency]]
* [[Global warming]]
* [[Green building in the United States]]
* [[Green politics]]
* [[Pebble Mine#Reactions|Opposition to Pebble Mine]]
* [[United States Green Building Council]]
* ''[[Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council]]'', concerning the balance of possible harm and government interest when issuing preliminary injunctions

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==

* {{cite book
 | last1 = Adams | first1 = John H
 | last2 = Adams | first2 = Patricia
 | title = A force for nature: the story of NRDC and the fight to save our planet
 | date = August 2010
 | publisher = Chronicle Books
 | location = San Francisco, California, USA
 | isbn = 978-081186535-7
}}  Hardback edition.

==External links==
* {{Official website}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Natural Resources Defense Council| ]]
[[Category:1970 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Environmental organizations based in New York City]]
[[Category:Environmental organizations based in the United States]]
[[Category:Environmental organizations established in 1970]]
[[Category:Non-profit organizations based in New York City]]
[[Category:Environmental advocacy groups]]