CLF's work to clean up Cape Cod's waterways was covered in The Boston Globe. We tell you about those efforts, and the story, in this post. read more..

We wanted to draw your attention to the below announcement for a free webinar hosted by our friends at New England Wind Energy Education Project (NEWEEP). See below for registration information. If you’re interested, be sure to register. Remember: it’s free!   New England Wind Energy Education Project (NEWEEP) Webinar #6 Title:               “Wind Power as a Neighbor: Experience with Techniques for Mitigating Public Impacts” Date:               Wednesday, December 7, 2011 Location:        Webinar (Free) Time:              2:00 – 3:45 PM ET Registration Link:                   http://neweepwebinar6.eventbrite.com/ Questions? Email:  info@neweep.com Key Discussion Topics & Speakers Speakers: Charles Newcomb, Wind Technology Deployment Supervisor, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, will describe the technical mitigation strategies invented and refined by wind manufacturers and developers to minimize or avoid impact to project neighbors, along with read more…

All of those who love the peace and quiet, clean water, clean air, and abundant wildlife in the Vermont back-country are applauding the decision by Vermont Agency of Natural Resources officials to reverse course on an agency rule that would have allowed ATV clubs to crisscross and fragment Vermont state lands with ATV trails.  This decision should help protect state forests and wildlife preserves from often-destructive, high-impact motorized activity and maintain Vermont’s longstanding tradition of sound public land management. Since the previous administration of Governor James Douglas moved forward with this flawed rule that would have opened all state lands to ATV trail construction, CLF has been working with a coalition of organizations and concerned citizens to prevent the rule from taking effect.  CLF offered testimony that helped sway a read more…

Millinocket, Maine – a town struggling to reshape its economy – deserves good jobs. However, at a closing price of $17 million, and at $250,000 for annual operations, the state’s recent acquisition of the Dolby landfill in East Millinocket has delivered these jobs at a price that is too high and set a precedent that is too dangerous to accept. read more..

This holiday season, what are more Americans giving thanks for? Green jobs. read more..

The latest news from TalkingFish.org. This week: New England fishermen take back their fishery, Jud Crawford talks menhaden, and a news update. read more..

Quick update on subject of a blog post the other day. Discovery Channel, in an article posted on Treehugger (which discloses it is owned by Discovery Communications, the parent of Discovery Channel) claims that the climate change content in the US version of Frozen Planet will be the same as in the BBC version – that they will simply be re-editing the show to fit into six episodes and with an American accented narrator.  Apparently our ears are not sophisticated enough to appreciate the dulcet tones of Sir David Attenborough. And as to the climate issue, as Treehugger concludes, the proof will come when the show airs . . .

Last week, a major disaster for our climate and our nation’s clean energy future was averted – at least for now – when the Obama administration announced that it won’t consider approving the Keystone XL pipeline’s border crossing permit before it reconsiders the Keystone XL pipeline’s environmental impacts and the potential alternatives to the proposal on the table.  For all the reasons that my colleague Melissa Hoffer articulated in her post last week, the Keystone XL victory was a resounding, if limited, triumph with important lessons for environmental and climate advocates across the country as we confront, one battle at a time, the seemingly overwhelming challenge of solving the climate crisis. The Keystone XL decision also hits home in another way. It sends an unmistakable signal that the federal government’s review process for read more…

The initial short-range solutions are in.  Quick, effective and clean.  Unanimous agreement on a suite of projects to move forward to help people get around in Chittenden County.  When Vermont’s Governor, Peter Shumlin announced in May that the “Circ Highway” – an expensive, polluting and outdated ring-road around Burlington – would not be built as planned, he set in motion a Task Force to develop short, medium and long range solutions.  Since the summer the Task Force has been meeting and working.  Despite bumps, potholes and diversions in the form of more limited time and money because of the need to address problems that arose from managing the chaos Hurricane Irene left Vermont, the Task Force forged ahead.   Last week we agreed unanimously on 5 short-term projects to get started in the coming year.  They include some innovative read more…

In their rush to exploit recovery efforts from Tropical Storm Irene, ideologues who perpetually fight against regulation and science and who posture as the defenders of traditional “Yankee” values are forgetting two important rock-ribbed principles. The first is frugality. There has been a lot of loose talk about how much money was supposedly saved by largely ignoring environmental review and permitting as bulldozers, excavators and dump trucks rushed into rivers across Vermont in dozens of places. Understandably, given the dire situation facing the state at the time, these claims are based on initial, back-of-the-envelope cost estimates made with little or no analysis. However, using those alleged savings to argue for a change in policy is irresponsible as a matter of policy, and discourteous to basic math. The accounting trick the read more…