We All Live Downstream

By Myron Arnowitt, Pennsylvania State Director

"Flaring" a fracked well

The EPA’s strong proposal to restrict air emissions from oil and gas extraction operations is a good start.  EPA regulations of these large pollution sources are urgently needed in cities like Pittsburgh and in many other communities across the country.  Gas drilling has been poorly controlled by state governments and we desperately need the federal government to take a strong role in protecting public health and the environment.

Take a look at the picture to the left.  That is a Marcellus Shale gas well being “flared” and it was taken from the backyard of a Washington County, PA resident.  This is one of the most drilled regions of Pennsylvania and it’s just outside of Pittsburgh.  This is not an isolated photo – Pennsylvania allows gas wells as close as 200 feet from a residence.  People are living extremely close to these pollution sources.  The EPA and state governments must take this into account when making any new rules on emissions from fracking operations.
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Photo by Mark Schmerling

By Cord Briggs, National Programs Intern

Do you breathe air? Then I have some good news for you!  On July 28^th the EPA released a suite of new regulations that, for the first time, will control airborne emissions from oil and gas wells, and specifically those drilled using the risky practice of hydro-fracking.  This is truly a win-win-win.  Not only will the public reap the benefit of cleaner air (and water), but greenhouse gas emissions will drop, and the petroleum industry will actually end up making more money!

It works like this, when a natural gas well is first drilled or fracked huge amounts of natural gas along cancerous toxins, fracking fluid, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), water, and the -greenhouse gas methane are released in what is know as “flowback.”   Flowbacks spew these dangerous pollutants into the environment for anywhere from three to ten days. Unsurprisingly, flowbacks are currently unregulated! Read the rest of this entry »

Let's Stop this TRAIN Wreck

By Dan Endreson, Minnesota Program Coordinator

This summer was rough for the environment. The 112^th U.S. House of Representatives has been one the most anti-environment Congress’ in history by passing legislation that will severely impact water and air quality for generations. Congress continues to go after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by attempting to limit its ability to update and enforce the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act. In August, Congress took on the Clean Water Act with the “Dirty Water Act” (H.R. 2018) that would prevent the EPA from being able to regulate nutrient pollution in our nation’s waterways and prevent toxic mountaintop coal from polluting our streams. Today, Congress is taking on the Clean Air Act.

As I write this, Congress is taking up what is called the TRAIN Act (Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation Act, H.R. 2401), the most dangerous attack on air quality standards since the Clean Air Act was signed into law 40 years ago. The bill would block the EPA from enforcing emission standards to limit mercury and other toxic pollution from power plants and standards to curb smog and soot pollution that crosses state lines. Keeping the EPA from enforcing these standards will expose our children, families and communities to toxic air pollutants that cause illnesses and developmental disorders, particularly in small children. Blocking these standards for just one additional year would result in: Read the rest of this entry »

Where's the funding for Flood Control Projects?

By Colleen Meehan, Philadelphia Program Organizer

Last week was Hurricane Irene, this week it’s Tropical Storm Lee. What does that mean for Pennsylvania and other Mid-Atlantic states? It means we have massive flooding.

Pennsylvania is a state of rivers and streams. And when it pours, they flood. Roads are closed and over 100,000 residents along the Susquehanna River were ordered to evacuate. They’ve even packed up the Governor’s Mansion in Harrisburg.

This flooding is a result of sprawl and poor stormwater management. Sprawl increases flooding by replacing wetland areas, forests and meadows with development. Cities and towns bury small tributaries in order to build on top of them. These small streams once worked to slow the movement of water downstream. Today, stormwater systems are designed to move water through cities and towns as fast as possible and push it downstream. Too bad for the folks downstream, right? Read the rest of this entry »

This is why we MUST BAN the FOAM!

By Miriam Gordon, California Director

We’ve been fighting to ban foam packaging in California for years. Out report, Taking out the Trash studied the effects of packaging foam on our environment and found what you would expect. Styrofoam food containers and coffee cops clog our waterways and pollute our environment. Foam packaging also leeches a carcinogen into our food. We can do better. Californians and our environment can live without this dirty and dangerous product.

SB 568, California’s strongest attempt to date to ban foam has brought us very close to ridding our streets, sewers, and waterways of foam. Despite massive spending and efforts of well-funded chemical and plastics groups, the overwhelming local and public support for this bill resulted in it passing the Senate with bi-partisan support and being voted out of two committees in the Assembly. It is poised to be heard on the Assembly floor next year. Read the rest of this entry »

By Lynn Thorp, National Campaigns Coordinator

With health and environmental protections under unprecedented attack, particularly by the leadership of the 112^th Congress, how do we make sure that common sense and long overdue water policy advances don’t get stopped in their tracks?

The Administration’s backtracking on an important regulation for smog pollution it is getting a lot of attention, as it should have.  You can see reactions from some of Clean Water Action’s leadership around the country here.

Now we have to make sure that we don’t get propelled backwards on clean water protections.  That means telling the story more loudly and to more people, and holding elected officials accountable for their actions. Read the rest of this entry »

Here are some of the first reactions from folks on the frontlines here at Clean Water Action when they heard the President’s announcement that pending rules to crack down on health-harming ozone pollution would be shelved indefinitely:

“We were deeply disappointed in the Obama administration’s decision to punt on reducing the amount of ozone we all breathe, day in and day out. This announcement was handed down on a day that marked the eighth ozone action day in southeast Michigan and the seventh in western Michigan this year. We can’t wait until 2013 to get toxic air pollution like ozone under control. ” — Alex Yerkey, Michigan Clean Water Action

“We appreciate the Administration’s concern about the economy and jobs. And this decision is about the economy — how many Americans will lose their lives, have heart attackes, go to emergency rooms, and how many children will have asthma attacks, due to dirty air and high ozone levels in our cities?  Let’s crunch the numbers and calculate the costs to the public’s health, to American lives, and to our economy.” — Gary Wockner, Colorado Clean Water Action

“The Administration’s action to delay a truly protective ozone standard is short-sighted and puts the health of millions of Americans at risk. The only jobs the President’s delay will create are in hospital emergency rooms that will have to threat the estimated 8,500 who will die prematurely because of the delay, and the 45,000 cases of aggravated asthma that will result.” — Bob Wendelgass, Clean Water Action President & CEO

Have you taken the Clean Air Promise yet?

By Bob Wendelgass, President and CEO

We're fighting for our water - won't you join us?

As a child, I grew up near Lake Ontario and New York’s beautiful Finger Lakes region. I can still remember being told we couldn’t swim in Lake Ontario because sewage from nearby plants had made the water unsafe. I remember being saddened when we were told not to eat fish from Lake Ontario because it was too contaminated with toxic chemicals like PCBs. And I was shocked when conditions on nearby Lake Erie deteriorated to the point that it was declared “dead.”

I’ve seen first hand what can happen to our water when polluters are allowed free reign. I’ve also seen what a difference laws like the Clean Water Act have made since then. Now, I can enjoy a quiet early morning or evening rowing on the Schuylkill River here in Philadelphia. That would have been much less pleasant during the 1960s or 70s, when pollution was at its worst. Read the rest of this entry »