Getting the Law Right
Safeguarding the environment through legislation and the courts
NYC Mayor Bloomberg signs the clean school bus law in 2009. EDF's Isabelle Silverman (far right) pushed for the law. Photo: City of New York
Why We Work on Legislation
"We can’t match the lobbyists dollar for dollar, but high-profile advocacy can cut through their arguments. At the end of the day, strong environmental law depends on votes cast by lawmakers."
— Wendy Sommer, VP Environmental Defense Action Fund.
Back in the 1960s when Environmental Defense Fund was just starting out, we had an unofficial motto: “Sue the bastards!” And in those days, it worked.
Our first major campaign — banning the pesticide DDT to save great birds of prey like the bald eagle from extinction — used the courts in a way no one ever had before. Our innovative tactics won a great national victory that helped launch the modern environmental era.
Forging alliances
These days, we still go to court when necessary, but increasingly we also partner with government, businesses, landowners, fishermen and others who have a stake in solving environmental problems.
By sitting down with a range of decision-makers and forging sometimes unlikely alliances, we help shape effective policies and laws at every levels of government. These decisions are long-lasting and effective because they are fair, inclusive and based on sound science.
Healthier air for millions
Here are recent victories that EDF played a key role in:
End of the road for dirty diesel. For the last 30 years, pollution standards for diesel engines have lagged behind those for cars — until recently. A decade ago EDF set out to close loopholes and tackle these dangerous sources of pollution, starting with trucks and buses. To get strong rules in place, we found allies, demonstrated the health risks of diesel pollution, built support in industry and, when necessary, took EPA to court.
Today, new diesel "onroad" vehicles must be equipped with modern pollution controls, and sulfur in diesel fuel has been cut dramatically. Our campaign helped win limits on barges, ferries and trains. International standards adopted last year will cut diesel pollution from new ocean-going ships. Collectively the new rules will save tens of thousands of lives a year. (Read full story.)
Preventing mercury hotspots. In a big win for public health, a federal appeals court ruled in 2008 against EPA policy that could have created toxic mercury hot spots and put children’s brains at risk. We brought the challenge with Earthjustice and a coalition of doctors, states and advocacy groups. Spurred by strong state standards like those we helped win in Colorado, more than 90 power plants nationwide are now installing advanced mercury controls.
Taking the fight to the Supreme Court
In 2007, EDF was party to two landmark victories in the high court: one, a win for regulating global warming pollution; the other, a win for clean air:
Climate wins a major victory. Addressing the issue of global warming for the first time, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with us and our allies and ruled that EPA has the authority to regulate global warming pollution from cars and trucks under the Clean Air Act. In 2003, we had joined a coalition of states and other groups to argue that global warming endangers public health and welfare. In 2007, the high court agreed.
A wakeup call for dirty coal. Power plants and industrial facilities must install modern pollution controls when they expand. That was the unanimous ruling of all nine U.S. Supreme Court justices on our lawsuit, Environmental Defense et al. v. Duke Energy. The decision to uphold the bedrock provision of the Clean Air Act known as “new source review” will result in healthier air nationwide.
A history of shaping innovative policies
EDF's winning strategies have produced lasting results in a varitey of fields:
Crafting California’s historic law to cap greenhouse gases. Environmental Defense Fund staff conceived and then cosponsored and helped draft the nation’s first statewide law to reduce gases that cause global warming. The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 aims to reduce heat-trapping gases 25 percent by 2020. With California long at the vanguard of the clean energy movement, the momentum for national legislation is building.
Shaping the most sweeping fishery legislation in a decade. Our oceans team was instrumental in crafting and passing the 2006 Magnuson-Stevens Act, which introduced a market approach to protecting our oceans. The law now requires that catch limits or caps be set for all fisheries and also encourages the use of tradable "catch shares," which give fishermen a financial stake in preserving fish populations and help sustain fishing communities. With EDF’s help, fishermen and fishing communities on the Gulf of Mexico and the West Coast set up programs that are revitalizing the red snapper and Pacific groundfish fisheries.
Pushing EPA to clean up dirtiest power plants. The smokestacks of many older coal-fired power plants pump out dangerous pollution that can travel hundreds of miles. Our attorney Vickie Patton, a former EPA lawyer, was the first to make the case at her old agency for standards that protect populations downwind of the plants. In 2005, EDF helped convince EPA to adopt strict new limits on smokestack pollution in the eastern half of the U.S.
Posted: 19-Jul-2007; Updated: 06-Mar-2009
