Maine just took a big step forward on climate. Last week, Governor Janet Mills announced a bill that could make significant progress toward addressing our climate crisis by drastically reducing climate-damaging emissions while growing our state’s economy.
“The devastating impacts of climate change are at our doorstep,” said Greg Cunningham, Vice President and Director of CLF’s Clean Energy and Climate Change program. “Drastically reducing our climate-damaging emissions is the only way to avert these looming economic, social and environmental disasters. This bill will push Maine to do just that. After eight years with a climate denier in the governor’s office, we have real climate leadership from Governor Mills.”
From climate to transit, from your tap water to the ocean, and from Maine to Connecticut, CLF and New England are poised to make progress where governments falter. Turn Off the Gas Winter Snow and Ice Bring Out Big Gas’s Fearmongers. Why is the Region’s Electric Grid Operator among Them? Progress Report Clear Skies Ahead… Continue reading Conservation Matters Winter 2019
Late last week, temperatures across New England plunged into the single digits for almost three days straight. Through the entire cold snap, our energy prices were at record lows, we didn’t resort to burning oil, and there was no hint of the “rolling blackouts” threatened by the fearmongering gas pipeline lobby. What a difference a… Continue reading Frigid Temperatures? Not a Problem in New England
CLF responds to a Boston Globe editorial calling for more gas pipelines at a time when emissions are rising and the negative effects of gas are abundantly clear.
CLF is focused on cutting carbon and plastic pollution, protecting our children from lead poisoning, and securing funding to clean up Lake Champlain.
“This report speaks loud and clear—fracked gas is increasing our carbon emissions and harming our environment,” said Greg Cunningham, VP and Director of CLF’s Clean Energy and Climate Change program. “Coal’s sharp-dressed cousin is continuing us on a path to irreparable and costly climate damage. It is imperative that we shift our clean energy transition into high gear and accelerate our clean car standards to reverse this trend.”
“The health and economic well-being of people and our planet depend on bold action today to create a transportation system for the future,” said Amy Laura Cahn, director, Healthy Communities & Environmental Justice program at Conservation Law Foundation. “Environmental justice communities have the fewest resources to adapt to the impacts of climate change but have long borne the greatest burdens of pollution and transportation inequity. We welcome a regional problem-solving approach, but our most disadvantaged residents must have a seat at the table.”
“The power industry tried every trick in the book to avoid the inevitable, and the state’s highest court rejected each one,” said David Ismay, Senior Attorney at CLF. “The goal of our appeals was to ensure these fossil fuel power generators would reduce their emissions year after year for the sake of our communities and the climate. And the recent Supreme Judicial Court ruling has done just that. We still have a long way to go in the fight to halt climate change and build a thriving clean energy economy, but for the time being, our work with these plants is done.”
“Today’s decision is yet another nail in the coffin for this unnecessary fracked gas and fossil fuel plant,” said Jerry Elmer, Senior Attorney at CLF. “Rhode Island simply does not need the power that this plant would generate or the dangerous greenhouse gas emissions that would come along with it. As we’ve been saying for months, it’s time for Invenergy to admit defeat and let Rhode Island focus instead on clean renewable energy like solar and wind power.”
