CLF has a long history of protecting New England’s environment and the health of its people and communities. We craft innovative solutions to the region’s most pressing environmental problems. We have led landmark lawsuits that have protected our precious natural resources and changed New England for the better.

1966
CLF is founded to stop the development of ski slopes on pristine Mt. Greylock, Massachusetts's highest peak.

1967
CLF stops the widening of Massachusetts Route 2 that would have required filling in a pond in Arlington.

1972
CLF hires lawyers in 5 New England states.

1977
CLF helps to avert construction of a four-lane, divided highway through the majestic natural beauty of Franconia Notch in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. For the first time, federal highway officials agree to build a two-lane section of interstate highway as an alternative.

1978
CLF brings the first of four lawsuits aimed at blocking offshore oil drilling on Georges Bank, a rich fishery off the New England coast. Ultimately, CLF succeeds in protecting the area from offshore drilling.

1981
CLF sues the National Park Service to restrict off road vehicle use on Cape Cod’s dunes and beaches. The four-year legal battle results in a new management plan that protected the beaches from extensive off road vehicle use.

1983
CLF sues state and federal governments demanding that the discharge of raw sewage into Boston Harbor—then known as the Harbor of Shame—be halted and the harbor cleaned up. CLF successfully fights for clean up, a new water treatment plant and the establishment of an agency—the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA)—to administer the plant and the metropolitan water system. Twenty-one years later, CLF continues to monitor the MWRA’s actions closely to ensure a safe, swimmable harbor for Boston residents.

Public Service Company of New Hampshire, the largest electric company in the state, abandons plans for second nuclear unit at Seabrook nuclear power station after CLF testimony demonstrates that the construction of the facility would not make financial sense.

1985
CLF prevents the construction of the Big A dam on the Penobscot River in Maine, protecting the western branch of the river for fishing, kayaking, canoeing and other recreational activities.

1986
In New Hampshire's White Mountain National Forest, CLF succeeds in pressing the U.S. Forest Service to draft a new plan for subsidized logging operations that protects roadless areas and achieves a healthier balance between timbering and other uses.

1988
After a three-year campaign by CLF, Massachusetts passes the nation’s toughest law to protect its citizens, especially children, from lead poisoning.

1991
CLF sues the U.S. Commerce Department to force an end to overfishing of New England’s groundfish—cod, haddock and flounder. The settlement also requires the National Marine Fisheries Service to produce a management plan to eliminate overfishing.

State highway officials in Massachusetts agree to implement measures to reduce air pollution, including rail and transit improvements, as part of Boston’s Central Artery project.

1992
CLF helps set national precedent in a case that requires the complete cleanup of combined sewer overflow (CSO) discharges from Fall River, MA into Narragansett Bay. This is the first ruling nationwide requiring that CSOs be cleaned up to meet federal water quality standards.

1993
Acting on behalf of ten local, state and regional groups, CLF brings a lawsuit in federal court seeking to block the expansion of Route 138 across southern Rhode Island. This action forces the abandonment of some highway plans and marks the first federal court decision recognizing citizens’ rights to sue to enforce the Clean Air Act’s transportation planning requirements.

1995
CLF joins EPA Region 1 to defeat the proposed Nashua Circumferential Highway in New Hampshire.

1996
With the aid of environmental, labor and consumer groups, CLF forces the state of Maine to abandon a ten-year effort to build a marine cargo terminal on Sears Island.

On behalf of environmental allies, CLF obtains a federal court injunction halting destructive U.S. logging practices in southern Vermont's fragile Lamb Brook wilderness area — prime black bear habitat. This marks the first time an environmental group in the Northeast successfully challenges the U.S. Forest Service's clear-cutting policies.

1997
Upholding a federal court order secured by CLF, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston agrees that fishermen, public officials, advocacy groups and marine experts should negotiate a comprehensive program for protecting the right whale -- the region's most endangered mammal -- from conflicts with fishing gear in Massachusetts state waters.

1999
Working with local partner Save The Bay, CLF succeeds in preventing the construction of a massive container port on Narragansett Bay in Quonset Point, Rhode Island. By forcing the governor to open the door to full public participation in the planning process, CLF and Save The Bay ensure that all parties have a say in the future of the state's premier natural resource and help to protect the bay from dredging, filling, spilling and other insults.

2001
Safeguarding Lake Champlain, CLF sues to deny a stormwater permit for a proposed large retail store and parking lot that would dump pollution into an already polluted Champlain tributary. CLF argues that this is unlawful and that no pollutants should be added to already polluted waters until cleanup plans are in place. Vermont’s Water Resources Board agreed and the ruling has statewide implications.

CLF challenges huge highway projects in Keane and Troy, New Hampshire, by assisting citizens of both towns in attempting to halt proposed construction of highway bypasses that would destroy undeveloped wetlands and forests. CLF is ultimately successful in preventing the construction of the two bypasses.

2003
Years of battling air pollution at the Salem Harbor and Brayton Point power plants pay off as the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection finalizes a schedule requiring the plants to significantly reduce harmful emissions and comply with the "Filthy Five" regulations by 2006.

2004
A CLF lawsuit blocks construction of the Chittenden County Circumferential Highway (the Circ) proposed for Burlington, Vermont. The Circ would have induced sprawling development into the farmlands and open spaces surrounding the cities, leading to numerous environmental and health hazards.

2005
In Massachusetts, CLF compels the Department of Conservation and Recreation to implement state-of-the-art low-impact development approaches to reduce runoff pollution from thousands of acres of parkways and roads in managed areas.

