link between organic contaminants and cancer rates in the City of New Orleans, a study that received a tremendous amount of media attention and certainly contributed to the enactment of the law. On April 11, 2018, the group announced plans for MethaneSAT, a satellite to help identify global methane emissions, concentrating on the 50 major oil and gas regions responsible for 80% of methane production. Plans are for the satellite to launch in 2022 or 2023 and EDF says it will make the data public. The goal is to help reduce methane emissions by 45% by 2025. Funding for the project comes from The Audacious Project, an initiative of the worldwide TED conference group. MethaneSAT will provide data on methane emissions that can be combined with other satellite data sources including Tropomi, GHGSat and the CarbonMapper program. Areas of work Corporate partnerships - EDF receives millions in funding from organizations with strong corporate ties, such as the Walton Family Foundation. Environmental economics - The organization promotes the use of markets and incentives to help solve environmental problems. Examples of this approach at work include catch shares the cap-and-trade plan written into the Clean Air Act (United States). Key accomplishments Key accomplishments of Environmental Defense Fund include: 1967 - A group of scientists forms the organization and sets out to ban DDT (succeeding in 1972). (See DDT ban.) 1970 - Efforts to ban whale hunting. 1974 - An Environmental Defense Fund report on potential health risks of Mississippi River water based on EPA analytical studies helps pass the Safe Drinking Water Act, establishing the first comprehensive health standards for water nationwide. 1985 - Helped convince federal regulators to phase out lead from gasoline, leading to a dramatic decline in childhood lead poisoning. 1986 - Pushed McDonald's to institute biodegradable food-packaging containers. 1987 - Played a key role in the treaty to phase out the use of CFCs, chemicals that many researchers believe damage the Earth's ozone layer, although CFC-22 was continued to be allowed, renamed H-CFC-22 to avoid banning. 1990 - Designed Title IV of the Clean Air Act, which incorporates market-based methods to cut air pollution and acid rain. The measures reduced sulfur dioxide pollution faster than expected, and at a fraction of the cost. 1990 - Improved McDonald's packaging, reducing solid waste in a groundbreaking corporate partnership, which came after dozens of other groups had protested McDonald's use of