In the past two years, the natural gas industry has recklessly endangered the safety of Pennsylvania's waterways. Just this September, thousands of gallons of dangerous fluids, like diesel fuel and hydrochloric acid, have been spilled in multiple incidents in our state. Sadly, that's just the beginning when it comes to kind of accidents that have endangered our environment and our health.

Take action now: Ask your Representative to support critical legislation that would protect Pennsylvania's water from drillers.

Tell your State Senator: A year is too long to wait for safe drinking water!

On Earth Day 2009, eighteen Pennsylvania State Senators introduced SB 777, state legislation that would protect rivers, streams, and aquifers (groundwater) that supply our public drinking water. The list of co-sponsors has grown to 22 including 4 members of the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.

Almost a year later, State Senator Mary Jo White, Chair of the Committee, has still not scheduled the Safer Drinking Water Act for a vote.  Take action now: Tell your State Senator to ask Sen. White to schedule a vote on the Safer Drinking Water Act.

Discarded electronics (“e-waste”) is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the industrialized world. Electronic equipment is also one of the largest know sources of heavy metals, like lead and mercury, and toxic pollutants in the waste stream.  In Massachusetts hundreds of thousands of pounds of e-waste is discarded every year.  Much of it winds up in our cities and landfills and that that is recycled costs our cities and towns millions of dollars. Write to your Massachusetts State Representative and ask him/her to pass the Electronic Waste Takeback Bill to require manufacturers to be responsible for collecting and recycling or reusing the electronic waste that they produce.

photo by Daniel Lobo / CC BY 2.0

Tell the EPA to keep stormwater out of DC's rivers!

What is the greatest threat polluting the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers? The answer may surprise you. It is not industrial waste or piles of trash.

It's stormwater runoff.

Unfortunately, this problem often goes unnoticed for the simple fact that we can't see it. During rain storms (or when our recent dumping of snow melts) water rushes off all of our paved surfaces taking all of the untreated oil, sediment, trash and other pollutants into our sewer system which empty directly into the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers.

Unlike the pollution that can more easily be controlled from a single source (waste discharged from an industrial building or construction site) stormwater management is more difficult to control and thus requires a comprehensive solution.

The problem in the District is that two-thirds of the existing pipe system combines sewage waste with rain water in the same pipe. When there is a heavy rainstorm these pipes are maxed out and what results is combined sewer overflow (CSO) or more simply, raw sewage and waste overflow untreated directly into the Anacostia River. Take action now: Ask EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to issue the strongest permit possible for DC.

photo by Stig Nygaard
CC BY 2.0

Take Action: Keep the River of Grass Alive!

On March 10th and 11th, the South Florida Water Management District's Governing Board (SFWMD) will make a decision on the River of Grass land acquisition contract.

Tell your legislators it's time for Connecticut to go solar!

The recent opening of the 2010 legislative session gives us the opportunity to advance the use of solar power in Connecticut to create jobs, cut pollution and stabilize electricity costs. House Bill 5362, An Act Concerning Renewable Energy, would make it feasible to install enough solar to power the equivalent to 100,000 homes over the next decade.

This bill is being heard in the Energy and Technology committee on Thursday March 4th and the committee will need to vote on the bill within the next three weeks.

You can help by asking your state legislators to support a solar bill to create new green jobs through expanding the in-state solar power industry. Solar power benefits Connecticut's economy by lowering energy costs for families, businesses, and municipalities, and by decreasing our dependence on imported non-renewable fossil fuel sources and their volatile prices. Solar power also decreases Connecticut's harmful global warming pollution .

Please submit a letter in support of cooling towers to protect Barnegat Bay and the Jersey Shore. The comment deadline is March 15, 2010!

photo by Andrew Bossi

Thanks to the collective action of NJEF, coalition partners and our members, in December 2009, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) issued a draft permit that requires a closed loop cooling system/cooling towers at Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Plant in Lacey Township, NJ.

The draft permit is a crucial step in protecting the health of Barnegat Bay and the Jersey Shore—we appreciate your support on this important issue.

However, the fine print of the permit gives Exelon Corporation, the owners of the plant, more than seven years in which to build the cooling towers. We simply can't wait seven years to require this technology at the plant.