For the past four years, Tom Irwin has talked to countless people about the tragedy of childhood lead poisoning. Especially before the Flint crisis put lead issues back in the headlines, he often would be met with the incredulous response, “But haven’t we solved that problem already?” It’s a fair question, says Irwin, director of… Continue reading Stopping Childhood Lead Poisoning
“Vermonters deserve a safe Lake Champlain, and the state must drastically improve its clean-up efforts,” said CLF Lake Champlain Lakekeeper Rebekah Weber. “Toxic blue-green algae threatens both the health of the lake and the people who enjoy it. Our elected officials must pass legislation that invests in this iconic resource.”
In this special issue of Conservation Matters, we want to take you behind the scenes of our work, to give you a glimpse into how we break down challenges and take advantage of opportunities to create a healthy, thriving New England – not just for today, but for generations to come.
“By issuing this permit, the Baker administration has clogged our community’s air, water, and land with another 500,000 tons of toxic ash in Rumney Marsh,” said Kirstie Pecci, Director of the Zero Waste Project at Conservation Law Foundation. “We will all be able to breathe easier when the Commonwealth stops pandering to dangerous landfills and starts protecting public health by enforcing its zero waste regulations.”
On a Thursday night in late November of last year, residents from Chelsea and East Boston came out in force for a meeting of Massachusetts’s Energy Facility Siting Board. At issue: a proposal by Eversource, the state’s largest utility company, to build and operate two new 115-kilovolt underground electric transmission lines and an above-ground substation… Continue reading Massachusetts Environmental Justice Act Moves Forward
Local residents have defeated ballot questions aimed at allowing Casella Waste Systems to expand the Bethlehem Landfill. Now CLF and Toxics Action Center have announced a lawsuit to hold the landfill operator accountable for water pollution into the Ammonoosuc River.
As we close out a month in which the Massachusetts coast was hit with three nor’easters – and narrowly missed a fourth – Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) is still considering whether to allow Wheelabrator to continue dumping huge quantities of ash from its trash incinerator into its adjacent landfill in Saugus. The Agency’s… Continue reading Deadline Looms for Decision on Expansion of Dangerous Landfill in Saugus
Waste Management wants to expand its Turnkey landfill in Rochester, New Hampshire. Expanding what is already our region’s largest landfill would put communities and our environment at risk – and undermine efforts to reduce waste in the first place.
A new law in New Hampshire adopts much-needed protections to stem the tide of childhood lead poisoning cases in the state.
“A project that had been a battleground will now create common ground,” said CLF president Bradley Campbell, “and Jon Cronin deserves credit for resolving differences with CLF in favor of expanded public access to the waterfront. CLF spent decades and taxpayers have spent billions of dollars transforming Boston Harbor from an open sewer to a natural treasure and an engine of new growth. This settlement honors those public investments and makes clear that greater public access can go hand-in-hand with new development.”