2005-2007
CLF partners with other environmental groups in successfully pressuring every New England state (except New Hampshire) to adopt California-based stricter tailpipe emissions standards for cars and trucks. Automakers sue to block implementation and CLF's legal team intervenes to help RI and VT defend the rules.

2006
CLF settles a renewed Boston transit lawsuit, committing the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to a timeline with enforceable interim milestones for completing the Green Line extension through Somerville to Medford, adding commuter rail parking spaces, designing the Blue/Red Line connector, building four new stations on the Fairmount Line, and improving transit mobility for Arborway transit riders.

CLF advocates fend off a last-minute Congressional amendment that would have blocked the proposed Cape Wind project.

CLF prevails in requiring the City of Portsmouth, New Hampshire to adopt stricter cleanup technology for the Peirce Island Wastewater Treatment Plant.

CLF and WWF-Canada release major scientific report calling for network of conservation areas in New England's ocean water to protect critical ocean wildlife and underwater habitat.

CLF partners with environmental groups to win wilderness designation for over 40,000 new acres in the Vermont Green Mountain National Forest.

The EPA, at CLF's request, re-issues one of the nation's strongest water intake and discharge permits to the Brayton Point power plant, a critical step toward restoring the imperiled Mount Hope Bay.

On the hottest day of the year, when the region's power demand reaches a new all-time high, the Vermont legislature responds to CLF's demands by nearly doubling its energy efficiency budget.

2007
Massachusetts and Rhode Island join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, achieving CLF's goal of bringing all New England states into the market-based compact to reduce power plant emissions.

In a watershed moment, the U.S. Supreme Court issues a rebuke to the Bush Administration's inaction on global warming and rules that the Clean Air Act gives the Environmental Protection Agency authority to reduce global warming pollution by regulating greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. CLF is the only New England-based non-governmental group that was a party to the suit.

CLF takes a leadership role within a national ocean conservation coalition that successfully convinces Congress to strengthen the Magnuson-Stevens Act by closing a loophole used by New England fisheries managers to allow overfishing on critically depleted stocks like Georges Bank cod.

CLF releases first-of-its kind report on lax enforcement of Vermont's environmental laws. Vermont then passes a CLF-backed law to strengthen the state's Lake Champlain cleanup plan.

CLF partners with a coalition of local fishermen and conservationists to convince New England fishery managers to adopt a new Atlantic Herring management plan that protects against the destructive fishing practices of large mid-water trawlers.

EPA approves tough mercury reduction standards supported by CLF and developed by Northeast states under the Clean Water Act to cut pollution from Midwest coal power plants and other out-of-state sources by 90%.

CLF is founding member of Our Transportation Future (www.ourtransportationfuture.org ), a diverse collaboration of organizations representing business, industry, planning, labor, municipal, and environmental interests working together for increased transportation investment in Massachusetts.

2008
After months of opposition from residents, CLF and Alternatives for Community and Environment, developers announced they were dropping plans to build a 250-MW diesel power plant in Chelsea, MA that would have been located across the street from an elementary school.

In landmark decision, federal judge rules the Massachusetts Highway Department violated federal clean water laws by failing to develop an adequate stormwater cleanup plan for its 2,500 miles of urban roads and bridges. In 2006, the CLF, the Charles River Watershed Association (CRWA), and the Leominster Land Trust (LLT) filed the federal lawsuit.

MA Governor signs into law the CLF-backed MA Ocean Act to create a first-in-the-nation comprehensive management plan for the state's ocean waters.

CLF and residents defeat a planned coal gasification power plant and diesel refiner proposed for Wiscasset, ME.

ME Governor signs into a law a CLF supported bill that paves the way for the nation's first limits on carbon dioxide emissions from coal gasification power plants.

VT Lowe's store opens with state-of-the-art stormwater management measures to clean up polluted water that flows off their building and paved areas. The cutting-edge measures were a result of a settlement with CLF.

CLF VT office releases report entitled "Failing our Waters, Failing our Farms," detailing how Vermont's Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) has chosen to ignore the federal clean water act and legislative requests to launch the permitting program for industrial farms.

Vermont Environmental Court grants CLF's Motion for Summary Judgment and required the Vermont ANR to extend Clean Water Act permitting to all "existing, unregulated, non-de minimus" stormwater pollution discharges in 5 badly polluted watersheds surrounding Burlington, Vermont.

Maine officials require paper mills to speed cleanup of the Androscoggin. Must meet new stricter water pollution standards by 2010 - five years earlier than prior discharge permits. Order comes in response to appeals filed in 2005 by the Androscoggin River Alliance (ARA), CLF, Androscoggin Lake Improvement Corp. (ALIC), and Maine Rivers.

CLF releases its Climate Call to Action laying out a blueprint for five specific actions New England must take in the next five years to confront the climate crisis and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Visit www.newenglandclimatesolutions.org to learn more.

MA signs into law wide-ranging Green Communities Act to significantly boost funding for energy efficiency measures and encourage investments in renewable energy, including wind and solar projects.

CLF files a legal petition to protect the Atlantic wolffish (Anarhichas lupus) under the Endangered Species Act.

As the result of a 2007 settlement with CLF and other groups, federal officials propose protected status for river and stream habitat throughout Maine that are critical to the restoration of the endangered Gulf of Maine wild Atlantic salmon.

CLF sponsors deconstruction of Merrimack Village Dam, opening up 14 miles of the Souhegan River from Milford to Merrimack, N.H., providing extensive habitat for river herring, Atlantic salmon, American shad and American eel, and will also open an excellent stretch of class II whitewater for canoeing and kayaking enthusiasts.