As New England’s leading environmental organization, CLF has more than 60 staff people who work every day for healthy communities, clean water, and to reduce carbon emissions that cause climate change. Sometimes we win big victories that make headlines, like when my colleague, Shanna Cleveland, won a major victory in federal court that required the permanent shuttering of the Salem Harbor coal-fired power plant. You can see more about Shanna’s victory here; and you can learn more about CLF’s coal-free New England program, here. Other times, CLF’s work is much quieter, and behind the scenes, in obscure forums that no one has ever heard of. And CLF sometimes accomplishes good things very quietly. I recently participated in one of these quiet victories. CLF is an active, voting participant in the read more…

At a time when our legislators are facing critical decisions on transportation financing, their ability to properly assess the plans on the table is being hampered by confusion about the different plans’ price tags and where the money is going to come from. Factions are forming around inaccurate characterizations of the different transportation plans, so before the Senate begins its debate tomorrow and key decisions get made, we thought it would be helpful to lay it out apples to apples. Following is a simple way to keep the numbers organized. For each plan, we added up the amount to be spent on transportation over the next five years and divided it by five. This gives annualized numbers that are comparable. Here are the average amounts per year for the first five years of read more…

It’s a pleasure to report that on Wednesday, at the Charles River Watershed Association’s annual meeting, CLF was awarded The Anne M. Blackburn Award – CRWA’s premier honor.  As Executive Director Bob Zimmerman put it, they were intending to recognize a person and an organization. That deserving person is CLF Senior Attorney Anthony Iarrapino. Anthony was recognized for his terrific work in our case against the Boston Water and Sewer Commission, which settled last summer after years of preparation, litigation and negotiation, on extremely favorable terms. Those terms will catapult Boston (finally!) into the forefront of U. S. cities taking a creative approach to controlling stormwater runoff in ways that restore our environment, foster healthy communities, save money and create jobs. Like all of our work, the BWSC case was a team read more…

This week on Talking Fish, 100 scientists and 70,000 citizens have asked NOAA to keep protected areas closed to fishing; we explain some of the reasons why keeping these areas closed is so important; Fish Talk in the News rounds up stories on elver, menhaden, river herring, shrimp, and more. read more..

This post is part of a series on transportation issues affecting Massachusetts. Look for more from Rafael Mares and Christine Chilingerian in the coming weeks. To stay up to date, visit this www.clf.org/blog/tag/MA4Trans/ or follow the hashtag #MA4TRANS on Twitter. Massachusetts relies on several sources of funding for its transportation system. In addition to user fees—such as transit fares, registry fees, and tolls—and federal dollars for capital projects, a good portion of the system is funded through state gas and sales taxes. Both the gas tax and the sales tax, however, have been providing less revenue than originally expected or planned. For one, the gas tax has not been increased since 1991. Due to inflation, the value of the gas tax is trickling away over time. In Massachusetts, we’ve lost 41% of read more…

Depending upon where you live, recycling can be confusing. Answers to questions aren’t always self-evident. For instance, what can and cannot be recycled? Or, what goes in which bin? Thankfully, Rhode Island has tried to make recycling easier in a hope that more people will participate. The solution? Single-stream recycling – where households do not have to separate paper from plastic – everything can go in the same bin. Other items can also now be recycled, such as plastic cups, tissue paper and just about any plastic container two gallons or less in volume. Single-stream recycling was introduced last summer to help the state’s sad 15.9 recycling rate. Yesterday I met up with my neighbor; her daughter was finishing a bottle of water. As she threw it back into her read more…

We at CLF applaud today’s vote by the Maine state legislature to restore Alewives to their native habitat in the St. Croix River. Today, the legislature voted to pass a bill that will reopen the fish ladder at the Grand Falls Dam, allowing the key forage fish to reach 98% of the St. Croix. This vote caps a two-year effort by CLF advocates to restore a fishery that numbered close to 3 million until a state law closed the fish ladder and the number of alewives dwindled to less than 10,000. Last year CLF successfully filed suit against the EPA to enforce the Clean Water Act’s provision related to the state law and then filed suit against the State to invalidate that law. This bill corrects a practice of fisheries read more…

Now that we are in the throes of a real ocean planning process in New England , how will we protect special places in New England’s ocean? We have both a great responsibility and a great opportunity to do so as we bring people together to make decisions about how we will manage multiple and growing uses in our already busy ocean. We must identify and protect the beautiful places in New England’s ocean that provide food and shelter and spawning areas that can help our ocean thrive. Places like Cashes Ledge, located about 80 miles east of Cape Ann, Massachusetts. It’s a unique underwater mountain range which provides refuge for a vibrant, diverse world of ocean wildlife. The steep ridges and deep basins of Cashes Ledge create ideal conditions read more…

This week on Talking Fish, Peter Shelley explains the dramatic decline of cod and the action that must be taken to save them; volunteer opportunities to help count river herring; Fish Talk in the News has updates on alewives, elvers, and white hake. read more..

CLF Ventures is working with Wholesome Wave Foundation to offer a complimentary webinar about the Food Safety Modernization Act and implications for food hub operators. The food hub work with Wholesome Wave continues CLF Ventures’ efforts to build capacity and develop resources for sustainable food organizations in New England. Proposed FDA Food Safety Modernization Act Requirements for Emerging Food Hub Operators:   Q&A with FDA Representatives & Perspectives from Local Food Leaders   April 17, 2013 11:00 A.M -12:30 P.M. EDT   Comments are due on May 16, 2013 for two proposed rules issued in January under the Food Safety Modernization Act: “Current Good Manufacturing Practices and Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventative Controls for Human Food” and “Standard for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption.” This webinar read more…