We are protecting clean air and water in New England – for today and for future generations

Clean air and clean water are fundamental human rights. Here in New England, our rivers, streams, lakes, and ocean drive our economy while healthy air nourishes our bodies and our minds.

Our Solutions

For more than 50 years, CLF has fought to keep New England’s air and waters clean and healthy. It’s how we made our name – forcing polluters to clean up the dirty waters of Boston Harbor and turning the city’s shame into one of its most prized resources. We’ve taken the lessons learned from that hard-won victory and put them to work all across New England. We hold polluters accountable and push for the enforcement of clean air and water laws at the local, state, and federal levels. Today we are:

  • CLEANING UP POLLUTED RUNOFF: We’re fighting for new protections and creative solutions to keep polluted runoff from wreaking havoc on our communities.
  • SAFEGUARDING DRINKING WATER: We’re working state by state across New England to protect our drinking water from toxic threats.
  • ENFORCING THE LAW: We’re holding polluting businesses accountable for the harm they do to our air, water, climate, and communities.

Our Vision

New England’s air and water can be free of contamination and toxic pollution. We can have waters everyone can swim in, fish, and drink from without worry. We can have clean air that boosts your health rather than harms it. This is the New England CLF is fighting to create.

What We’re Up Against

The challenges facing New England’s air and water today loom large – and climate change impacts will only make them worse.

Runoff from ever-increasing parking lots and pavement creates harmful brews that drain into our rivers and streams. Nitrogen and phosphorus kill fish, create dead zones in our bays, and cause toxic blue-green algae outbreaks that threaten our health and well-being. Poisonous chemicals seep into our drinking water. And tailpipe, power plant, and landfill pollution contaminate our air, taking a toll on our health, especially for children and the elderly.

Climate change threatens to make these issues even worse, driving more frequent and violent storms that increase stormwater runoff, fuel more extensive blue-green algae outbreaks, and create dangerous conditions for those with asthma and respiratory disease across New England.

Our air and waters are in danger – and with them, the people, places, and wildlife that depend on them.

No one has more experience defending New England’s air and water than CLF. We have the legal expertise, regional knowledge, and tenacity to go head-to-head with the region’s largest polluters – in the courts and at the negotiating table – and win.