Today, CLF, the Appalachian Mountain Club, and the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests filed joint comments with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) bearing a simple message: the Northern Pass project’s new “amended” application for a federal Presidential Permit once again doesn’t cut it. The application, filed in July, fails to provide the comprehensive and required information that DOE and the public need to evaluate the project. This time, project developer Northern Pass Transmission LLC (NPT) should not get another bite at the apple. After more than two years of self-imposed delay and thousands of good-faith comments from the public expressing concerns about the project’s impacts and offering a wide range of potential alternatives, project developer Northern Pass Transmission LLC (NPT) has had ample opportunity to right read more…

This week on Talking Fish, fishermen meet for a hearing on proposed changes to bluefin tuna regulations; a new report shows that the Magnuson-Stevens Act is working to rebuild fish stocks; in Fish Talk in the News, the House Committee on Natural Resources holds an oversight hearing on reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. read more..

Conservation Law Foundation warmly welcomed the news that Vermont Yankee will soon close. The closure is long overdue for this tired old plant, following a history of leaks, false testimony, broken promises and poor management. For over ten years, CLF has been actively showing that Vermont Yankee is not a good deal for Vermont. The state has been saddled with this poorly managed, uneconomic dinosaur for far too long, enduring environmental damage and the persistent threats to public health and safety that come with operating a nuclear power plant well beyond its planned life. With no place to put the waste that will remain dangerous for thousands of years, no power contract that would provide reliable and low cost power to Vermonters, and rapidly escalating costs to shut down and read more…

Until recently, Peter Wellenberger served as the Great Bay-Piscataqua Waterkeeper. The program, with a full-time water advocate dedicated solely to protecting Great Bay, Little Bay, the Piscataqua River and all the waters comprising the Great Bay estuary, was an important new undertaking for Conservation Law Foundation. Realizing that the estuary really needed a visible clean water advocate, CLF created the position, which is affiliated with the international Waterkeeper Alliance, an association of folks dedicated to protecting and improving the health of waterbodies worldwide. In early 2012, Peter jumped in, energized people, networked, and created a coalition of local non-profit, business and municipal stakeholders called Rescue Great Bay in an effort to bring the pollution and nutrient issues to the fore. Peter retired earlier this summer. I have assumed the Great read more…

A recent federal court decision in Conservation Law Foundation’s and Buzzards Bay Coalition’s lawsuit against EPA addressing nitrogen pollution in Cape Cod bays has major implications for the way local water pollution control projects are funded in the Commonwealth. The impact of nutrient pollution on the streams and bays of Cape Cod was identified as a looming problem in the 1978 Areawide Wastewater Management Plan written by a predecessor to the Cape Cod Commission. Despite the Plan’s requirement of annual updates, it sat untouched for over thirty years as the looming threat of nutrient pollution became a present crisis. Spurred by a lawsuit filed by CLF and the Buzzards Bay Coalition in 2011, the 1978 Plan is finally being updated by the Cape Cod Commission. The importance of the current read more…

During the week of September 23, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) has scheduled four additional public scoping meetings in different communities in New Hampshire as part of the scoping process for DOE’s Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Northern Pass transmission project. As with the well-attended meetings more than two years ago, these new meetings are a vital opportunity to explain your concerns about the project to DOE officials. These meetings are the last in-person moments to influence DOE’s decisions on the scope and content of the draft EIS, including the environmental and social impacts of the project to be considered and the alternatives to be seriously studied. Those decisions will have lasting ramifications as the federal and state permitting processes continue. Here is the schedule: Monday, September 23, 2013, 6–9 p.m., Grappone Conference Center, Concord, read more…

Good news for those whose livelihood and/or recreational pursuits involve Casco Bay. As noted in prior posts (6/17/11, 6/21/11, 5/8/12), for more than 4 decades Portland’s sanitary and stormwater sewer system was periodically overwhelmed by a storm event or snow melt, resulting in discharges of untreated wastewater that would close beaches and shellfish harvesting areas, and just plain old stink. Although legally obligated to address the situation under a 1993 consent decree that CLF was instrumental in obtaining, the City’s progress in doing so was sporadic until the past few years. For this reason alone, it is worth celebrating the recent completion of the Baxter Boulevard storage project as noted by the Portland Press Herald. The two, million-gallon tanks, installed at a cost of $10 million, will provide critical storage read more…

The Vermont Public Service Board will be holding a public hearing on the proposed expansion of Vermont Gas facilities. Vermont Gas Systems Expansion Tuesday evening, September 10, 2013 7:00 p.m  Middlebury Union Middle School, 48 Deerfield Lane, Middlebury, Vermont  At a time when climate change is upon us we must think carefully about putting in place new fossil fuel systems that will be around for a very long time. Keeping us hooked on fossil fuels for many years is a bad idea. The Board is considering a proposal to expand the Vermont Gas Systems pipeline to Middlebury and then beyond. The proposed project would run through valuable wetlands and farmland, and expands Vermont’s reliance on fossil fuels at a time we need to be moving away from these polluting sources. This is the read more…

In a major city like Boston, the mayor plays a pivotal role in advancing transportation innovation and improvements. After all, few things show off a city better (or worse) than its transportation systems. To help the public understand where Boston’s mayoral candidates stand on this key campaign issue, CLF is co-sponsoring a free forum on Transportation and Livable Communities on Tuesday, September 17, 2013 from 6pm to 8pm at the Boston Public Library. During Mayor Thomas Menino’s twenty years in office, the City of Boston has advanced many transportation projects, including the modernization of the Blue Line, the rehabilitation of old and opening of new stations on the Fairmount Line, the launch of the Hubway bike share system, and the completion of the Big Dig. Around the country, Antonio Villaraigosa read more…

This week on Talking Fish, Captain John McMurray weighs in on what NOAA and the Councils can do to restore river herring; in Fish Talk in the News, the NAS releases a report on Magnuson-Stevens and PCB-resistant killifish stump scientists. read more..