SACRAMENTO – State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) will honor the Environmental Defense Center as her 2017 Non-profit of the Year in the second annual California Nonprofits Day in Sacramento today.
Formed in the wake of the devastating Santa Barbara oil spill, the Environmental Defense Center (EDC) is a non-profit environmental law firm that works primarily within Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo counties. Since 1977, the EDC has worked with community-based organizations to advance environmental protections. They are California’s preeminent protector against the scourges of off-shore oil drilling along our coast.
“For decades, the Environmental Defense Center has been fighting to protect our coast, our water and air quality. Their work has greatly enhanced the quality of life that all of us hold dear along our central coast. For these reasons, I am honored to recognize them as the 19th Senate District’s Non-Profit of the Year,” said Jackson.
Today, the EDC will join nearly one hundred other non-profits from across the state being honored at the annual California Nonprofits Day event at the Sacramento Convention Center. The day is recognized as the result of Assembly Concurrent Resolution 54, which seeks to acknowledge the importance of non-profit organizations, their role in the economy and well-being of the state.
This year, the EDC celebrates its 40th anniversary. It is the only non-profit, public interest, environmental law firm between two of California’s major cities including Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Today, the EDC is currently fighting to prevent oil trains from traveling through our coastal communities, fighting hydraulic fracturing and acidizing on offshore platforms and preventing risky and unnecessary oil and gas projects from Oxnard to San Luis Obispo and beyond.
Jackson represents the 19th Senate District, which includes all of Santa Barbara County and Western Ventura County.