The Great Bay-Piscataqua Estuary is an incredible place. It’s home to numerous fish and bird species and provides spectacular fishing, boating, and recreation for the people of New Hampshire, Maine, and beyond. But persistent high levels of nitrogen pollution have disrupted these waters, and while progress is being made, some municipal officials are fighting against the changes that can save Great Bay.
Waterkeeper Melissa Paly said it’s “high time” that the three cities, which comprise the municipal advocacy group known as the Great Bay Coalition, stop concocting “false narratives” in order to avoid new, stricter regulations on wastewater nitrogen.
We are faced with a federal administration that wants not only to halt decades of hard-fought progress on clean water but reverse them altogether. But today, the impacts on our public health from blue-green algae outbreaks and chemical pollution are as serious and urgent as ever. We cannot and will not stop fighting for clean water as a fundamental right for all Americans.
“With today’s ruling, Pease Development Authority has an opportunity to turn from a polluter to a protector of Great Bay and its communities,” said Tom Irwin, Director of CLF New Hampshire. “Our health and the health of our economy depend on clean, safe water. Now, the leaders of PDA have an easy choice to make: they can be an exemplar of responsible water management, or they can see us in court.”
I’ll admit it – I was a little nervous about this year’s Great Bay Kayak Clean-up. More than 25 people from Timberland, a Seacoast-based company that supports its staff who do community service, had eagerly volunteered to snug themselves into kayaks and spend their day getting wet and dirty while collecting trash along the shores… Continue reading Volunteers Making New Hampshire’s Great Bay a Little Bit Greater
Jeff Barnum retired Wednesday after nearly four years as the Great Bay-Piscataqua Waterkeeper for the Conservation Law Foundation. “If I knew leaving was going to be this difficult I wouldn’t have quit,” Barnum said. He was joined by CLF’s new waterkeeper Melissa Paly, a longtime Seacoast environmental advocate and activist who lives in Kittery Point,… Continue reading Barnum steps down as the Waterkeeper
Mindi Messmer represents the Seacoast towns of Rye and New Castle in New Hampshire’s House of Representatives. She has been an environmental consultant for 25 years, working with businesses, banks, and the U.S. government on the presence of environmental contaminants. This blog was originally published as an article in Less Cancer Journal. I am a… Continue reading Guest Blog: We Are All “Invested” in New Hampshire’s Water
… “The first step is, obviously, knowing the scale of the problem,” said Tom Irwin of the Conservation Law Foundation. Irwin’s organization said the problem is significant: a March study done on brooks in the Seacoast towns of Portsmouth, Greenland and Newington found high levels of perfluorinated chemicals. Irwin said these toxins don’t degrade naturally.… Continue reading High levels of contaminants found in Seacoast-area brooks
“We all have a stake in ensuring clean, healthy water, and seeing such high levels of toxic chemicals in our collective backyard is unacceptable,” said Tom Irwin, Director of CLF New Hampshire. “These toxics, which have already forced the closure of a drinking well at Pease, are flowing into local brooks and streams that lead to the Great Bay estuary, endangering communities throughout New Hampshire. It’s time for Pease Development Authority to step up and put an end to this perilous pollution.”
New Hampshire communities are already acting to adapt to climate change.
