Hi NRDC Activist,

If it feels like we've been fighting nonstop to protect our planet for the past 2+ years since Trump came into office, well, it's because we have: since the first week after his inauguration, NRDC has filed 87 lawsuits against this administration.

Let's do the math: on average, we're suing the president every 10 days. And we're getting results: we've won 47 of the cases resolved so far and suffered only three setbacks — an amazing track record that speaks for itself.

And as you might have heard earlier this week, NRDC will now likely sue the Trump administration again, this time over their disastrous new Endangered Species Act rollbacks, which could wipe out protections that saved bald eagles, grizzly bears and so many other iconic species from extinction.

But today, I'm writing with good news (yes, good news) about several recent courtroom victories over the Trump administration that helped save public lands, coastlines, and endangered wildlife.

Here's a look at some of those groundbreaking legal wins:

• Defending our natural heritage in the Southwest: A federal appeals court ruled in our favor, finding that the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) illegally approved the drilling and fracking of oil and gas wells in the Greater Chaco region of New Mexico, a spectacular landscape sacred to indigenous tribes. The court reversed the approval of 25 drilling permits, and the landmark case has national implications for BLM decisions to allow drilling. Read more here >>
• Forcing energy giants to pay up: Another court blocked the Interior Department from trying to repeal regulations closing loopholes that enriched fossil fuel companies at the expense of taxpayers. The repeal would have let oil, gas, and coal companies avoid paying millions of dollars in royalties for mining and drilling on our public lands. Read more here >>
• Upholding President Obama's permanent ban on offshore drilling: A judge ruled that Trump illegally sought to reinstate oil and gas leasing in the pristine, sensitive Arctic Ocean and wildlife-rich Atlantic deepwater canyons. Read more here >>
• Opening the door to protecting threatened giraffes: An NRDC lawsuit finally forced the Trump administration to concede that giraffes may warrant protection under America's Endangered Species Act. Giraffe populations have plunged by 40 percent in the last 30 years. And America is a big importer of giraffe hunting trophies and bone carvings. Read more here >>
• Protecting whales on the brink: In the face of NRDC legal pressure, the Trump administration finally listed the Gulf of Mexico whale as endangered after dragging its feet for years. An estimated 22 percent of the species were decimated by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and there are only 33 of the whales left on the planet. Read more here >>

It's an impressive list, and it will only continue to grow because when we're up against Trump, the law is on our side.

In fact, NRDC is still waging dozens of other critically important courtroom battles: lawsuits to save the Clean Power Plan, protect national monuments like Bears Ears and Grand-Staircase Escalante, restrict the use of bee-killing pesticides, stop the climate-busting Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline, and so many more.

But all the legal expertise in the world can't enable us to wage and win cases on so many fronts if we don't have the strong support of people like you.

It's likely you've signed a petition, contacted your elected officials, donated, or done all of the above. No matter what your support has looked like, having you behind us has been vital to our success every step of the way.

I want to thank you — personally — for standing shoulder to shoulder with us. Whether we're up against a fossil fuel polluter or a reckless president, you have my word that we will continue marshaling the rule of law in order to hold them accountable.

I look forward to continuing this fight alongside you for the sake of our environmental future.

Have a wonderful rest of your summer, and a great Labor Day weekend.

Sincerely,

Mitch Bernard
President/Chief Counsel, NRDC

P.S. NRDC has just started its fiscal year, and we need all the help we can get as the administration shows no signs of slowing down its atrocious attacks on our climate, public health, wildlife, and wild places. If you want to help fund our ongoing battles, in and out of court, I strongly encourage you to make a special gift here, or even better — join NRDC as a Monthly Partner today, and we’ll match your first three gifts, up to $100,000.