Power Hour discussion and feedback
Wednesday, February 23
7 p.m.
Two Echo Common House (at the end of Echo Rd.)
Brunswick, ME (directions)

Have an idea that you think will reduce energy use, costs, and greenhouse gas emissions in Cumberland County? Share it at tonight’s Power Hour discussion and feedback session, facilitated by CLF Maine Staff Attorney Jane West in coalition with the Brunswick Permaculture Group and Transition Greater Brunswick.

The ideas gathered from this and future Power Hours will form the foundation of a Cumberland County energy and climate plan, which will inform the ways in which municipalities, their communities and the private sector conserve, generate, use and diversify energy in the County. It will focus on priority measures to reduce energy, greenhouse gas emissions and costs 17 percent by 2017.

The event is open to the public. Cost is $2/person. More details >

Please Join CLF and our many organizational partners, including VPIRG, VNRC, VT League of Conservation Voters, Democracy for America, and Toxics Action Center, at the Vermont Environmental Action 2010 Conference.

What: Environmental Action is the largest grassroots activism conference in the state of Vermont. The conference provides an excellent opportunity for environmentalists, community leaders, and local activists to come together, learn from experts, and network with one another. This year the conference will have 26 workshops on a wide range of environmental issues and organizing skills from Using Free Internet Tools for Online Organizing to How to Bring Solar to Your Community.

Where: Vermont Technical College, Randolph, VT

When: 8:30-5:30

You can register online here.

If you come, please drop by my workshop at 3:15

Millions of music fans the world over cheered last year’s news that the band Phish was getting back together and heading on the road for another one of their epic tours.  CLF was cheering too.

For close to a decade, Phish’s charity–the Waterwheel Foundation (and check them out on Facebook)–has been a strong supporter of CLF’s work to clean up New England’s waters.  Phish has focused much of the giving on CLF’s Lake Champlain Lakekeeper initiative.  With strong Vermont roots, the band clearly understands how important protecting and restoring New England’s “Great Lake” is to the state’s overall environmental health.  And the band also understands how important a group like CLF is when it comes to championing that cause.

Waterwheel raises money to support groups like CLF in two ways.

• the band has donated royalties it gets from the sale of Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food Ice Cream.  That’s right, “Phish Food” no longer needs to be a guilty pleasure for you.  Next time you house a whole pint in one sitting, just remember that you are doing your part to help the environment
• the band also invites groups like CLF to work its Waterwheel Merchandise tables at its different shows.  The proceeds from sales of exclusive Phish merchandise, including rare autographed posters, and organic tee shirts and hoodies, go to support the charities who work the tables.

CLF is honored to have been invited to work a table again on this year’s tour.  This Tuesday evening, we’ll be at the Comcast Center Show in Mansfield, MA. Happily for Phish, the show is sold out.  If you are one of the lucky ones with a ticket, please consider dropping by the Waterwheel table at the venue to say hi to me and the other CLF volunteers who are teaming up with Waterwheel to support CLF’s work on behalf of New England’s clean water, clean air, healthy forests, oceans, and communities.

I am headed to Brattleboro tomorrow with some other CLF folks to talk about Vermont Yankee at an evening event CLF is hosting.  If you are in the area, come join us.

Join me and other CLF staff at the River Garden in Brattleboro, VT on Thursday, June 10 from 6-8 PM for a community gathering and Q&A  on   Vermont Yankee.  See event details. 

I was troubled to learn this morning that there is a new leak at Vermont Yankee. 

The continuing leaks must stop.   The new leak highlights the lack of responsible oversight and management at the plant.  Yankee only began operating again on Saturday after a month long outage for refueling.  Then start-up was stopped twice because of problems at the plant.  

 The public expects both Entergy and regulators to be proactive to stop leaks from occurring in the first place.  That is not happening.

In his op-ed published yesterday in the Keene Sentinel, Bob King of Keene (and of CLF’s New Hampshire State Board) reminds readers of comments by British Petroleum’s CEO describing the Deepwater Horizon’s blow-out preventer as having been engineered to be “fail-safe.”  

With the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history continuing to unravel before our eyes, it’s more clear than ever that blithe acceptance of ”fail-safe” engineering promises is not an option.

