The sun is shining in Vermont–literally and figuratively–during “Sunshine Week…a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information.” CLF is celebrating Sunshine Week by supporting two major government transparency reforms making their way through the Vermont legislature.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT H.258

For more than a decade, CLF has been trying to shine a light on the behind-closed-door process for environmental enforcement in Vermont and to give affected members of the public a voice in the process.   In a 2008 case brought by CLF, the Vermont Environmental Court ruled that Vermont’s enforcement procedures were unlawfully depriving affected members of the public from notice of and an opportunity to comment on the backroom deals regulators strike with polluters before those deals get approved by the courts.  EPA subsequently agreed with this assessment.  It has provided the state with guidance on how to amend state laws to protect the public’s right to know about and participate in proceedings against polluters who damage our shared natural resources through their illegal activity.

This week, CLF’s efforts took a major step forward when the Vermont House Natural Resources and Energy Committee gave unanimous support to a bill proposed by the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources-H.258. Though not perfect, the bill goes a long way toward giving citizens who have suffered the effects of illegal pollution a role in the enforcement process.  Kudos to reporters Shay Totten at 7 Days (his stories are here and here) and Candy Page at the Burlington Free Press (her coverage here) for bringing this story the attention it deserves.  In a positive editorial today, the Free Press editorial board wrote:

An agreement between the state and polluters sealed behind closed doors might be more efficient, but that efficiency comes at the expense of transparency and true accountability.

…

The bill to open all environmental violation settlements to public scrutiny and challenge before final approval once again shows there’s much about government that can be fixed by increasing openness.

A vote by the full House is scheduled on Tuesday of this week.  Show your support for greater openness and public participation by contacting your local Vermont representative and them to vote for H.258.

STRENGTHENING VERMONT’S FREEDOM OF INFORMATION LAW H.73

CLF is also pleased to be working in a coalition of groups seeking to strengthen Vermont’s Freedom of Information laws.  CLF, along with the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, the Vermont State Employees Association, the Vermont Press Association, and others committed to open government testified in support of H.73.  The bill would strengthen citizen enforcement of public records laws in cases where government officials unlawfully prevent the public from seeing public documents.  The most important feature of the bill would ensure that those unlawfully denied access to records will recover their attorney’s fees when they successfully argue in court that the government was wrong to deny access.  This would be a major deterrent to government secrecy.  The bill also ensures that most private contractors performing governmental functions also have to comply with public access laws.  The ACLU has been a leader on this important effort and its full summary of the bill’s open-government reform can be found here.

We cannot solve Vermont’s environmental problems without effective enforcement of our environmental laws, and we will not have effective enforcement without greater government transparency.  Let the sun shine!

Photo courtesy of NRCM

At a press conference held yesterday, CLF and our colleagues at the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) shined a spotlight on 50 bad bills that are now working their way through the state Legislature. If passed, these bills could:

• Open up the three million acres of the North Woods to development
• Repeal the ban on BPA and flame retardant chemicals that are hazardous to our health
• Allow big polluters to not be held accountable for cleaning up their own mess

A list of those bills is here, as are some media clips from Maine Public Broadcasting Network, the Portland Press Herald and the Lewiston Sun Journal related to yesterday’s conference.

The assault on Maine’s environmental protections continues, and we will continue to fight back—but we need your help. If you haven’t already, please add your voice to the effort by contacting your local legislator, submitting a letter to the editor to your local paper, or by becoming a member of CLF.

Less than a week after I posted my blog post about the environmental and health problems associated with road salt, the Boston Globe published an article about de-icing alternatives some Massachusetts communities are turning to. Boston has received almost 50 inches of snow this winter compared to a total of 17 inches on average around this time. We can only assume that it means we’re using record amounts of salt to combat all this snow. While it is difficult to say if the increased snowfall we’re seeing is directly related to climate change, increased temperatures tend to increase evaporation thus resulting in increased precipitation.  (In the Northeast, there has been a 5 to 10% increase in annual average precipitation since 1900.) More generally speaking, scientists are increasingly concerned about the link between global warming and anomalous winter weather (such as the bizarre snowstorms seen recently in the South). As such, it is encouraging to hear that towns are looking to more environmentally friendly alternatives to deal with our new weather conditions as the planet continues to warm.

