NRDC in the News - Weekly Highlights: Week of May 29, 2017

Prior to President Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement, Rhea Suh, David Doniger, Jake Schmidt, Han Chen, Yang Fuqiang were all featured in lead-up coverage, including multiple Washington Post articles (see also: Washington Post, Washington Post), ABC News, CNBC, PBS Newshour, Yahoo News and Science Magazine, Bloomberg; Public News Service, The Global Times and many others.

In the wake of President Trump’s disappointing announcement to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement, Rhea Suh was quoted by CNN saying “When the President of the United States sets the country apart from science, breaks its promise to the rest of the world, retreats from the fight against climate change and leaves our kids to pay the price, that’s news.” A bevy of NRDC experts were featured in various outlets reacting to the announcement including Jake Schmidt in USA Today, Bob Deans on “The Leslie Marshall Show,” Adrianna Quintero in La Opinión and on Univision Noticias as well as Jackson Morris in The Journal News.

David Doniger reacted to the U.S. EPA’s halt on Obama-era methane emissions standards in Reuters saying that “the Trump administration is giving its friends in the oil and gas industry a free pass to continue polluting our air.” David was also quoted in UPI. NRDC’s intent to sue over the issue was featured in The Hill and Think Progress amongst others.

Rob Moore was featured in a Bloomberg piece discussing bipartisan flood insurance legislation for homeowners in flood-prone areas. Rob noted that “flood insurance seems to be one of those few areas where Democrats and Republicans see the same problems and, in a lot of instances, see the same solutions.” Rob was also quoted on the issue in the Insurance Journal. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch quoted Rob in an article on a series of controversial Illinois proposals to loosen oversight of levees.

Carl Zichella was quoted in USA Today saying the expansion of a California-led energy-sharing program to British Columbia “is a sign of the irreversibility of the trend away from coal” as solar and wind get cheaper and utilities choose not to invest in new coal. Annie Notthoff was quoted in GreenWire discussing a California Senate package of bills passed to offset the Trump administration’s environmental rollbacks from weakening the state’s protections.

Henry Henderson weighed in on the alarming increase in contaminated water from the Chicago River making its way into Lake Michigan from climate-related rainstorms on WBEZ – Chicago Public Radio.

Jake Schmidt was quoted in the Voice of America News on the climate change discussion at last Friday’s G-7 Summit in Italy.

Jackson Morris commented on the situation surrounding the impending closure of Pennsylvania’s infamous Three Mile Island nuclear plant in The Baltimore Sun. Jennifer Chen was quoted in Utility Dive discussing the future for demand response under PJM’s new capacity and aggregation rules. Jennifer was also quoted in Midwest Energy News discussing the implications of the PJM auction for Ohio electric customers.

The Sacramento Bee ran a front-page investigative piece on California irrigation districts’ lack of compliance with a law requiring them to track water usage that quotes Laura West.

The Times of Northwest Indiana quoted Anjali Waikar in an article about the state’s work to test and monitor East Chicago’s drinking water for lead, saying “Our concern is that while the city may be in compliance with the applicable law, the drinking water may still contain unsafe levels of lead.”

Darby Hoover was extensively quoted in a Governing Magazine feature describing the updates needed to local recycling efforts nationwide to increase their effectiveness.

“This is an important victory for public health,” Jen Sass told E&E News after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the U.S. EPA’s approval of a nanosilver antimicrobial product, continuing, “Nanosilver is known to be highly toxic to aquatic life, and may be hazardous to people. EPA rushed to judgment by approving it, leaving consumers to be guinea pigs. Now the agency must take a closer look at its potential to cause harm.”

Walton Shepherd was quoted in a Richmond Times-Dispatch article detailing Virginia Republicans’ anger over Governor McAuliffe’s no-show for an emergency hearing on the state’s carbon emission standards.

DeSmog Blog featured Kimberly Ong in a post that detailed the need for the Trump administration to regulate dangerous crude-by-rail trains. Allison Kelly was quoted in Forbes about the review process for the proposed multi-state Atlantic Coast Pipeline, warning that “green-lighting this pipeline without a sufficient review of the damage it would cause is a disservice to the people who live in its path.”

Rob Friedman was quoted in an Earth Island Journal feature on the grassroots climate movement stating that “the [movement] moving forward must be about facilitating alignment between the inside and outside strategies, with equitably resourced grassroots groups defining the path forward.”