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Joe Mendelson serves as NWF's Director of Global Warming Policy where he leads a team of legislative and policy professionals to develop and implement solutions to global warming. Before NWF, Joe was co-founder and legal director of the Center for Food Safety and International Center for Technology Assessment where he developed and initiated the first legal case in the U.S. seeking the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. He served as co-counsel throughout the case as it was argued successfully before the U.S. Supreme Court and resulted in the landmark ruling of Massachusetts v. EPA.

Tackle Carbon Pollution: Save Pond Hockey

3/29/2012 // Joe Mendelson

A new NWF report: On Thin Ice: Warming Winters Put America’s Hunting and Fishing Heritage at Risk tells how this year’s winter that wasn’t has impacted hunters and anglers across America.  I have another thing the non-winter has impacted: pond hockey –… Read more >

Houston Toads: New Victims of Climate Change

2/27/2012 // Joe Mendelson

Climate change isn’t just making the mercury rise; it is causing a lot of other problems, including extreme droughts and wildfires. These accelerating global warming impacts are very troubling for the Houston toad, and with Leap Day upon us the plight of this endangered amphibian has been… Read more >

Inhofe Seeks to Throw Mercury Protections Overboard

2/21/2012 // Joe Mendelson

Late last week, Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) introduced S.J. Res. 37 – a congressional resolution seeking to disapprove and throw out the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new air pollution standards that limit mercury and air toxics from power plant smokestacks…. Read more >

Big Polluters Continue Their Hold on Congress

2/2/2012 // Joe Mendelson

The polluter stranglehold on the House of Representatives continued today. Three members of the Republican Congressional leadership sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget requesting that the White House stop the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from issuing new (and… Read more >

2011 Review: House of Representatives, Polluter Lobbying, and More Air Pollution

1/17/2012 // Joe Mendelson

Today, the House of Representatives returns with a 13% approval rating to start the 2012 legislative session. Before the gavel lands and the bills start flying, it is worth looking back at how the House dealt with the Clean Air… Read more >

NWF Helps Deliver 2011 Victories for Clean Air

1/13/2012 // Joe Mendelson

Thanks to NWF and other organizations’ persistent advocacy, EPA is putting the brakes on toxic air pollution and curbing greenhouse gas emissions. NWF has been a leader in finding ways to address the climate crisis. While a comprehensive climate plan… Read more >

Climate Change Costs U.S. Big Time

1/5/2012 // Joe Mendelson

As NWF has highlighted recently, climate change is turbo-charging our weather and causing increasingly catastrophic thunderstorms, floods, and wildfires. Behind the headlines of these extreme weather events are the real costs to families and communities as they face the financial… Read more >

New Mercury Limits Protect Wildlife and People Alike!

12/21/2011 // Joe Mendelson

Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized new air pollution standards that will result in the first-ever national limits on the amount of mercuryspewing from the nation’s coal-fired power plants. Twenty plus years in the making, the new pollution limits… Read more >

Obama Commits to Tackle Carbon Pollution in 2012

11/18/2011 // Joe Mendelson

Yesterday, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson announced plans for establishing new carbon pollution limits on the nation’s power plants.  This is good news. Just last month NWF had voiced serious concerns that these efforts were going to be delayed indefinitely.  Significantly, the… Read more >

Monarch Butterflies: New Victims of Climate Change

10/14/2011 // Joe Mendelson

Monarch butterflies are not often thought of as being on the immediate frontline of global warming’s impacts, but that perception may need to change this year.  A recent article in the Washington Post has shed light on the current climate… Read more >