“The only safe amount of lead for children is zero,” said Jen Duggan, Vice President and Director of CLF Vermont. “This law puts Vermont ahead of every other state in protecting our kids from being poisoned. Lead has no place in our drinking water, and I’m so grateful for the work our legislative champions have done to get the lead out of schools and childcare centers.”
Tailpipe pollution from idling vehicles wreaks havoc on our environment and our health. Laws to prevent excessive idling are rarely enforced, so CLF is stepping in to hold New England’s biggest tailpipe polluters accountable.
“This is a public-health emergency, and we need states to take action now,” said Amy Moses, director of the Conservation Law Foundation in Rhode Island.
“Vermonters shouldn’t have to wonder if they’re being poisoned every time they turn on their tap,” said Jen Duggan, Vice President and Director of CLF Vermont. “Until the federal government wakes up and takes these toxic chemicals off the market, it’s up to states to protect us. This law is a huge first step in ensuring Vermonters have safe, clean drinking water.”
As I prepare to launch CLF’s Waterkeeper boat this season, I’m reminded that the Great Bay–Piscataqua Estuary is at the heart of what makes the Seacoast region so special. But our estuary is at a tipping point, with too much nitrogen polluting the water. Learn how you can just us to fight for clean waterways on the Seacoast this summer.
“A stew of pollutants is flowing into the Charles every time it rains, threatening decades of efforts to clean up this iconic river,” said Caitlin Peale Sloan, Senior Attorney at CLF. “Stormwater pollution can lead to dangerous cyanobacteria outbreaks, which sicken people and wildlife and have no place in our river. The Charles belongs to everyone, and it’s time we stop giving a free pass to the polluters who are destroying this precious resource.”
“It’s inexcusable that the companies we trust to transport our children to school are polluting the very air they breathe,” said Alyssa Rayman-Read, Vice President and Director of CLF Massachusetts. “There are laws on the books to prevent this type of air pollution and Transdev is blatantly ignoring them. They need to take responsibility and stop spewing toxic pollution into our neighborhoods.”
Vermont is more than halfway through this legislative session, and there is still no clear path for funding. Our legislature has promised to fund clean water initiatives for years, yet they have kicked the funding can down the road again and again.
“For decades, the EPA has stood idly by while manufacturers produced poisonous PFAS chemicals that ended up in our drinking water,” said Jen Duggan, Vice President and Director of CLF Vermont. “It’s now up to state leaders to clean up this mess, and Vermont is clearly up to the challenge. This bill is a critical step forward in the process to repair the damage that has been done and prevent future harm from these toxic forever chemicals.”
“The EPA’s proposed definition is a hasty and ill-conceived effort to revoke longstanding, critical protections of the nation’s waterways under the Clean Water Act,” said Heather Govern, Director of CLF’s Clean Air and Water program. “Not only does the proposed rule strip waters of protection for the benefit of a few sectors of industry, but it does so without a basis in law and ignores good environmental policy.”
