NRDC Action Fund

Dear NRDC Action Fund Activist,

How much damage can a conservative Supreme Court do to our rights in just a couple of weeks? Unfortunately, we know the answer, and it's grim.

As you've surely heard, last week the Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that has for decades protected access to abortion — an essential part of reproductive health care.

And yesterday, the Supreme Court also ruled to significantly weaken the EPA's ability to cut climate-destroying carbon pollution from power plants in the U.S. This decision — in West Virginia v. EPA — is a major setback in our fight to tackle the climate emergency, and could have broader consequences for our government's ability to protect worker safety, public health, and other rights.

But if there's one thing these awful rulings prove, it's that elections matter. Conservative, anti-environment politicians and their fossil fuel allies have spent decades working to remake the Supreme Court to validate their hard-right agenda.

However, with crucially important midterm elections coming in November, your involvement is critical to this fight.

Please, read the email below from the NRDC Action Fund to find out more about the implications for the Court's West Virginia v. EPA ruling, and two things you can do to fight back right now.

- Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Conservative Supreme Court Decision is a Gut Punch to the EPA's Ability to Tackle Climate Change — FIGHT BACK NOW

SCOTUS's ruling in West Virginia v. EPA restricts — but does not eliminate — the agency's ability to cut carbon pollution from the nation's power plants. It's a major setback in our fight to tackle the climate crisis, and a harsh reminder that we CANNOT cede ground to the far right and its fossil fuel allies in the 2022 midterm elections. The NRDC Action Fund’s get-out-the-vote campaign starts right now, so please show us that you stand ready to go All In for Climate Action and to help get out the vote this fall.

DONATE

Dear NRDC Action Fund Activist,

BREAKING NEWS: Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a deeply damaging ruling that curtails our ability to tackle the climate crisis and protect people and the environment.

This comes just days after the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that established access to abortion as a constitutionally protected federal right.

In short order, the Court has set us back half a century — at a moment when, on issues ranging from climate to health care, we have no time to lose.

These decisions are radically out of step with settled law, scientific and medical consensus, and widely held public opinion. And they show us that we cannot take legal and federal protections for granted.

So here are two things you can do to fight back right now:

The EPA still can — and must — act to limit dangerous carbon pollution from the nation's power plants. But the ruling in West Virginia v. EPA narrows the options they have to do so.

In other words: This leaves the EPA in the climate fight but makes it harder to win it. This constrains EPA's ability to protect us from the existential environmental crisis of our time. It flies in the face of common sense. And it flies in the face of the EPA's mission.

Even worse, this ruling goes beyond the EPA and environmental protections. It also asserts a broad and dangerous "major questions" doctrine that could undermine the government's ability to develop regulations and safeguards for things like worker safety, public health, and food and drug safety. That would upend the way modern government protections have worked for decades.

Both the West Virginia and Jackson Women's Health decisions by the Supreme Court are the result of a decades-long effort by the far right to dismantle our most fundamental rights and protections. They have long focused on using elections to reshape the Supreme Court and to validate a conservative agenda, including gaining control over our reproductive decisions, eliminating limits on political donations, and gutting environmental safeguards.

These Supreme Court decisions come just as the 2022 midterm elections are getting underway.

And these rulings are proof that elections matter. We will face even worse consequences on climate change if we lose even one pro-environment champion in Congress's delicate balance this November. We can't afford to let the judicial branch's far-right transformation continue, or to put oil, gas, and coal lobbyists back in charge of Washington.

Please show you are ready to be part of the solution — sign up for All In for Climate Action today.

With your support, the NRDC Action Fund is launching our most aggressive midterm election plan yet to:

Defend the seats of climate champions in Congress who stood up to the fossil fuel industry and supported action on climate change and clean energy. Sign up to volunteer >>
Mobilize volunteers and reach more pro-environment voters in swing states and districts using data-driven strategies via texts, calls, social media, and even postcards to energize voters and get them to show up at the polls. Sign up to volunteer >>
Push Congress to stand up to the fossil fuel industry and pass clean energy legislation that will slash climate-warming pollution, create high-quality clean energy jobs, and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Sign up to volunteer >>

And don't forget to RSVP to join our video town hall on West Virginia v. EPA on Wednesday, July 6.

Our future depends on our government prioritizing people over polluters, but time is running out. I hope that you'll join us at this urgent moment, and take action when it matters most.

Sincerely,

Kevin S. Curtis
Executive Director, NRDC Action Fund

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The NRDC Action Fund is the 501(c)(4) affiliate of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).