Besides rock salt (sodium chloride), calcium chloride and magnesium chloride can be used in colder temperatures but unfortunately, they are significantly more expensive than the traditional rock salt. Instead a growing number of Massachusetts communities are returning to an age-old solution: brine. The mixture is a combination of rock salt and water. Applying brine before snow falls and ice forms on the roadway (known as “anti-icing”) can prevent snow and ice from sticking to roads. Unlike plain old rock salt, this stuff doesn’t bounce or get blown off the roads like we’ve all seen. As such it dramatically reduces the amount of salt used and the time it takes to remove snow and ice from the roads in turn saving towns money. A study done in Oregon and Washington state showed that anti-icing can decrease costs by more than 50% compared to conventional de-icing. And it reduces the amount of salt that gets into our drinking water and the negative impacts on the environment.

This yet again reinforces the idea that solutions that are good for the environment are often also good for people and the economy.

It was thrilling to attend the meeting of the RI Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) last night, where the Council voted unanimously to reject the application of Champlin’s Marina to expand by several hundred feet into the Great Salt Pond of Block Island. The vote probably brings to a final conclusion a lawsuit that CLF has been fighting for the last seven years in the CRMC, in the Superior Court, and in the R.I. Supreme Court.

Champlin’s originally filed its application to expand in 2003. In February 2006, the CRMC voted (the first time) to deny the application. Champlin’s took an appeal (as they were legally allowed to do) to the Superior Court.  They won the appeal in Superior Court and were granted the permit. CLF and the Committee for the Great Salt Pond appealed to the Supreme Court, where we won – and the case was remanded (sent back) by the Supreme Court to the CRMC for a new vote.

It was that vote that was taken last night.

CRMC member Bruce Dawson made the motion to reject the Champlin’s application outright.  He cited the unique ecological value of the Great Salt Pond, and concluded by saying he could not support this expansion.

A vote was taken on the Dawson motion to deny the permit.  It was approved 7 to zero.

What about an appeal?  While Champlin’s could appeal, any such appeal would almost certainly fail. Not only is this a very old case, but legally, any new appeal would be severely limited to only what has happened since the Supreme Court remand. Such a narrow time period provides almost no basis for an appeal.

The meeting was well-attended. Despite the impending storm, the auditorium at the Narragansett Town Hall was almost full. Finally, I must say that there was an outpouring of warm feeling toward CLF and the Committee for the Great Salt Pond. After the meeting, a steady stream of well-wishers from the Island came up to thank the lawyers on our side. After a very long (and very difficult) litigation, this was enormously gratifying.

It’s difficult to imagine a day like today in Boston without the aid of salt to make our roads safe to use. For those of us in the snowier parts of the country, road salt is a necessary and accepted part of our winter. It’s cheap, effective and it allows commuters, motorists and emergency vehicles to safely reach their destinations in harsh conditions. According to the Salt Institute, Americans used 22 million tons of road salt in 2008. In a different study by the National Research Council, Massachusetts tops the list of of states with the highest road salt-use at, 19.94 tons per lane-mile each year, surpassing even New York, with 16.6 tons per lane-mile. Under MassDOT salt policy, salt or sodium chloride is applied at 240 pounds per lane-mile. In other words, trucks in Massachusetts are dumping more than a ton of salt every 10 lane-miles in a single application! Salt does not evaporate or otherwise get removed, so one has to ask: what is the fate of all this salt that is dumped on our roads?

Unfortunately, most of it is washed off of roadways by rain runoff and snow melt and enters our rivers and streams or percolates through the soil into our drinking water supplies. That’s the situation that Cambridge, MA has been combating for years. This densely-populated city gets its water from two reservoirs, both located next to Route 128, making it particularly susceptible to salt contamination. Another town suffering from the same issue is Boxford, MA. The town launched a suit against the state highway department, MassHighway, to close its salt storage shed, contending that it was responsible for contaminating at least 30 local wells. Aside from the ecological damage of excess salt, there are also health and financial burdens associated with high salt levels in public and private water supplies. High salt levels can result in skin and eye irritation and pose a danger for individuals with sodium-restricted diets, according to the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission.

MassHighway is already under court order to manage stormwater runoff after CLF’s successful suit in 2008. Hopefully this effort will divert some of the salt from our waters and, in turn, lead to better health for both the environment and the MA residents who live in it.

