Meet Alyssa Rayman-Read
by Ashira MorrisWhat drew you to social justice work? Social justice has been a guiding force since I was a kid. My mom was a professor and my dad a psychologist, both with deep roots in social change communities and grassroots organizing. We had intense dinner table conversations with graduate students, professors, activists, and us kids about…
WATCH: Right Whales on the Brink of Extinction
by Ashira MorrisNorth Atlantic right whales are in crisis. Last year, we lost 17 whales out of a population of barely 460. If we don’t act now, this already-endangered species could go extinct in our lifetimes. CLF recently hosted a conversation with experts on right whales to discuss this crisis – and what can be done to…
Public Concerns Ignored in Approval of Massive Landfill Expansion
by Kirstie PecciWhen the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) this week gave its final okay for an ash landfill in Saugus to expand, it signaled that polluting our communities and our environment is perfectly fine – even if it lacks the liner and groundwater monitoring required at every other ash landfill in the state. The landfill…
Help for Cape Cod’s Pollution Problem
by Chris KilianNo one would consider swimming, sailing, or fishing in a sewer, but that, in effect, is the choice facing people seeking to use polluted bays around Cape Cod. The Cape’s septic systems cause 85 percent of the nitrogen pollution plaguing our waterways. Every time a toilet flushes into a septic tank, our clean bays, our…
Maine’s Legislature Fails to Move State Forward on Solar
by Emily GreenOne of Governor LePage’s first official acts was to erect a sign on the New Hampshire border of the Maine Turnpike proclaiming that Maine is “OPEN FOR BUSINESS.” Unfortunately, LePage has not lived up to that promise. His most recent veto of legislation designed to undo damage to the solar industry in Maine while enhancing…
New England Closes the Door on Northern Pass
by Melissa BirchardNorthern Pass received two major blows in March, knocking it fully out of contention as the energy winner in Massachusetts. The Commonwealth, which initially selected the proposed transmission line for a lucrative clean energy contract in January, severed ties and announced on March 28 that it is moving on to a different project. Just two…
Rhode Island Bill Mandates Cuts in Carbon Pollution
by Amy MosesWhen President Trump announced that he was pulling the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement last summer, leaders across the country stood up and stepped in where the president had stepped out. Among those promising action was Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo. Although Rhode Island already had goals for cutting carbon emissions, Raimondo…
Massachusetts Environmental Justice Act Moves Forward
by Amy Laura CahnOn a Thursday night in late November of last year, residents from Chelsea and East Boston came out in force for a meeting of Massachusetts’s Energy Facility Siting Board. At issue: a proposal by Eversource, the state’s largest utility company, to build and operate two new 115-kilovolt underground electric transmission lines and an above-ground substation…
EPA’s Roll Back of Clean Car Standards Will Cost Americans
by Emily GreenThe Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced its plans to reverse the nation’s landmark clean car standards. The impacts of weakening the standards will be widespread and severe, and will include raising costs for American families and businesses on gas, while dirtying the air that we breathe and harming the health of our families and…
Residents Reject Expansion of Bethlehem Landfill
by Tom IrwinLocal residents have defeated ballot questions aimed at allowing Casella Waste Systems to expand the Bethlehem Landfill. Now CLF and Toxics Action Center have announced a lawsuit to hold the landfill operator accountable for water pollution into the Ammonoosuc River.
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