“Don’t be fooled by the devil on his way out the door because there’s another one waiting in the wings,” said CLF President Bradley Campbell. “There is no doubt that the next EPA administrator will be another Scott Pruitt—in bed with the fossil fuel industry and rolling back environmental protections with a vengeance.”
In May, we highlighted the Gateway Center in Everett and how the shopping center owner, DDR Gateway LLC (“DDR”), has failed in its legal obligations to provide public access to waterfront areas – in this case, the Mystic River. CLF wrote to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) asking them to hold the company… Continue reading Update: Good News for Public Waterfront Access in Everett
Allan Kanner, a lawyer for the CLF, argued that the risk has been made clear already. During the historic spring floods in 2010 that inundated large parts of Rhode Island, storm water washed contaminants from the Shell terminal into the river, he said.
In the face of rapid and irreversible development activity on the waterfront, it’s reassuring that CLF and other advocates are again manning the barricades to ensure a clean harbor’s benefits are enjoyed by all.
“Both the public at large and the appeal of Boston’s waterfront come out ahead when waterfront plans include ample public spaces and impose reasonable limits to height and density, as current law requires,” said Bradley Campbell, president of Conservation Law Foundation. “In this plan, the city allowed the dictates of developers to trump the rules, and the state in turn blessed the city’s approach with tortured reasoning, justifications, and trade-offs that were never even part of the public process. CLF will ask the courts to declare this plan unlawful, and end the pattern and practice of shortchanging the public trust.”
The Conservation Law Foundation filed notice that it will challenge the plan in court, saying that it violates state law by giving developers the right to build too much along a key stretch of Boston Harbor while requiring too few public benefits in return.
“Chronic underfunding of mass transportation leaves Massachusetts residents literally stranded,” said Alyssa Rayman-Read, Vice President and Director of CLF Massachusetts. “The Commonwealth can and should have a world-class transportation system that supports economic growth while reducing congestion and pollution. Without a clear revenue stream for transportation on the ballot, our elected officials must now come up with a comprehensive approach to funding.”
Last month, on a covered bridge spanning New Hampshire’s Ammonoosuc River, I stood beside our partners from Toxics Action Center as we announced the filing of a federal lawsuit against Casella Waste Systems for ongoing water pollution from its massive landfill in Bethlehem, New Hampshire. Our suit tackles Casella’s longstanding, and continuing, violations of the… Continue reading Bethlehem Landfill’s Pollution of Ammonoosuc River Must Stop
Communities in Vermont still reeling from the toxic waste left behind in their drinking water from long-closed industrial plants understand the importance of corporate responsibility when it comes to environmental issues. Common sense protections keep polluters on the hook and money in the bank for clean-up efforts.
The Conservation Law Foundation is also threatening a lawsuit if the Chiofaro tower, and a 305-foot tower on the Hook Lobster site, get a final OK.
