Fifty years ago this week, Congress adopted the Clean Water Act, a landmark in environmental legislation aimed at cleaning up many of the nation’s waterways that had become too polluted for people to swim or fish to survive.
But if history is any guide, we shouldn’t hold our breath for ISO-New England to take climate change seriously.
The lawsuit, brought by the Sierra Club and the Conservation Law Foundation, is a citizen’s enforcement case under the Clean Water Act, which turns 50 this week.
To fight climate change we need a strong and committed power grid operator that makes cleaning up our energy mix its first priority.
A federal judge has rejected a bid by lobstermen and the state of Maine to block new rules aimed at protecting endangered North Atlantic right whales.
Vermont has spoken. The other New England states have spoken. ISO hasn’t listened. We hope when ISO comes to Burlington on Sept. 8, they’ll finally listen to New Englanders and step up on climate change.
“The Department of Environmental Services is completely abdicating their responsibility to address out-of-state waste,” said Heidi Trimarco, an attorney with CLF New Hampshire. “DES should be committing to do something, anything about out-of-state waste.”
Oh, this is certainly a big deal. It gives a major boost to offshore wind, both in terms of some technical ways, like removing the price cap, but also changing the process of selection, so the major utilities aren’t deeply, essentially, controlling the process. There was kind of a fox in the henhouse design of the earlier law.
Under the agreement, GlobalFoundries commits to follow Vermont’s renewable energy standard, which Whiting called “Vermont’s single most effective and important law at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.” The law requires utilities to purchase increasing amounts of energy from renewable sources.
Clear communication goes a long way in helping people adjust to these inconveniences. It’s also time to dedicate the funding and staffing needed to repair our transit system today and stop kicking the can down the road.
