Natural Resources Defense Council Inc

“Board of trustees members, frederick a.o. Schwarz, jr. And frederica perera, have a family relationship. The following board members and board officers have a business relationship, sarah cogan, laura lin, john bennett, ashley gherlone, and dorothy hector.”

“Pursuant to nrdc's bylaws, the organization has two classes of members: donor members and advocacy members, each of which are entitled to one vote. Donor members must support nrdc's mission and make certain dues payments; advocacy members must support nrdc's mission, accept an invitation by the corporation to become a member, and take certain other actions to affirm membership.”

“Nrdc's members are entitled, as part of their membership, to elect individuals to the nrdc board of trustees.”

“The nrdc board of trustees acts autonomously. Nevertheless, nrdc's members have certain approval rights pursuant to the new york not-for-profit corporation law, including, approval over any amendments to nrdc's certificate of incorporation.”

“990 review process the form 990 was prepared by a nationally recognized professional services firm in conjunction with the organization's senior management. A copy of the draft form 990 was presented to the audit committee of the board of trustees for discussion and comment. Once the audit committee approved the form 990 for filing, a copy was circulated to the full board of trustees. Each board member was provided opportunity to comment on the information contained in the form 990 prior to its filing with the internal revenue service.”

“Conflict of interest policy enforcement and monitoring each officer, trustee, and key employee of the organization is required to annually disclose any conflicts of interest that arise by virtue of employment, board service, or position with the organization. The organization monitors compliance with its conflict of interest policy through an annual questionnaire/disclosure statement that is distributed to these individuals. Potential conflicts are investigated immediately.”

“Process for determining compensation the organization undertakes a thorough process to ensure that the executive compensation it pays to its top management official and all of its officers and key employees is reasonable, given the market in which the organization operates. In relevant part, the board of trustees has established a compensation committee of independent trustees that have no personal interest in the proposed compensation. The compensation committee contracts with a compensation consultant to complete a market assessment and competitive position analysis for the organization's top executives. The compensation consultant utilizes comparability and benchmarking surveys to ensure that the organization compensates its executives commensurate with the market. Based on its review of the analyses provided by the compensation consultant and other relevant information, the compensation committee makes recommendations to the executive committee of the board of trustees. Compensation decisions and reports are contemporaneously documented in the minutes of the meeting of the executive committee at which such decisions are made.”

“Disclosure the organization makes its form 990 available to the public by retaining a copy at its place of business. The form 990 and audited financial statements are likewise published on nrdc's website at www.nrdc.org. The organization's governing documents and conflict of interest policy may be provided at management's discretion, if requested.”

“We safeguard the earth: its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. We work to restore the integrity of the elements that sustain life - air, land, and water to defend endangered natural places and communities. We intend to establish sustainability and good stewardship of the earth as central ethical imperatives of human society. We strive to protect nature to advance the long-term welfare of present and future generations and for its intrinsic value. We work to foster the fundamental right of all people to have a voice in decisions that affect their environment. Ultimately, nrdc strives to help create a new way of life for humankind, one that can be sustained indefinitely without fouling or depleting the resources that support all life on earth.”

