FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 31, 2016

Contact:  Denis Dison

NRDC Action Fund Endorses Hillary Clinton

Trump Energy Speech Underscores What’s At Stake

Washington - The NRDC Action Fund today announced its endorsement of Secretary
Hillary Clinton, marking the first time the group has backed a candidate for president of the United States.

Rhea Suh, president of the NRDC Action Fund, issued the following statement about the endorsement:

“Today the NRDC Action Fund takes the historic step of endorsing Hillary Clinton for president. In the last year, we have seen enormous advances in the fight to protect our air, our water, our land, and our wild places – from the first-ever plan to fight carbon pollution in the United States under the Clean Power Plan to the global commitment to fight climate change promised in the Paris Climate Agreement. But without a true climate champion leading the United States, all that progress is at risk. We need a president who will not only fight for all the progress we’ve made, but who will also fight for all the progress we need.

“Hillary Clinton will be that president.

“Hillary Clinton is an environmental champion with the passion, experience and savvy to build on President Obama’s environmental legacy. More than any other candidate running, Hillary Clinton understands the environmental challenges America faces, and her approach to solving them is grounded in the possibility and promise our democracy affords us. She is the candidate best able to protect our climate, air, water and lands.

“Hillary Clinton knows that polluted air and unsafe drinking water are far greater burdens on poor communities and communities of color in America, and like us she believes these communities deserve justice.

“Hillary Clinton understands the enormous power of the growing clean energy economy, which has already created millions of jobs and is helping end our addiction to fossil fuels.

“Hillary Clinton has the deep knowledge and diplomatic skills needed to fight for our future, preserve America’s leadership role in the Paris Climate Agreement and build upon that global framework to fight climate change.

“Donald Trump, on the other hand, has recently outlined a disastrous and frankly nonsensical environmental agenda – suggesting that he would tear up the Paris Climate Agreement, and that there is no drought in California. His plan for his first 100 days would take us back 100 years, and America cannot afford to indulge his climate conspiracy theories.

“It’s time for all Americans who care about environmental justice, public health and protecting the planet for future generations to unite-- to stand with Hillary Clinton and reject Donald Trump and his big polluter agenda.”

NRDC Action Fund Board Chair Patricia Bauman, and the chair of the group’s endorsing committee, Anne Bartley, said the group’s first-ever presidential endorsement signals how important this election outcome will be.

“Hillary Clinton is all that stands between us and Donald Trump’s radical proposals to reverse decades of environmental progress,” said Bauman.

“We’re making this historic endorsement because it’s critical for all of us to unite behind an environmental champion and help her beat Donald Trump,” Bartley said.

 

Note to reporters/editors:
The NRDC Action Fund’s full legal name is “the NRDC Action Fund.” It is an affiliated but separate organization from NRDC (the Natural Resources Defense Council), which does not endorse political candidates. As a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization, the NRDC Action Fund engages in various advocacy and political activities for which NRDC, a 501(c)(3) organization, faces certain legal limitations or restrictions.

 

The NRDC Action Fund’s mission is to build political support in the United States for protecting the planet and its people. We mobilize influential constituencies, experts, community leaders and others to directly advocate for clean air and water, public health, biodiversity, and a stable climate. We support candidates who stand up for environmental protection, and we expose those who side with polluters rather than the public good. www.nrdcactionfund.org

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Hillary for America
May 31, 2016
Today, following the endorsement of the NRDC Action Fund--the first time in their history they have endorsed a Presidential candidate--Hillary Clinton issued the following statement:

"I am honored to have earned the first-ever presidential endorsement of the NRDC Action Fund.

"Climate change is real, it is being driven by human activity, and it is happening right now. We can't wait for climate deniers and defeatists to get on board--we need to take immediate action to build on the progress President Obama has made in fighting this unprecedented global threat. We need to use every tool we have to make America the clean energy superpower of the 21st century and to make sure no one is left out or left behind in the clean energy economy, from communities struggling with the legacy of environmental racism to the coalfield communities that kept America's lights on for generations.

"That's why I have a comprehensive plan to combat climate change with bold, national goals to expand clean energy, boost energy efficiency, and slash oil consumption. I will fight alongside the NRDC Action Fund for environmental and climate justice and invest in building a bright future for coalfield communities. And together, we can get half of our electricity from clean sources within 10 years, create millions of good-paying jobs, protect our communities from the dangerous climate impacts that we're already seeing, and ensure America is leading the world in the fight against climate change.

"The stakes for our children's health and the future of our planet have never been higher. The presumptive Republican nominee has called climate change a Chinese hoax and called for scrapping the landmark Paris climate agreement. He has pledged to open up millions of acres of pristine public lands and waters to fossil fuel production at a time when America's public lands are under unprecedented pressures. We need to be accelerating the transition to a clean energy future, not letting a climate denier doom our children to a future beyond their capacity to repair.

"It has never been more critical that we come together to face the shared challenge of climate change--because there is no Planet B."