What draws you to Great Bay and the Piscataqua River? I’ve lived in New Hampshire’s Seacoast region for years, raised my kids here, and poked around our harbors, salt marshes, and rivers as a sailor and kayaker. Besides this area just being so beautiful, I love the regional history that is written around the water.… Continue reading 5 Questions for Melissa Paly, Great Bay–Piscataqua Waterkeeper
“Harmful pollution from Schnitzer’s properties is contaminating precious waters used for drinking and recreation,” said Heather Govern, Vice President of Clean Air and Water at CLF. “This billion-dollar company needs to comply with federal law and properly manage its stormwater runoff. Our waters deserve better.”
“Stormwater runoff does more damage to waters in Connecticut than any other source of pollution,” said CLF attorney Shannon Laun. “It’s time for state officials to step up and impose limits on major sources of harmful runoff. Wildlife deserve the opportunity to thrive, and communities should be able to enjoy safe and clean water.”
We must learn as a people to protect not only ourselves and the environment but also to fight another form of systemic and institutional racism that is killing us all – environmental racism.
Thousands of hazardous waste sites and chemical facilities across New England are unprepared for the impacts of climate change. The failure of regulators to require such preparation leaves the health of our communities and our environment in jeopardy.
Exxon’s decades of deceit and indifference have left local communities and sensitive ecosystems at risk of catastrophe.
“The EPA’s new plan is a key, first step in the battle to protect communities from these dangerous chemicals,” said CLF President Bradley Campbell. “But PFAS-type compounds of varying names are still being created, used, and released into the environment. The government must go further to stop this assembly line of ‘forever chemicals’ and hold the manufacturers accountable for the widespread contamination of the nation’s air, land, and water.”
“Companies must be held responsible when they violate environmental laws and threaten public health,” said Heather Govern, Vice President and Director of CLF’s Clean Air and Water program. “This settlement will reduce children’s exposure to toxic exhaust and ensure cleaner air in Connecticut. It’s time we end unlawful idling and transition away from polluting gas-powered buses.”
“Pesticides are already poisonous by design, and we now know the risks to human health are even greater than previously thought,” said Maggie Super Church, Vice President of Healthy and Resilient Communities at CLF. “PFAS pose a grave danger to human health, and they have no place being sprayed on lands where they can seep into groundwater. It’s time for state leaders across New England to step up and get serious about reducing exposure to these toxic chemicals.”
While cutting our climate-damaging emissions remains critical to combatting climate change, we must also prepare for the impacts we know are coming. If we don’t, the consequences will become much more dire – and much more expensive – in the future.
