On August 15, Massachusetts lost a powerful voice for justice. Michaelann Bewsee was a fearless ally and treasured friend whose passion and selflessness profoundly impacted the lives of her neighbors in Springfield and beyond for generations. In her honor, we want to share this piece, originally published in March of 2015, about her work to…
Aug 21
2019
2019
Nov 8
2017
2017
One Year Down: Fighting Back and Fighting On for New England
We’re not giving in. Yes, approaching a year after President’s Trump’s election, he seems intent on undermining decades of work to protect public health and the environment and fostering an ideology that denies and denigrates the basic facts of science. But we’ve been here before. In the 1970s, oil companies were intent on drilling for…
Aug 4
2017
2017
CLF Takes EPA to Court for Allowing Landfills to Pollute
President Trump’s EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt, is on a crusade to pollute our air by rolling back important rules that keep New England – and the rest of the U.S. – safe from dangerous emissions. But in his rush to shut down important rules that protect our air, water, and health, Pruitt has started cutting…
Aug 8
2016
2016
Video: Proposed Biomass Plant in Springfield Will Make Air Pollution Worse
Last week, CLF and Arise for Social Justice took our ongoing case against a proposed biomass plant in Springfield to the Massachusetts Superior Court, arguing to oppose an air quality permit that has been granted for the plant. Residents in the City of Springfield already suffer from higher-than-average rates of asthma and other serious respiratory…
Aug 3
2016
2016
MA Superior Court Hears Arguments Against Springfield Power Plant
“In a community already suffering from high rates of childhood asthma and other serious respiratory conditions, the last thing we should be doing is literally adding fuel to the fire,” said Veronica Eady, Director of CLF’s Massachusetts Advocacy Center. “We wouldn’t let our children ingest even one ounce of ammonia, so why would we allow a plant that, by the company’s own admission, will spew over 140 tons of ammonia, carbon monoxide, and other toxic pollutants into our air? PRE may value a quick buck over the health and safety of this community, but CLF is proud to stand with the people of Springfield and fight this proposal.”
Aug 21
2014
2014
Palmer Renewable Energy gets back their biomass plant building permit
CLF has been working in partnership with Michaelann Bewsee and the community-based organization she leads in Springfield, MA – Arise for Social Justice – for the last several years. Michaelann, Arise, and a group of activists who have organized under the name Stop Toxic Incineration in Springfield are fighting a biomass power plant that Palmer…
May 22
2014
2014
Cleaning Up Industrial Pollution in Portsmouth
For several years, CLF has been working to eliminate illegal, toxic stormwater pollution from Grimmel Industries’ massive scrap-metal operation located on the banks of the Piscataqua River in Portsmouth. Grimmel’s operation has taken place at the Market Street Terminal, owned by the State of New Hampshire but administered by Pease Development Authority (PDA). In a…
Mar 17
2014
2014
Rhode Island Is Ready to Recognize That Food Scrap Isn’t Trash
Think about what you throw away. Lots of it probably comes from food: banana peels, onion skins, carrot tops, apple cores. We’ll call these materials, collectively, food scrap. Now imagine you run a restaurant, a school or hospital cafeteria, a college dining hall. You might well be feeding hundreds or even thousands of people a…
Dec 13
2013
2013
A Quest for Clean Air
I’d like to introduce you to two CLF members who are making a difference for people and communities in New England. Tiffany Mellers is a working mom and Army reservist who lives in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in the shadow of Bridgeport Harbor Station, a coal- and oil-burning power plant that has been polluting that city for…
Oct 11
2012
2012
Springfield Biomass Power Plant Oppponent Launch State Court Challenge
Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), Arise for Social Justice, Toxics Action Center (TAC) and over a dozen individual residents today filed a new lawsuit in Hampden County Superior Court seeking to overturn a state permit that would allow the Palmer Renewable Energy (PRE) biomass power plant to emit harmful air pollution. The lawsuit takes aim at the September 11, 2012 “Final Decision” from Massachusetts Department of Environmental (DEP) Protection Commissioner Ken Kimmell upholding a DEP air permit for PRE’s wood-burning power plant project in Springfield. The organizations, together with a group of local residents, long have opposed the plant because it will add air pollution to a community with childhood asthma rates already double the state average. Through today’s action, they are seeking to reverse PRE’s air permit and hold DEP accountable for protecting against harmful air pollution that disproportionately affects the Springfield area.