Major environmental group endorses Clinton

Hillary Clinton has secured the endorsement of the political arm of the Natural Resources Defense Council — one of the nation’s leading environmental organizations — in her White House bid, marking the first presidential endorsement in the 46-year-old group’s history, The Chronicle has learned.

Not only does the organization back Clinton’s Democratic candidacy, but it fears what presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump would do to the environment should he be elected.

“Hillary Clinton is an environmental champion with the passion, experience and savvy to build on President Obama’s environmental legacy,” said Rhea Suh, president of the NRDC Action Fund.

“Donald Trump, on the other hand, has recently outlined a disastrous and frankly nonsensical environmental agenda — suggesting that he would tear up the Paris climate agreement, and that there is no drought in California,” Suh said. “His plan for his first 100 days would take us back 100 years, and America cannot afford to indulge his climate conspiracy theories.”

Patricia Bauman, chair of the action fund’s board, said, “Hillary Clinton is all that stands between us and Donald Trump’s radical proposals to reverse decades of environmental progress.”

The NRDC Action Fund scheduled its endorsement announcement for 9 a.m. PDT Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

Environmental groups are splitting on their endorsements thus far. Last summer, Friends of Earth Action endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who is seeking the Democratic endorsement for president. It praised him for being unafraid to take a stand on controversial issues such as the Keystone XL pipeline. At that time, Clinton had not yet announced her opposition to the pipeline, while Sanders had.

One of Sanders’ key supporters is Bill McKibben, an international expert on climate change who is co-founder of 350.org. Last week, Sanders named McKibben as one of his five appointees to the committee that will help craft the Democratic Party platform.

In November, the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund endorsed Clinton — its earliest-ever endorsement — and praised her strong environmental record. The Sierra Club has yet to endorse a candidate. It typically does so after the party chooses nominees.

Joe Garofoli is the San Francisco Chronicle’s senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: joegarofoli