“Program service accomplishments this past fiscal year, nrdc continued its work to protect human health, biodiversity, and the environment in the united states and abroad. Our programs, litigation, science, advocacy, and communications departments work together to ensure the rights of all people to the air, the water, and the wild. Nrdc has three key programmatic areas: (1) averting the most dangerous impacts of climate change, (2) advocating for the health of people and thriving communities, and (3) conserving nature and protecting wildlife. Each program's highlights are covered below in descending order of spending. This summary also highlights the efforts of nrdc's international program. Clean energy future: nrdc's clean energy future work aims to urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions to a level consistent with limiting climate change to a 1.5-degree celsius increase pathway by 2050, in accordance with guidance from the intergovernmental panel on climate change. This category broadly consists of working toward the related goals of advancing clean energy and cutting harmful emissions. Nrdc focuses much of its efforts on driving systemic change on clean energy; in particular, we work with various levels of government - federal, state, and local - to speed the transition off fossil fuels through litigation, education, research and advocacy. The most noteworthy highlights of this past year include the following: in a big step forward in preventing the harms of pollution and delivering significant economic benefits to the country, the u.s. Environmental protection agency (epa) released new rules to clean up the tailpipe pollution for passenger cars, suvs, and pickup trucks on our roads. These new standards build off past tailpipe emission standards that have steadily reduced pollution from vehicles. The new regulations, slated to affect all new passenger vehicles starting in the 2027 model year, promise significant benefits such as cumulative reduction of carbon by over 7 billion metric tons by 2055 by epa estimates. These rules will provide $2.1 trillion dollars of net societal benefits, with $247 billion in direct driver benefits and $240 billion stemming from health benefits from 2027-2055. For these efforts, nrdc helped develop technical comments and analysis for strong rules, as well as public education and advocacy and building coalition support. The epa also finalized standards to limit carbon pollution from power plants, which ensure that the power sector delivers potential carbon reductions cost effectively, and that utilities pursue clean energy investments that benefit americans' wallets, health, and the environment. Nrdc provided research, submitted comments and recommendations on epa's proposal, and advocated for and proposed common-sense measures such as updating nitrous oxide and hazardous air pollutant standards for combustion turbines under the clean air act. Additionally, following years of education and advocacy by nrdc and partners, the u.s. Securities and exchange commission adopted a highly publicized rule requiring public companies to make public disclosures regarding climate emissions. Standardized disclosures providing reliable and comparable information on emissions will allow investors to respond - through purchases and sales of corporate stocks and bonds - to the risks and opportunities public companies face in the country, and help capital markets reallocate capital away from pollution-intense activities toward more resilient ones. Further at the national level, the federal energy regulatory commission (ferc) announced its long-awaited regional transmission rule, which sets the standards for the planning and development of new transmission lines that can improve reliability and affordability by bringing significant energy resources online. It established robust new standards for planning and developing transmission infrastructure across the country, as well as the fair allocation of costs for large”

“Sustainable communities nrdc works to change systems that impact people directly and indirectly - from addressing unsafe drinking water systems to decreasing chemicals in consumer products to advocating for infrastructure improvements. These efforts span a wide range of activities including advocating for communities that continue to bear disproportionate impacts of harm; addressing toxic chemicals and pesticides in our environment in food, air, and water; and promoting resilience and health for all, on local, state, regional, and national levels. Key highlights from this past year are as follows: nrdc made notable progress in protecting communities at the national level this past fiscal year. One example of this effort is the u.s. Department of transportation (dot) finally moving to suspend a rule that allowed the transport of liquefied natural gas (lng) by rail across the country without a special permit. Transporting lng by rail presents a tremendous risk to public safety and health, exposing communities to fiery explosions and toxic clouds. This issue is particularly urgent for communities in the northeast, where a gas developer is pushing for a massive project involving the transport of lng across 200 miles via trains and trucks from wyalusing, pennsylvania, to gibbstown, new jersey, and putting nearly two million lives at risk. In nrdc's endeavors to protect communities from the health hazards of toxic chemicals, the epa announced a rule to regulate six per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as pfas or "forever" chemicals, in drinking water. These are the first new standards that epa has issued without congressional intervention for a drinking water contaminant in more than a quarter century. These new drinking water standards address four newer pfas chemicals in addition to the two legacy pfas (pfoa and pfos), and as many as 105 million people in the us will benefit. Nrdc worked in coalition with frontline partners and other groups to provide scientific, legal, and economic analyses to support the need for strict drinking water regulations against this group of persistent, widespread, and toxic chemicals. In a big step forward for safe water across the country, and following years of efforts with partners from state governments to local communities, the epa proposed to mandate replacement of every lead pipe in the united states, in most cases within the next 10 years. The epa's proposed lead and copper rule improvements set the stage for how the entire nation will address lead in drinking water for years to come. Nrdc's work - including issuing a report showing that removing every lead pipe in the nation would result in hundreds of billions of dollars in health and economic benefits - contributed to the improvements to this rule. More locally in michigan, nrdc continued its efforts to ensure safe drinking water for residents of flint. In a huge step following nearly a decade of activities with partners to hold the city of flint accountable and to provide its communities with safe water, a federal district court in detroit held the city in contempt for violating a february 2023 court order requiring the city to reach certain milestones in its lead pipe replacement program. Flint had originally agreed to replace its lead pipes by early 2020, but it still had not completed that work, and it had not addressed the damage for almost 2,000 homes caused by the lead pipe replacement program at the time of the court order. In may 2024, the state of michigan agreed to take over the management and implementation of the remaining work on the pipe replacement on the city, with a new deadline to be completed by august 2025. In a major win for public health in california, nrdc secured a legal victory in a longstanding lawsuit over the port of los angeles's failure to mitigate significant air pollution from its china shipping terminal. This ruling represents the culmination of more than twenty years of advocacy by nrdc and commu”

