Dear NRDC Supporter,

Three weeks in, the Trump administration — led in the shadows by the unelected billionaire Elon Musk — has launched an assault on the environment and public health, with devastating implications for our climate, communities, our economy, and our future.

Far from putting “America first,” they are putting oil and gas industry profits first—and putting the rest of the country at risk.

A few examples:

• Falsely declaring an energy emergency as a way to assert extraordinary presidential powers and to justify a wave of executive orders to stomp out clean energy and promote oil, gas, and coal.
• Halting wind energy development, which means higher electricity bills, a less reliable power grid, and fewer jobs in the booming clean energy sector.
• Moving to open up vast swaths of our wild Arctic in Alaska, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and our coastlines, to oil, gas, and mining companies, which will devastate wilderness, wildlife, and Indigenous communities.
• Pulling the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement, which leaves other countries to write the rules for the clean energy economy of the future.
• Pushing to open national monuments and protected areas to oil and gas drilling, mining, logging, and other industrial exploitation.
• Making electric vehicles more costly to build and buy, and freezing funds to expand EV charging stations, limiting consumer choice and putting domestic workers and carmakers at a competitive disadvantage against their Chinese and European rivals.
• Moving to strip protections for endangered and threatened wildlife, including more than 1,000 migratory bird species.
• Moving to lock in ever more climate-busting liquefied natural gas exports, prioritizing dangerous offshore oil drilling along our coasts, and weakening safeguards on offshore drilling rigs meant to prevent disastrous oil spills and well blowouts.

Nobody voted for unhealthy air, dirty water, or climate chaos. Nobody voted for Elon Musk. And yet, this is what we’re facing. Trump and Musk have launched a massive power grab that reaches far beyond the authority given to the president in our Constitution.

The United States is a democracy. Not an oligarchy. Not a monarchy.

We have checks and balances in place precisely for this moment. The Trump administration simply cannot dissolve federal agencies and departments, or purge a massive amount of people from the federal workforce. Congress needs to stand up for itself and for the Constitution.

While these threats are dire, the good news is that NRDC is ready to fight back against these attacks and to push for solutions to our most pressing environmental problems.

Here’s what NRDC is doing now:

• Powerful Legal Action: NRDC's experienced team of lawyers are pouring over Trump’s executive orders and actions and are preparing to sue the administration in federal court to stop illegal rollbacks, defend strong, durable environmental laws from attack, and ensure pollution laws are enforced.
• Washington Advocacy: Our team in D.C. is working with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to defend key environmental programs from Trump’s attacks.
• Holding Polluters Accountable: We’re taking the fight directly to polluters — oil and gas companies, oil refiners, pipeline companies, and more to hold them accountable for violating environmental laws.
• Working Domestically and Internationally: NRDC is working in city halls and state capitals across the country to defend our hard-fought gains at the state and local levels. And we’re working abroad in countries like Canada, China, and India to safeguard climate, biodiversity, and pollution protections.
• Grassroots Advocacy: We’re mobilizing NRDC’s 3.2 million members, supporters and grassroots activists — like you — to get involved. People all across America stand ready to help defend our environmental laws and our clean energy progress. We can’t do this work without you.

Thanks for your support and staying informed, engaged, and active in what we’re expecting to be a long fight.

Sincerely,

Manish Bapna
President, NRDC