“These rules are good news for public health in Massachusetts,” said Brad Campbell, president of the Conservation Law Foundation.
From Cape Ann to Cape Cod, our infrastructure is not built to withstand the increasing impacts of storm floods, high winds, and soaking rain. This fact not only affects the health and safety of our residents but will also have an enormous influence on the region’s economic competitiveness.
“As a result of those intense rains, that treatment system is being overwhelmed on a regular basis, leading to violations of their Clean Water Act permit and leaving exposure of local waters and local communities to some pretty powerful carcinogens and other toxins,” said Brad Campbell, president of the Conservation Law Foundation.
“We think ultimately the science will show that the standards should be even tighter, but this will certainly improve the protection of public health, and it opens a process to ensure that all these toxic chemicals can be out of our drinking water,” said Brad Campbell, president of the Conservation Law Foundation.
Jen Duggan, director of CLF Vermont, said in an interview that the ban should remain due to the “greater risk” of manure spread on snow running off into water. The Vermont Attorney General’s Office is looking into possible stream pollution by a Highgate dairy farm based on an Agency of Agriculture enforcement staff video of manure-laden water flowing off a field into a nearby ditch.
“With the ocean getting hotter and more acidic and wildlife facing extinction, the ocean must be a top issue this election season,” said Priscilla Brooks, Director of Ocean Conservation at CLF. “It’s time for bold action to confront the crisis facing our oceans.”
In the battle against climate change, Massachusetts must be proactive, not reactive, to the impacts we know are coming. PG&E recently admitted it may take a decade for them to ensure that its wires in California are fireproof. How long will it take Massachusetts’ utility companies to prepare for extreme weather? We can’t afford to wait and find out.
Conservation Law Foundation filed its groundbreaking lawsuit against ExxonMobil for violations of federal environmental laws and for failing to prepare its Everett terminal to withstand the effects of climate change. CLF’s complaint alleges that ExxonMobil has been aware of the risks climate change poses and has not taken sufficient action — or “failed to design and implement protective measures” — to address them.
Jerry Elmer, senior attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation, the environmental group that led the fight against the project, alongside the Town of Burrillville, also waited at the courthouse, arriving at the Rhode Island Supreme Court clerk’s office an hour before closing time. “The case is over. Invenergy lost. The climate won,” he said.
“We already know that this know that this kind of pollution is terrible for our upper respiratory system for things like asthma and lung disease,” said Alyssa Rayman-Read, vice president and director of CLF Massachusetts. “Encore and all these different companies have a responsibility to the communities that they’re in not to exacerbate existing public health crises.”
