Diesel Pollution Makes Us Sick

Diesel engines emit a mixture of particles, metals and gasses including over 40 "hazardous air pollutants" as classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Clean Air Act. Diesel pollution can trigger asthma and cause lung cancer, stroke, and heart attack, contributing to 21,000 early deaths a year. Nationally, diesel exhaust poses a cancer risk that is 7 times greater than the combined risk of all air toxics assessed by EPA. Diesel exhaust is particularly dangerous because it is emitted at ground level - just where people breathe it in¹ .

Find an event in Florida, New Jersey, or where you live.

It's clear from the disaster in the Gulf that oil is risky, dirty, and dangerous.

Join Clean Water Action members and supporters in Florida on Saturday, June 26th for a national day of action to help clean up America's energy and to call on President Obama to move us off oil.

Find a Hand Across the Sand event in Florida, New Jersey, or in other parts of the U.S. or around the world.

For local organizing or attendance information in Florida, please contact Kathy Aterno.

U.S. Congress and State Offices

Clean Water Action endorsed 234 candidates for federal and state offices in 2008, with 84 percent of them winning their elections. Below are the winning candidates plus one still too call. 

For too long, American power plants have been freely polluting our atmosphere with climate-changing carbon dioxide (CO₂) pollution. This is about to change. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is a coalition of 10 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states who are working together to put a price on pollution.

By Emma Wilcox

In 1998 the Reverend Tom Carr, pastor of the First Baptist Church in West Hartford, gave a sermon about the importance of caring about God's creation. Inspired by his speech, a member of the First Baptist Church's choir approached him about becoming involved in the issue of the "Sooty Six" power plants. Carr quickly immersed himself in the campaign, heading to the state capitol to talk with legislators and to testify on the Sooty Six legislation, and continues today as a director of the Interreligious Eco-Justice Network.

Clean Water Action and allies in the Coalition for a Safe & Healthy Connecticut turned back intense opposition from big chemical companies, the toy industry, and dozens of in-state retailers and recently won new legislation to phase out toxic lead and asbestos in children's products.

Connecticut is one of only a handful of states that have restricted lead content in products for children. The bill also requires our state agencies to compile a list of hazardous substances found in children's products and corresponding safer alternatives. The governor signed this bill into law on June 2nd.

In late June 2007 the Connecticut General Assembly and Governor approved a state budget which included $10 million for diesel school bus retrofits.

The funding, spread out over 2 years, will cover the full cost of purchasing and installing pollution control devices for the approximately 3,400 school buses in the state that are able to be retrofit and aren't scheduled to be immediately replaced. Pollution controls will keep exhaust out of the cabin and reduce tailpipe pollution up to 85% and retrofits must be completed by September 1st, 2010.

In 2004, Clean Water Action coordinated the effort to make Connecticut the second state to adopt global warming goals. In 2008 Clean Water Action worked with allies to strengthen the state's voluntary goals into mandatory pollution limits. With the help of Connecticut Climate Coalition supporters, Clean Water Action organized a rally during a national meeting of governors on climate, which combined with a flood of postcards and calls, helped secure Governor Rell's support for mandatory emission limits. With the governor's support in hand, the state legislature overwhelmingly approved a new law requiring state agencies to act on global warming and show regular progress toward meeting enforceable statewide global warming emissions limits.