CLF has doubled down on our clean air and water litigation over the past year. The case against Patriot Beverages in Littleton, Massachusetts, is emblematic of how we work to safeguard these vital resources. Photo: Shutterstock
There’s nothing more fundamental to the health of New England families and communities than clean air and water. Without these two fundamental rights, our families and our neighbors would inevitably suffer more acute and chronic diseases, such as asthma, cancer, neurological, or developmental disorders. Along with more disease come other problems – higher health care costs, lower productivity, growing social inequities, and community instability.
“That is not a world any of us wants to live in,” says Ameya Gehi, staff attorney in the Clean Air and Water program at CLF.
Still, it’s one the Trump administration has embraced by weakening clean air and water standards that have protected our families and communities for generations.
That’s why CLF has doubled down on our clean air and water litigation over the past year. CLF built its reputation enforcing bedrock environmental laws, including leading milestone lawsuits that led to the cleanup of Boston Harbor and the construction of a new Green Line subway line as redress for the air pollution caused by the Big Dig tunnel project. Today, we are building on that legacy by serving as an essential stopgap in the absence of federal oversight. And we’ve been successful – doggedly enforcing laws against powerful corporations content to dump toxic chemicals into our waterways or choke our air with dangerous fumes.
Patriot Beverages Cleans Up Its Act
The case of Patriot Beverages in Littleton, Massachusetts, is emblematic of how we work to safeguard the vital resources needed not only for our individual health but also for community health. Last year, we reached a settlement with Patriot, a beverage manufacturing and bottling company known for its flavored waters and teas, including Propel Water, Gatorade, and Pure Leaf Tea. We had filed suit against the company for discharging wastewater carrying heavy metals like aluminum and pollutants, including phosphorus, into Reedy Meadow Brook and Mill Pond from its Littleton facility.
We settled that case and ensured the company not only addressed its pollution but also invested in the community it harmed. As part of our settlement, Patriot Beverages must upgrade its equipment to maximize pollutant removal from its discharges and improve its water sample testing. The company will also pay $385,000 to OARS, a river conservation group, and $100,000 to the Nashobah Praying Indians to fund a water quality and nutrient-monitoring project.
“This resolution sends a clear message that companies must take responsibility for the pollution they cause,” says Gehi. “By holding Patriot Beverages accountable and ensuring they implement meaningful reforms, we’re protecting the communities and ecosystems that rely on clean water.”
Cleaner Air in Communities
The settlement with Patriot wasn’t CLF’s only victory for clean air and water. In 2025, we also settled with the school bus company All-Star Transportation after its idling buses spewed harmful emissions into Connecticut communities. The settlement requires the company to purchase six electric school buses and charging infrastructure at an estimated cost of $2.5 million. The company must also revise its anti-idling policy and will pay $300,000 to fund air quality monitoring projects in Waterbury. Since 2019, we have filed nine cases in Connecticut and Massachusetts against transportation companies for violating anti-idling laws.
Both wins are part of our broad enforcement work aimed at ensuring polluters give back to the communities they have fouled by violating clean air and water laws. “We want to tip the balance of power back toward communities,” says Gehi. “Part of holding polluters accountable means ensuring that the public benefits from that accountability.”
Since 2013, CLF has succeeded in forcing polluters to pay more than $12 million to fund myriad projects in the communities they harmed. Those projects range from clean energy to water and land conservation, community and food systems, and improving air quality. For example, in 2023, First Transit, a Connecticut bus company, agreed to pay $725,000 for urban farming solutions in communities affected by its unlawful bus idling. That same year, we settled three Clean Water Act lawsuits against Schnitzer Steel (now Radius Recycling). The company was allowing stormwater runoff from its scrap metal piles to foul local waterways with toxic metals such as lead, zinc, and copper. That settlement resulted in nearly $2 million to fund water quality restoration projects, river monitoring, shoreline restoration, and public education.
“It only makes sense that communities degraded by pollution get an opportunity for repair and restoration,” says Gehi. “That’s an accountability that holds real meaning for families that have sometimes seen their lives upended by toxic pollution.”
It is precisely what’s at stake for families, neighborhoods, and communities that inspires CLF’s work. We will keep fighting across New England for what we all know to be a basic prerogative, especially as we witness a reckless backtracking on environmental protections. This is the moment to fight hard to protect our right to fresh, clean air and water free of toxic pollutants.