“Wildlife and wildlands nrdc protects wildlife and unspoiled lands and waters from inappropriate and unlawful industrial development, commercial exploitation, and pollution. We partner with ranchers, farmers, and the government to promote solutions that help wild predators coexist with livestock and people. We push for international agreements to protect elephants, rhinos, sharks, and other animals from being killed for trade. And we fight to keep reckless oil and gas drilling out of wild areas, from the atlantic ocean to the canadian boreal forest. The main fy24 accomplishments and highlights in this category are as follows: nrdc saw a number of key advancements in our endeavors to protect wildlands in the west. First, a new monument designation establishing the baaj-nwaavjo i'tah kukveni, or ancestral footprints of the grand canyon national monument, in arizona recognized the history of the indigenous peoples and nations in the area while protecting key species such as bald eagles, bighorn sheep, elk, as well as its waterways that connect to the colorado river. This designation of co-stewardship with tribal governments was aided by strong advocacy that built a strong coalition of lawmakers, hunters, anglers, and business owners. In other notable developments, the bureau of land management finalized its public lands rule, which will help the agency balance the complex and varied needs of all public land users in protecting intact healthy landscapes, restoring landscapes back to health, and ensuring decision-making is based on science and data. Additionally in the west, colorado became the first state to restore protections for wetlands and streams following the supreme court's sackett vs. Epa decision, which redefined the bodies of water that clean water act of 1970 protects, and the ruling left states as the primary safeguard against unregulated industrial and municipal pollution in vulnerable bodies of water and waterways. After the decision, nrdc worked in coalition to support successful state efforts to safeguard wetlands and waterways. In new york state, nrdc's advocacy was critical to the passage of the birds and the bees protection act, the first of its kind in the country. The new law curbs the use of neonicotinoid pesticides - one of the most ecologically destructive pesticides since ddt that poses risks to bees, pollinators, and humans - by prohibiting the wasteful applications as coatings on corn, soybeans, wheat seeds, as well as usage on lawns and gardens. When fully implemented, this legislation is expected to eliminate up to 90 percent of the neonics entering the state's lands and water supplies annually. Nrdc provided critical scientific and legal research and resources to key stakeholders, and conducted public education and outreach campaigns to build public support. In the latest update in nrdc's efforts to hold a pharmaceutical/chemical company accountable in cleaning up mercury contamination from maine's penobscot river, the trustee directing remediation work announced the first suite of 13 beneficial environmental projects that are being funded from the settlement of the case in 2022. In addition to the $150 million dedicated to mercury remediation, the settlement provided $20 million for the projects that will improve fish passage and help restore native fish populations, protect and restore sensitive wetlands, provide new recreational opportunities along the river - the longest river in the state - and help reduce human exposures to mercury and other toxins. The case began in 2000 to hold mallinckrodt accountable to clean up widespread mercury contamination in the penobscot river, and reached a settlement two decades later that requires the company to pay $187 million and up to $267 million to independent trusts that are funding and directing remediation activities.”

“Miscellaneous professional fees: program service expenses 27,173,460. Management and general expenses 753,424. Fundraising expenses 759,409. Total expenses 28,686,293. Temp help: program service expenses 430,792. Management and general expenses 374,810. Fundraising expenses 85,354. Total expenses 890,956.”

“Change in value of split-interest agreements 1,689,722. Pension related activity other than net periodic expense -1,555,639.”