“Given that every resident contributed to the billions of dollars it took to clean up the harbor, we think it’s important that everyone have access to the use of and enjoyment of it,” CLF president Brad Campbell said.
Advocates have been calling for additional transportation funding for years, and those in power have finally taken note. While this funding is much-needed and comes not a moment too soon, it’s time we step up and treat all riders equally, whether they take the bus or the train.
“We are really hoping to impact air quality for communities disproportionately impacted by asthma and upper respiratory diseases that are exasperated by poor air quality,” said Alyssa Rayman-Read, vice president and Massachusetts director for the Conservation Law Foundation. “Boston has disproportionate rates of asthma and upper respiratory problems.”
As the saying goes, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. President Trump revoked the National Ocean Policy last summer, but here in New England, ocean planning – the idea that we can be smarter and more coordinated about how we collectively use and manage our ocean – lives on.
Natural resources here in the Commonwealth face increasing development pressure, particularly in our coastal areas. While numerous state and local regulations are designed to protect our natural resources, one state law – known as the Dover Amendment – currently creates a potential loophole from local environmental protections when projects are proposed by nonprofit educational and… Continue reading Take Action: Support Legislation to Better Protect Environmental Resources from Development
Boston is a quickly growing city, but not everyone is benefitting from that growth, especially along the waterfront. That’s why we’re inviting people to celebrate our public spaces on the waterfront – and our public right to access them.
“Laws are already on the books and meant to protect residents of Massachusetts from the toxic pollution that comes out of tailpipes,” Rayman-Read says. “Let’s enforce them, let’s make them real. Let’s make sure that everyone breathes air that doesn’t make them sick.”
Springfield, alongside community and environmental organizations like CLF, has been fighting this proposed biomass plant for years. We set the fight aside in 2017 when Palmer Renewable Energy, the company behind the proposal, paused its plans for construction. But now the company is back, hoping that its efforts to weaken state policy will bring its proposal back to life.
“Communities across Boston are choked with air pollution,” said Alyssa Rayman-Read, Vice President and Director of CLF Massachusetts. “Tailpipe exhaust is poisoning disadvantaged areas that already suffer from diseases like asthma at much higher rates. We must do better for our kids, and that starts with holding Transdev responsible for illegally spewing toxic pollution into our neighborhoods.”
This month’s MBTA fare hikes came on the heels of two trains derailments. But it’s not only headline-making derailments and delays that are a problem. The T must also improve daily bus service and make progress on long-awaited projects to ensure fair and equitable service to all of its riders.
