Keeping the spotlight on administrative agencies is often the best way to ensure that they perform as intended and in the best interests of the people. It’s not sexy and it doesn’t make for good headlines, but it’s true – as we at CLF saw this Valentine’s day. As I detailed a few months ago in two blogs (Malpractice post , Patricia Aho post) and in Maine’s newspapers (Sun Journal article), outside the glare of the spotlight the Maine DEP deliberately waived Maine’s rights under the Clean Water Act to control and mitigate the water quality impacts to Flagstaff Lake of the hydropower project owned by Florida Power & Light. We challenged that decision (Aho Letter) and sought to hold the DEP accountable. We also turned our focus, and spotlight, to a similar read more…

As most of you know, I had one of those painful (and thankfully rare) life experiences this month that reinforce our natural instinct that people matter most of all in life. Thank you all for your kind wishes and support. It made a big difference. read more..

Today, the Patrick Administration reached a breakthrough settlement agreement in the proposed merger between NStar and Northeast Utilities, which, if approved, will create one of the country’s largest public utilities. The agreement is a big win for renewable energy, as it positions Massachusetts to finally unleash the power of Cape Wind, our region’s most promising new clean energy source, and to lead the rest of the country forward on offshore wind. The settlement ensures that this powerful new utility will be in lockstep with Massachusetts’ nation-leading clean energy policies and propel the state forward instead of backwards in implementing them. This is a significant advancement for Massachusetts and all of New England in a number of regards: It removes the last major hurdle to building Cape Wind; It ensures that read more…

It’s been widely reported that at its February meeting, the New England Fishery Management Council voted to ask the National Marine Fisheries Service to take emergency action on Gulf of Maine cod for the 2012 fishing year. The measures proposed, including a mere 3-13% reduction in the catch limit, were notable largely for their failure to address the condition of the depleted cod stock. But there is an aspect of the proposed package that has received little attention, which is troubling, because it would have NMFS open up five of the six existing areas currently closed to groundfishing. read more..

Reducing the region’s emissions of greenhouse gases is supposedly the Northern Pass project’s marquee public benefit, its raison d’être as they say in Québec. But would the Northern Pass project do the job? The answer appears to be: probably not any time soon. Today, CLF is releasing a ground-breaking new technical report regarding the greenhouse gas emissions of Canadian hydropower. The conclusions of the report show that large-scale hydropower, especially new reservoirs, is worse for the climate than Northern Pass’s developers are claiming, with substantial greenhouse gas emissions that are comparable to those of modern natural gas-fired power plants. The current Northern Pass proposal substitutes hydropower for natural gas in New England’s energy mix, meaning that the project won’t reduce emissions by much if any, especially in the near term. read more…

When shopping for a new car, it helps to know its fuel economy and how that stacks up with other models. What if you could have the same information when buying a new home? The Vermont Legislature is currently considering two bills, H-497 & S-143, which require sellers of buildings to provide information about a building’s efficiency. Sellers calculate a building’s efficiency using a free online tool approved by the Department of Public Service (Department). Buyers can then know a building’s energy rating. The rating is presented as a single number that compares that building with other similar buildings. In addition, a buyer could access other information such as the building’s total energy consumption, its square footage, energy intensity and annual energy costs. This bill continues Vermont’s tradition of leading read more…

Another tipping point has arrived for New England fisheries. Maybe the science assessment will change, maybe disaster relief will come from Congress, maybe our analysis (click here) of the government data is wrong, maybe cod will change their recent low productivity characteristics. But should fisheries managers bet the inshore fleet and large segments of the recreational fleet on it? read more..

This week the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) and HealthLink secured an Order from the US District Court in Massachusetts requiring Salem Harbor power plant owner Dominion to shut down all four units at the 60-year-old coal-fired power plant by 2014. In bringing a clear end to the prolonged decline of Salem Harbor Station, this settlement ushers in a new era of clean air, clean water and clean energy for the community of Salem, MA, and for New England as a whole. read more..

More and more, studies are recognizing the positive benefits of environmental improvements to communities. Now, potential changes to IRS non-profit reporting rules would allow nonprofit hospitals to report the cost of the environmental improvements they make. IRS Schedule H is a mandatory reporting form introduced by the IRS in 2008. Its purpose is to quantify, in a way that is comparable across institutions, how nonprofit hospitals meet their community benefit obligations and therefore document their tax-exempt status. Schedule H requires hospitals to report on total community benefit and charity care expenses as well as proportion of total institutional spending on these categories. Changes to the reporting rules, released in draft form on December 15, 2011, will allow hospitals to report on costs associated with their community-building activities, such as activities to read more…

On Thursday, February 9, the EPA is holding a public hearing on a new Clean Water Act discharge permit for the City of Dover’s sewage treatment plant. The hearing involves a decision that will be critical to the health of the Great Bay estuary. We urge all who care about the future health of the estuary to attend. The hearing takes place at 7:00 pm in the McConnell Center located at 61 Locust Street (Room 306). read more..