Today, the U.S. EPA announced that it will join CLF’s lawsuit against the Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC) for violations of the Clean Water Act. The suit, filled by CLF in U.S. District Court in February 2010, states that BWSC has failed to control polluted discharges from its storm water system, allowing it to carry raw sewage and excessive levels of bacterial, copper and zinc into Boston’s waterways, threatening the health and well-being of the surrounding communities.

BOSTON, MA  December 22, 2010 – The Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) has issued the following statement in response to the motion filed today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stating that it will join CLF’s lawsuit against the Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC) for violations of the Clean Water Act:

“The complaint against the Boston Water and Sewer Commission documents serious failures in the system that are allowing ongoing unlawful pollution of Boston’s waterways, including the Charles, Mystic and Neponset Rivers, in some the city’s most economically-challenged communities,” said Christopher Kilian, director of CLF’s Clean Water and Healthy Forests program. “The federal government’s entry into this case is a clear indication of the urgency of the matter and the priority EPA places on it. BWSC’s inability to maintain a system that ensures clean water is a violation of the law and an affront to the people of Boston. The United States agrees with CLF that BWSC must make a major commitment now to improve water quality, as other cities have done, and restore these resources to health for everyone’s benefit.” More>>

(Photo credit: Cynthia Liebman)

The view from the corner office at CLF Boston is not always glamorous.  For the past few days, the sights and sounds outside our building on Summer Street have been dominated by environmental remediation trucks.  With their humming, rattling pumps, hoses and generators, it’s admittedly been a little distracting to those of us on the other side of the windows.

However, it’s a welcome intrusion to those of us who know what’s going on under the surface of the street.  The trucks are performing vital maintenance on the underground storm sewers that pipe rainwater from our streets into rivers and out to sea.  When the catch basins under the street grates become clogged with debris and leaves, they no longer trap trash and pollutants as designed.  So regular clean-outs (often done with a large vacuum truck) are vital.  And the network of sewer pipes under the City of Boston (like many municipalities) is aging and needs repair as well.  Rumor has it that cameras are being installed to monitor for leaks or cracks in the pipes underground.

As an organization that’s spent decades fighting for clean water throughout New England, the maintenance of the water infrastructure right under our feet is one of those scenes that, quite literally, drives the original goals–and results–of our advocacy home.

October 8 is the deadline to adopt a mile of New England’s shoreline and we’re counting on you to make a difference.

Even if you never heard the term “nutrient pollution” before, you may have seen its devastating effects on the New England waters that you treasure. Slimy algae blooms and fish kills are two of the more visible consequences of too much nitrogen and phosphorus in the water. And the effects you can’t see are the most troubling: massive areas under the glistening waters of our fragile bays and lakes where no living thing can survive. This man-made problem is a solvable one and the key to our success is you!

By adopting a mile (or more!) of shoreline, you are giving CLF the ability to rescue our most precious waters. Please symbolically adopt a mile today:

Adopt 1 mile of Narragansett Bay for just $10

Adopt 1 mile of Cape Cod’s Coastline for just $10

Adopt 1 mile of Lake Champlain’s Shore for just $10

Adopt 1 mile of the Great Bay Estuary for just $10

Adopt 1 mile of Maine’s Coastline for just $10

Like you, I am frustrated by the dramatic and entirely avoidable scourge of nutrient pollution that is wreaking havoc on our most precious waters throughout the region, including Lake Champlain, the Great Bay Estuary, Cape Cod, Maine’s Coast and Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay.

This week, CLF made big news by seeking stricter controls on nitrogen pollution (a form of pollution caused by inadequately treated wastewater) in the massive Millbury, MA wastewater treatment facility know as the Upper Blackstone Water Pollution Abatement District. Each day, this facility discharges more than 50 million gallons of nitrogen-laden water into the Blackstone River, which flows south through Massachusetts and eventually into Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay.

The impacts of the nitrogen pollution in Narragansett Bay have been devastating. We’ve seen toxic algae blooms, widespread loss of eel grass meadows–critical habitat for fish and other marine life–and even massive fish kills. Rhode Island’s Department of Environmental Management estimates that one of the larger kills in recent memory left approximately one million dead fish on the state’s shores.

