Natural Resources Defense Council

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a United States-based 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, New Delhi, Chicago, Bozeman, and Beijing.[1] Founded in 1970, the NRDC has over 3 million members, with online activities nationwide, and a staff of about 700 lawyers, scientists and other policy experts.[3][4]

Natural Resources Defense Council
AbbreviationNRDC
MottoThe Earth's Best Defense
Established1970 (1970)
Founders
TypeNon-profit
PurposeEnvironmental activism
HeadquartersNew York, New York, US
Area served
Worldwide[1]
MethodAdvocacy, education, litigation
Membership (2015)
2.4 million[2]
President and CEO
Gina McCarthy
Budget (2015)
US$151.6 million[2]
Staff (2020)
700
Websitenrdc.org

History

The NRDC was founded in 1970.[5][6] Its establishment was partially an outgrowth of the Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference v. Federal Power Commission, the Storm King case.[5] The case centered on Con Ed's plan to build the world's largest hydroelectric facility at Storm King Mountain. 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.[7] 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 to challenge the FPC's administrative rulings.[7] 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[5][7] and joined forces with Gus Speth and three other recent Yale Law School graduates of the class of 1969: Richard Ayres, Edward Strohbehn Jr. and John Bryson.[8][9] John H. Adams was the group's first staff member and Duggan its founding chairman[10]; Seymour, Laurance Rockefeller, and others served as members of the board.[5]

NRDC published onEarth, a quarterly magazine that dealt with environmental challenges, through 2016. It was founded in 1979 as The Amicus Journal.[11] As Amicus, it won the George Polk Award in 1983 for special interest reporting.[12]

Programs

At their website NRDC states: "With dedicated staff working in more than a dozen program areas, we partner with businesses, elected leaders, and community groups on the biggest issues we face today." Programs they specifically list include:

  • Climate & Clean Energy
  • Healthy People & Thriving Communities
  • International
  • Litigation
  • Nature
  • Science Center

Staff

Gina McCarthy is the CEO and president. She previously served as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency in the Obama administration.[13][14] At their web site NRDC states they have about 700 employees including scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates.

Legislation

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.[15][16]

NRDC supported the EPS Service Parts Act of 2014 (H.R. 5057; 113th Congress), a bill that would exempt certain external power supplies from complying with standards set forth in a final rule published by the United States Department of Energy in February 2014.[17][18]

Effect on administrative law

The NRDC has been involved in the following Supreme Court cases interpreting United States administrative law.

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See also

Further reading
  • John H. Adams & Patricia Adams, A Force for Nature: The Story of NRDC and Its Fight to Save Our Planet (Chronicle Books: 2010)

References
  1. "Our Offices". NRDC. Retrieved 2017-11-20.
  2. "NRDC 2015 Annual Report" (PDF). Natural Resources Defense Council. December 2015. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  3. "NRDC FY2015 Consolidated Financial Statements" (PDF). Natural Resources Defense Council. 30 June 2015. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  4. "About Us". NRDC. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  5. Robert Gottlieb, Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement (revised ed.: Island Press, 2005), pp. 193–94.
  6. Jon Bowermaster, "Green Giants: On the Front Lines with Two Rival Guardians," New York (April 16, 1990).
  7. 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.
  8. James Gustave Speth, Angels by the River: A Memoir (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2014), pp. 96, 127.
  9. Law School Honors Four Alumni Who Helped Create the Natural Resources Defense Council, Yale Law School (May 7, 2010).
  10. Saxon, Wolfgang (1998-11-13). "Stephen Duggan, Environmentalist, Dies at 89". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-11-02.
  11. "About Us - OnEarth Magazine".
  12. "George Polk Award Winners". Archived from the original on September 24, 2014.
  13. Coleman, Zack. "Trump aims to weaken prime environmental law". Politico. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  14. November 05; 2019. "NRDC Announces Gina McCarthy as President & CEO". NRDC. Retrieved 2019-11-28.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. "H.R. 3189 - CBO". Congressional Budget Office. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  16. Nathan Fey; Matt Rice (20 December 2013). "'Water Rights Protection Act' puts rivers at risk". Post Independent. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
  17. "CBO - H.R. 5057". Congressional Budget Office. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  18. Hankin, Christopher (15 July 2014). "House Energy & Commerce Committee passes bipartisan regulatory relief for external power supplies". Information Technology Industry Council. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  19. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 435 U.S. 519 (1978).
  20. Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984).
  21. Baltimore Gas & Elec. Co. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 462 U.S. 78 (1983).
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