National Resources Defense Council Case Study

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The group I selected for my midterm paper is the NRDC (National Resources Defense Council). The NRDC is a joint coalition of Scientists, Lawyers, and other professionals with the mission of protecting and restoring the environment through governmental policy. Narrowed goals of the NRDC include preventing global warming, improving the quality of the oceans, protecting endangered wildlife and natural resources, keeping water sources clean, and incubating sustainable communities.(SOURCE) The NRDC has a strong presence in the media, industry, and the government, which allows the organization to make progress in changing policies and regulations There are several defining qualities of an interest group. The first quality of an interest group is …show more content…

Locals of the region supported the plan because it would bring jobs to the area and boost the local economy, however not all were in favor of the proposal. Stephan Duggan (a Wall Street lawyer) and his wife Beatrice, started a campaign against the proposal. The opposition was charged with the idea of preserving the natural beauty of the local area. The Duggan’s formed a local group called the Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference and went to court to battle Consolidated Edison over the construction of the plant, after losing and appealing the case, they were eventually successful in preventing the construction of the power plant. Continuing the work of the Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference, the Duggan’s went on to help form the NRDC jointly with a group of Ivy League legal students in 1970. Under the interest group theory, the proposal to build this power plant in 1963 was the disturbance that led to the formation of the NRDC. The initial goal of the mass movement at the time was to prevent the disturbance that would be caused by the installation of a power plant at Storm King