It doesn’t have to be this way–and fortunately, the problem of nutrient pollution is solvable. But the fight to tighten pollution controls at the Upper Blackstone and across the region won’t be easy, and that’s why we need you on board. Today, before midnight, you can make a difference by adopting a mile of shoreline for just $10.

Your donation will help push our clean water advocacy forward, not just in Rhode Island, but across the region. Just last month, CLF filed suit against the EPA for not fulfilling its duties under the Clean Water Act to permit and regulate the wastewater discharges on Cape Cod. In NH, as a direct result of CLF’s advocacy, the Great Bay Estuary has been officially designated as “impaired” under the Clean Water Act, affording it greater, much-needed protection from continued nitrogen pollution and the 20 wastewater plants in the area. Our advocates are on the ground taking the forceful legal action required to tackle this growing problem.

You may have never heard the term nutrient pollution before. But by adopting a mile of shoreline and making a difference in our clean water advocacy, let’s hope you never hear it again.

Sincerely,
John Kassel
President
Conservation Law Foundation

P.S. Today is the day. With only a few days left to act, please make a difference by adopting a mile of shoreline for $10 before midnight on October 8.

Dear CLF Supporter,

New England’s waters are in crisis. Nutrient pollution is a huge problem for our region; inadequately-treated wastewater, fertilizer-laden runoff from industrial farms, roadways, and sprawl development are fueling deadly algae blooms in some of our most cherished waters—like Lake Champlain, Long Island Sound, Cape Cod’s bay and estuaries, and the Great Bay, located between New Hampshire and Maine. These algae blooms suffocate and kill fish, shellfish and other aquatic life, creating vast “dead zones.”

Nutrient pollution is bad news. But there is a silver lining to this scummy, man-made problem: It’s solvable. For years, CLF has been working to reverse nutrient pollution in waters throughout New England. And there’s even more good news; today, you have the opportunity to make a REAL impact on nutrient pollution by symbolically adopting a mile of shoreline for $10:

Adopting a mile of shoreline may seem like a drop in the bucket, but it gives CLF and our advocates the resources we need to tackle and solve this problem; it is the very underpinning of our most crucial clean water work.

When you adopt a mile of shoreline for $10, you will fund:

• Lake Champlain LakeKeeper Program: CLF’s LakeKeeper, affiliated with the Waterkeeper Alliance, is the eyes and ears of Lake Champlain, dedicated to protecting this irreplaceable natural treasure. Part watchdog, part scientist and part public advocate, the LakeKeeper engages citizens, businesses and state and local authorities in doing their part to keep Lake Champlain clean.
• Clean Water Enforcement: All over New England, violation of water quality regulations is rampant, resulting in severely degraded waterways. Due to a combination of lax government oversight and insufficient resources, clean water can no longer be taken for granted. This is especially true in low-income communities, which bear a disproportionate burden of water pollution. CLF is putting feet on the ground to hold polluters accountable, wherever they are, for compliance with clean water laws in an effort to restore vital water quality to all New Englanders.
• Nutrient Pollution Advocacy: Nutrient pollution is a relatively recent, man-made scourge—an insidious by-product of industrial agriculture and wastewater treatment operations—that is threatening New England’s great salt and freshwater bodies. It is also entirely solvable. CLF is tirelessly pursuing up-to-date, science-based limits on how much nitrogen and phosphorus can be discharged without sacrificing water quality and stricter controls at the source to keep the pollutants out of our waterways.

Nutrient pollution is a solvable problem and CLF is securing important victories all across our region. In Vermont, as a result of CLF’s advocacy, the city of South Burlington voluntarily cut in half the nutrient pollution that could be discharged into Lake Champlain from its sewage treatment plant. In Massachusetts, the EPA introduced controls for nitrogen in the 2008 permit for the Upper Blackstone Water Pollution Abatement District, over the objections of the district. The permit was recently upheld despite continued pressure from the district. The bottom line: Nutrient pollution, with your support, is a problem that we can solve!

Unfortunately, the clock is ticking. Literally. We are quickly approaching the point of no return for some of our region’s more fragile waterways. We need you to act now, before our October 8 deadline, to reverse nutrient pollution in New England. It takes just $10.

Today, you can make a real difference in New England’s nutrient pollution crisis by adopting one mile (or more!) of shoreline. We’re counting on you.

Sincerely,

Chris Kilian

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