All landfills leak – some over time and some from day one of operation – leaching toxic chemicals into the ground and the water supply. Despite state and federal regulation, landfills are harming the health and environment of communities in New England.
A pilot program could turn the Fairmount commuter rail line into the “Indigo Line,” making it run more like the region’s other subway lines. It would improve public transit for communities along the route, including Dorchester, Mattapan, Hyde Park, and Roxbury, which have traditionally been underserved by the MBTA.
“We need to reduce our waste instead of looking for more places to bury it,” said Tom Irwin, Vice President and Director of CLF New Hampshire. “Waste Management is dumping about a million and a half tons of waste per year into the Turnkey landfill, putting nearby communities and waterways at risk. It’s time for the state to stop undermining waste reduction efforts by expanding landfills and instead focus on zero waste strategies that treat waste as a resource.”
“Without clear information about what is safe to eat, people in the Lower Mystic River Watershed area are at risk,” said Alyssa Rayman-Read, vice president and director of CLF Massachusetts. “The advisory will ensure that people have the information needed to safely fish in the area. This kind of public-nonprofit collaboration should be a model for working on important environmental issues.”
“What isn’t a solution is leaving a very dirty facility like this right at sea level in a Federal Emergency Management Agency flood zone with no consideration of the impacts of climate change,” said Chris Kilian.
In May, we highlighted the Gateway Center in Everett and how the shopping center owner, DDR Gateway LLC (“DDR”), has failed in its legal obligations to provide public access to waterfront areas – in this case, the Mystic River. CLF wrote to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) asking them to hold the company… Continue reading Update: Good News for Public Waterfront Access in Everett
We’re building healthy communities, one neighborhood at a time.
Nearly 20 years ago, DDR Gateway LLC (DDR) promised to provide greater public access to Everett’s waterfront in exchange for a State license to build its Gateway Center shopping complex. But two decades on, the waterfront park the developer promised hasn’t fully materialized. Now CLF is asking the State to hold DDR accountable for its failures.
A wave of luxury development threatens to wall off the experience of Boston Harbor from the people who paid to clean it up, just as the waterfront was once literally walled off behind the city’s Central Artery expressway. CLF Senior Counsel Peter Shelley remembers the original campaign to clean up the Boston Harbor, and continues to work on current issues of equity and fairness.
Incinerator companies have done a great job green-washing their true impacts on communities by implying that so-called “waste-to-incineration” facilities are good neighbors offering a safe process that eliminates waste, allows for robust recycling programs, and generates renewable energy. Nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is burning waste harms the health, environment, and economy of many communities. The perceived benefits simply aren’t worth the risk.
