Rachel Carson Council

The Rachel Carson Council has repeatedly opposed the use of zero carbon nuclear energy. ^{1 2 3}

Advocacy

Federalization of Elections

Rachel Carson Council supported the passage of legislation which would have consolidated electoral matters under federal jurisdiction. RCC called for the “strongest possible version” of the bill, while other left-of-center organizations like the ACLU condemned the bill, arguing that it would “unconstitutionally burden speech and associational rights.” ^{4 5 6}

Opposition to Nuclear Energy

The Rachel Carson Council has repeatedly opposed the use of nuclear energy. Nuclear power plants produce no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions, and as of 2021 accounted for 19 percent of American electricity production—the largest source of zero carbon electricity in the United States. ⁷ An October 2018 proposal from The Nature Conservancy noted that zero-carbon nuclear plants produced 7.8 percent of total world energy output and recommended reducing carbon emissions by increasing nuclear capacity to 33 percent of total world energy output. ⁸

Rachel Carson Council was one of more than 600 co-signing organizations on a January 2019 open letter to Congress titled “Legislation to Address the Urgent Threat of Climate Change.” The signatories declared their support for new laws to bring about “100 percent decarbonization” of the transportation sector but denounced nuclear power as an example of “dirty energy” that should not be included in any legislation promoting the use of so-called “renewable energy.” ²

Rachel Carson Council was one of more than 100 co-signatories on a November 2020 letter to the U.S. Senate that expressed opposition to S. 4897, the “American Nuclear Infrastructure Act of 2020.” The letter stated that nuclear power “amplifies and expands the dangers of climate change” and denounced it as an example of “false solutions to the climate crisis that perpetuate our reliance on dirty energy industries.” ³

In May of 2021, Rachel Carson Council was one of 715 groups and businesses listed as a co-signer on a letter to the leadership of the U.S. House and Senate that referred to nuclear energy as a “dirty” form of energy production and a “significant” source of pollution. The letter asked federal lawmakers to reduce carbon emissions by creating a “renewable electricity standard” that promoted production of weather dependent power sources such as wind turbines and solar panels, but did not promote low carbon natural gas and zero carbon nuclear energy. ¹

Reports

Wood Pellet Production

In January 2019, Rachel Carson Council published a report accusing forestry biofuel organization Enviva of creating an “unnecessary” product that was particularly harmful to “communities of color.” The report was criticized for fabricating misleading and erroneous claims. ⁹ The report also calls for supporting various left-wing organizations to take legal action against Enviva and the wood pellet industry, including Environmental Integrity Project, Southern Environmental Law Center, Clean Air Carolina, and Natural Resources Defense Council. The report also criticizes the European Union’s 2020 Renewable Energy Directive for defining wood pellet industry as “renewable,” and partners with Dogwood Alliance to oppose the use of trees as an energy source. ^{10 11}

The Atlantic Coast Pipeline

Rachel Carson Council opposes the construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, working with the Sierra Club to oppose its construction, and lobbying for legal action that led to an appeal before the U.S Supreme Court as of October 2019. ^{12 13 14}

Pork farming

Rachel Carson Council opposes large hog farms by opposing bills written to protect the property rights and safety of farmers and their livestock. ^{15 16}

RCC also works to prevent poultry and pork farming in association with Food and Water Watch (FWW) and Waterkeeper Alliance. It also works with North Carolina Workers’ Center, which partners with the AFL-CIO labor union federation to demand higher wages for employees on livestock farms and to accuse farms of supposed “wage theft”. ¹⁷

RCC supports regulations proposed by the left-wing Government Accountability Project and the Humane Society of the United States,¹⁸ a vegan advocacy organization. ¹⁹

Funding

The Foundation for the Carolinas, a donor-advised fund provider which reportedly has been used by controversial environmentalist grant-maker Fred Stanback,²⁰ has provided six-figure contributions to Rachel Carson Council. ²¹

MARPAT Foundation donated $10,000 to Rachel Carson Council in September 2018. ²²