It’s not an option in offshore drilling operations, and it’s not an option in the regulation and operation of nuclear power plants like Vermont Yankee. 

The Keene Sentinel got it right in its June 2 editorial: when it comes to the aging Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, we should all be concerned with the sort of regulatory coziness exposed not only by the Gulf Oil crisis, but also by the April coal mining accident in West Virginia. 

It’s time to move away from the false promise of “fail-safe” engineering and to recognize the human and environmental risks associated with aging nuclear plants like Vermont Yankee. It’s time to move toward a new, clean-energy economy, and it’s time for New England to lead.

Want to talk about Vermont Yankee?

Join me and other CLF staff at the River Garden in Brattleboro, VT on Thursday, June 10 from 6-8 PM for a community gathering and Q&A on Vermont Yankee.   See event details.

We know that many of you have unanswered questions about Vermont Yankee and its impact on your community. Join CLF’s team of experts and fellow community members for a discussion about Vermont Yankee, our vision for a clean energy future and how we can get there.

Now is your chance to join in the discussion – and get answers to the questions you may still have.

Vermont Yankee Q&A
Thursday, June 10th
6:00-8:00pm
The River Garden
157 Main Street
Brattleboro, VT

RSVP to events@clf.org or by calling 800.370.0697 x760 by June 7th. We hope to see you there!

How can law and policy influence design to make the metropolitan Boston area more livable and eco-friendly?

• How many cars can the Green Line Extension to Medford take off the roads?  Would pay per-mile auto insurance help?  Would better bike maps and paths?  How about green zoning ordinances?

• Can greenspace and access to riverfronts make our communities healthier?

• What if Wal-Mart and Lowe’s new stores don’t just use renewable energy, but also design their parking lots to stop runoff from polluting our rivers and streams?

• Can Mayor Menino make the city’s public housing as environmentally sustainable as the Apple store on Boylston St the Macallen Building Condos in South Boston?

Meet, greet and exchange ideas…or just kick back…with environmentalists and urbanists working on these issues and more!  Co-hosted by Boston Urban Exchange and CLF.

Boston-area Urban Development Meet & Greet
Location: Mantra (downstairs), 52 Temple Place, Boston, MA.
Date: Wednesday, March 24, 6-8 pm
Free admission, cash bar.
More info at http://buxmarch2010.eventbrite.com/

Our co-sponsors:  Boston Urban Exchange (BUX) is a gathering of planners, architects, urban designers, developers, ethnologists, technologists, entrepreneurs, policy-makers, artists and others who care about urban development in the Boston/Cambridge region.

Taking the “T” to the Next Level:
Solutions for Funding Boston’s Public Transit System
Remarks by James A. Aloisi, Jr.
Former Massachusetts Transportation Secretary
Discussion to Follow

Wednesday, February 24, 2010
8:00 AM – Welcome Breakfast
8:30 AM – Presentation begins
Federal Reserve Building
600 Atlantic Avenue
Boston, MA 02210

NOTE: you must present photo ID to enter the Federal Reserve Building

A widely accessible, reliable and safe public transportation system is the backbone of a livable city. To meet the changing needs of its population and stimulate economic opportunity across the Commonwealth, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation needs to do more than just resuscitate its existing system; it needs to invest in a public transportation system for the 21st century. But where is the money going to come from?

Former Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Aloisi will discuss innovative solutions for funding Boston’s public transit system. These solutions can create sustainable financing for the MBTA while paying enormous environmental dividends.

Come hear Mr. Aloisi’s ideas and weigh in with your own questions and thoughts on how to finance our public transit system for the future in this open community forum.

This event is open to the public. A few seats are still available; if you would like to join us – please RSVP to events@clf.org.

CLF Flatbread Pizza Night
Tuesday, February 23
5-9pm
72 Commercial Street
Portland, ME

Join us at Flatbread Company in Portland, ME for a pizza night to benefit Conservation Law Foundation. Putting your money where your mouth is couldn’t be easier: $3.50 of each pizza purchased between 5 – 9 PM will go directly to CLF, benefiting New England’s environment.

So grab your family and friends, and enjoy Flatbread’s famous pizza – topped with organic produce, free-range chicken and nitrate-free meats.

We hope to see you there!

Click here to RSVP on Facebook (RSVP not required) – and please help us spread word far and wide!