Ten Victories That Made a Difference

Thanks to our supporters, Environmental Defense is helping shape a better world.

California made history in 2006 with a statewide cap on global warming pollution.
Check out our five big ideas for 2007

The nation's first statewide cap on greenhouse gas emissions

Faced with the growing threat of heat waves, wildfires and water shortages, California's Republican governor and Democratic legislature agreed in August to a bill to reduce heat-trapping gases 25 percent by 2020. Environmental Defense proposed the idea, then cosponsored and helped draft the measure. Though outspent 10 to one by industry opponents, we built an unprecedented coalition of environmental, religious, health, labor and business groups to support the bill. In down-to-the-wire negotiations, we helped maintain consensus around the historic measure. Read full story.

Eight Northeast states join forces to cut heat-trapping gases

The first multistate cap-and-trade program will cut emissions from power plants 10 percent by 2019. Using a plan conceived and designed by Environmental Defense, the program will create competition among utilities to find the best pollution-reduction measures, guaranteeing the highest impact for the lowest cost.

Cleaner coal plant becomes a reality

With our partners at Western Resource Advocates, we persuaded Xcel Energy in Colorado to commit to build the nation's first coal plant that will capture greenhouse gases and store them underground, dramatically reducing global warming pollution. The project raises the bar for the 150 new coal plants proposed across the nation.

A plan to cut pollution in half from America's busiest ports

The Los Angeles and Long Beach ports are Southern California's largest source of air pollution. Guided by our attorney Jerilyn Lopez Mendoza, vice chair of the L.A. harbor commission, the ports agreed to slash emissions 50% within five years, the most comprehensive port cleanup in U.S. history.

New rules dramatically lower diesel pollution nationwide

Diesel exhaust is among the most dangerous and pervasive sources of air pollution, but Americans can breathe a little easier thanks to a new EPA rule that Environmental Defense helped secure and then defend in court. It requires all diesel trucks and buses built in model year 2007 or after to be equipped with modern pollution controls. A second rule cuts by 97% the sulfur allowed in most diesel fuel nationwide. EPA estimates that the new rules will bring $70 billion in health benefits annually, more than 17 times their cost.

Protected in the world's largest marine reserve, Hawaiian monk seals have a better chance of survival. (Photo: NOAA)

World's largest marine reserve

Stretching 1,200 miles from Honolulu, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are home to Earth's most remote coral reefs and more than 7,000 species, including endangered Hawaiian monk seals. To protect this biological jewel, our staff worked for nearly a decade with native Hawaiians, fishermen, divers, scientists and local activists. Our president Fred Krupp took the case for the islands' protection directly to President George W. Bush. Soon after their April 2006 meeting, the President declared the area a national monument, safeguarding more than 84 million acres — an area larger than all of America's national parks combined. Find out more.

Partnership with Defense Department to help a rare species recover

At the country's largest Army base in Fort Hood, Texas, Environmental Defense created a way for the military to protect an endangered songbird without restricting the ability to train soldiers. Home to the world's largest nesting population of the golden-cheeked warbler, Fort Hood will restore warbler habitat off base, on private lands critical to the bird's recovery. The Fort can tap the Òconservation creditsÓ it earns should on-base habitat be harmed. Now the Pentagon wants to try the approach at other installations, which are home to more endangered species than our national parks.

Poultry producers curtail antibiotics

An estimated 70 percent of all antibiotics in the United States are fed to healthy farm animals, undermining the drugs' power to protect people. Environmental Defense persuaded major meat  buyers, including McDonald's, to purchase only from poultry suppliers that don't routinely feed medically important drugs. In January, four of the nation's top poultry producers said they had ended the harmful practice.

Endangered species find 'Safe Harbor' on four million acres

Most endangered species depend on private land for survival, but landowners once shunned rare plants and animals because of the accompanying federal limits on land use. To resolve the conflict, we pioneered Safe Harbor in 1995. The cooperative program encourages landowners to welcome endangered species without fear of added restrictions. Ten years later, hundreds of landowners nationwide have signed on to restore habitat for more than 45 rare species, from the northern aplomado falcon to the stunning Schweinitz's sunflower. These successes helped us defend the Endangered Species Act, which came under attack in Congress.

New law uses market tool to revive oceans

In December, Congress passed a law that endorses giving fishermen a direct financial stake in conserving. We helped shape the new Magnuson-Stevens Act, which makes the most sweeping changes to fishery rules in a decade. The law for the first time requires fishery managers to set catch limits for all fisheries. It also authorizes the use of tradable "catch shares" developed by Environmental Defense. With each fisherman owning a share of the catch, there's incentive to conserve: As stocks recover, the value of each share increases.

Posted: 06-Apr-2006; Updated: 20-Apr-2009