We All Live Downstream

A 2011 Coal Ash Spill on Lake Michigan

By Jennifer Peters, National Water Campaigns Coordinator

Frustrated by the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) continued delay in issuing a final rule to protect the public and environment from toxic coal ash pollution, today a group of environmental organizations filed a lawsuit to force EPA to finish its rule.  Coal ash, the byproduct of burning coal to produce electricity, contains a concentrated smorgasbord of nasty metals – including arsenic, lead, mercury, and selenium (just to name a few!).   Power plants generate over 140 million tons of coal ash annually – making it the second largest waste stream in the U.S. – but there have never been federal standards adopted to ensure it is managed and disposed of safely. Read the rest of this entry »

By Andy Fellows, Chesapeake Regional Director

Protecting the Bay

On Friday afternoon, the Maryland House of Delegates passed House Bill (HB) 987 on a 90-48 vote.  This is a great step forward for the campaign to reduce pollution from storm water – the runoff from urban and suburban streets and parking lots.  HB 987, sometimes referred to as the Watershed Protection and Restoration Act, will require Maryland’s largest counties and Baltimore City to develop local funding to reduce stormwater pollution.  This contaminated runoff, flowing untreated from streets and parking lots, is the fastest growing form of pollution to the Chesapeake Bay.  For most urban communities, it is the single greatest obstacle to the restoration of local rivers and streams.

This is incredibly good news! Congratulations, Maryland on passing HB 987 out of the House.  Now, it’s on to the State Senate!  Read the rest of this entry »

"Keep Our Water Safe"

By Lynn Thorp, National Campaigns Director

While the letters our members write to President Obama encouraging him to keep clean water progress moving are great, the pictures their children draw are even better.  Water issues are big and complex, and World Water Day is  a good moment to look at that very big picture.  If our children’s drawings collection is any indication,  the next generation of the general public will be knowledgeable about water issues.  I’m very impressed with their understanding that human and animal waste are connected to water pollution, for example.  If you spend time around smaller children, you know this is fun to draw too. Read the rest of this entry »

By Andy Fellows, Chesapeake Regional Director

Rep Goodlatte is putting this at risk

On March 8, 2012, Representative Bob Goodlatte (R-VA6) introduced H.R. 4153, a disastrous proposal misnamed the “Chesapeake Bay Program Reauthorization and Improvement Act.”  Rep Goodlatte’s bill would not only remove important federal oversight for the Chesapeake, like limits on discharging pollutants, but also attempts to undermine President Obama’s Executive Order to restore and protect the Bay. This bill needs to be stopped.

If enacted, this bill would end all hope of restoration of the Chesapeake, or its many tributaries.  Rep. Goodlatte’s proposal manages to be bad for the 6^th District, bad for the Commonwealth of Virginia, bad for the Chesapeake and bad for all the Bay states.

After years of inaction, thanks to a court order and a presidential directive based on the Clean Water Act, the states of the Chesapeake Bay have finally put together plans to reduce the pollutants that have degraded the Bay.  The plans address the contaminants that come off our streets and parking lots, our farms, and other sources of pollution that can be successfully tackled, but only if everyone pitches in. Read the rest of this entry »

By Michael Kelly, Director of Online Communications

Fracking in Weld County

We’re used to a little booster-ism from our elected officials for the industries and causes they support (see all the wild and varying claims about the hundreds of thousands of jobs that could be created by the XL Pipeline). It’s what they do. But we normally don’t expect that enthusiasm to include false statements. Especially from a politician who has been an ally in the fight against fracking.

That’s why we were so surprised and disappointed when we heard Governor Hickenlooper’s radio ad for the Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA), the lead industry trade group. Colorado’s Governor lends his voice to the ad which claims, that since 2008, “we have not had one instance of groundwater contamination associated with drilling and hydraulic fracturing.”  This is simply untrue and it’s easily proved.  The Governor may have helped Colorado implement the strictest fracking fluid disclosure laws in the nation, but he’s doing a huge disservice to the state when he falsely claims that groundwater has not been contaminated by fracking spills. Read the rest of this entry »

By Lynn Thorp, National Campaigns Director

Last week the President released his administration’s  2013 federal budget proposal.  Even though there is some important math involved the main thrust of the proposal is about sending signals and setting priorities.  In the face of the 191 bills and amendments to gut health and environmental protections which PASSED the U.S. House of Representatives last year, the White House budget proposal adds up pretty well.

Taken as a whole, the White House budget tells us that this Administration doesn’t support the House efforts to gut water, air and health protections.  They think that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) needs to keep doing its job implementing laws that Congress has passed and that other federal agencies have roles to play in protecting our most vital resources – clean water, clean air and us. Read the rest of this entry »

By Gary Wockner, Colorado Program Director

Originally published on the Huffington Post.

Presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s three-state sweep in the 2012 Republican caucuses this week throws the Republican race into disarray and also demonstrates just how wildly anti-environmental many Republicans — including the majority here in Colorado — have become.

It’s ironic that Santorum’s sweep occurred within weeks of the international silver screen debut of Dr. Seuss’ book, The Lorax. Known worldwide as a treehugging environmentalist — “I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees.” — The Lorax is a popular children’s book first published in 1971. Since that time, the Lorax (which is a fluffy endangered species-like critter that lives in trees called “truffulas”) has become somewhat of an American environmental icon which will no doubt be re-solidified in the next few months by the Universal Pictures movie.

But in 1988, the Laytonville School District in Laytonville, California allegedly received a request and attempted to ban or downgrade the book, The Lorax, in its school libraries. It was allegedly argued that The Lorax “criminialized the forestry industry.”

Would Rick Santorum support banning The Lorax? Read the rest of this entry »

by Jonathan Scott

A version of this post was originally featured on SurveyMonkey’s blog site, and includes additional information on new survey results affirming the public’s overwhelming support for clean water.

Once Upon a Time: When Rivers Caught Fire

Not too long ago, things were pretty bad for our water. Unchecked industrial discharges and poorly-treated sewage in our water meant that massive fish-kills were commonplace. Lakes were “dead” or dying, and rivers containing more waste than water actually caught fire. It was around that time, in the 1970s, when Clean Water Action and Clean Water Fund got their start. The organizations’ missions were – and remain – focused on a goal and vision of fishable, swimmable, drinkable water for all Americans.

Fast-forward four decades. Laws such as the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act, created and passed with help from Clean Water Action and others, have brought incredible progress on water cleanup, water restoration and water protection. Everyone has benefited. Our clean water progress is one of the great environmental success stories of our time. Read the rest of this entry »

Maintain Our Clean Water Progress - Take Action Today

From our friends at National Wildlife Federation

By Jan Goldman-Carter

Our nation’s investment in clean water began forty years ago with the 1972 Clean Water Act – a bi-partisan congressional commitment to end the flagrant pollution of rivers, lakes and coastal waters. Republicans and Democrats alike recognized that to clean up our rivers, lakes, and bays, we had to stop pollution at its source – upstream in the multitude of headwaters, wetlands, and small streams that store and filter water before releasing it downstream. Since its birth, the Clean Water Act has guided the clean up of America’s waters, rendering many of our waters once again safe for fishing, drinking and swimming.
Read the rest of this entry »