The Clean Air Act requires polluters to disclose their levels of emissions. Now producers of "biomass" power want a blanket exemption from reporting their emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide pollution. Tell the EPA to hold all energy producers accountable for their pollution.
Biomass is a term that includes many different fuel types such as trees; construction, wood, and agricultural wastes; and more. Due to the differences among types of biomass, it makes no sense to assume that none of them contribute to global warming. Some forms of biomass can be part of the clean energy solution, but science shows that if done wrong, biomass can increase greenhouse gas emissions, undermining our climate goals.
Clean Water Action builds grassroots strength in key states and communities to change politics and environmental policy in states, local communities and Washington, DC. We run muscular and effective grassroots campaigns to defeat anti-environment candidates, and support candidates who are committed to protecting our waters, our health, and our future. Our political program is non partisan.
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"Every day, consumers rely on household products that contain thousands of chemicals. The American public expects the federal government to do all it can to ensure these chemicals are safe before they reach the market." -Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Persistent? Bioaccumulating? Toxic?!?! Tell your legislators you support getting the most hazardous, most studied chemicals out of the marketplace.
Americans assume that chemicals used to make ordinary products are tested for safety - but they are not. From baby bottles made with bisphenol A (BPA) to carpets containing formaldehyde, dangerous chemicals are in our homes, places of work, and the products we use every day. With each new scientific report linking toxic chemical exposure to a serious health problem, it becomes more obvious that the law intended to keep harmful chemicals in check - the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976 - is not working.
Now, we have the chance to fix this problem - and to protect future generations from serious harm. By updating TSCA, Congress can create the foundation for a sound and comprehensive chemicals policy that protects public health and the environment, while restoring the luster of safety to U.S. goods in the world market. Take action: Take
action: Tell Congress you support real chemical reform and the removal
of the most hazardous chemicals from everyday products.
The Clean Air Act requires polluters to disclose their levels of emissions. Now producers of "biomass" power want a blanket exemption from reporting their emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide pollution. Tell the EPA to hold all energy producers accountable for their pollution.
Biomass is a term that includes many different fuel types such as trees; construction, wood, and agricultural wastes; and more. Due to the differences among types of biomass, it makes no sense to assume that none of them contribute to global warming. Some forms of biomass can be part of the clean energy solution, but science shows that if done wrong, biomass can increase greenhouse gas emissions, undermining our climate goals.
The U.S. Senate needs to hear from you that dirty bioenergy sources, like corn ethanol, are not the answer to our energy and climate crises. Right now, the Senate is deciding what to about these pressing issues. Some negative impacts of corn ethanol production:
What are all those chemicals in your shampoo? Your lipstick? your aftershave? And what do they have to do with asthma, breast cancer and learning disabilities?
Learn, share and help change this toxic mess: Watch The Story of Cosmetics, a 8-minute film exposing the ugly truth about personal care products - brought to you by Clean Water Action, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, Annie Leonard's Story of Stuff Project and Free Range Studios, and take action to help pass the Safe Cosmetics Act.
Ask your U.S. Representative to join you in the fight to phase out dangerous chemicals and require chemical safety testing. Act now and spread the word. Show them you're no dummy.
Do you remember the crash test dummies featured in commercials and
ads for years? They were the nameless, faceless humanoids riding in
test vehicles that famously smashed into bridges, cars, semis, you name
it. They stood in for us in dangerous situations so we wouldn't be hurt.
Until now. Now, you and I are unwilling crash test dummies for the
special interests peddling their toxic stew of chemicals found in every
day products, but we have names and faces and families and lives. We
weren't invented to test chemicals in products, and we aren't dummies.
Containment booms and cleaning operations in the marshes near Block 69 in NE Pass swamped with oil from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead - the BP leased oil platform - which exploded on April 20 and sank after burning.
BP's continuing oil spill disaster is devastating proof of the high cost that comes with our dependence on oil and other dirty energy sources. We will pay the price for Big Oil's reckless behavior for years to come: damaged health, ravaged coastal economies, destruction of entire ecosystems and the fish, birds and other animals that live there.
Energy technologies which degrade and deplete the nation's water resources need to be phased out. Urge your U.S. Senators, and your Representative to stand up to Big Oil and do the right thing, for a change.
For three decades, the Clean Water Act protected America's waters from industrial pollution, oil spills, sewage and outright destruction. Recent interpretations of the law have put drinking water sources for 110 million Americans in jeopardy of losing protections.
"Every day, consumers rely on household products that contain thousands of chemicals. The American public expects the federal government to do all it can to ensure these chemicals are safe before they reach the market." -Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Persistent? Bioaccumulating? Toxic?!?! Tell your legislators you support getting the most hazardous, most studied chemicals out of the marketplace.
Americans assume that chemicals used to make ordinary products are tested for safety - but they are not. From baby bottles made with bisphenol A (BPA) to carpets containing formaldehyde, dangerous chemicals are in our homes, places of work, and the products we use every day. With each new scientific report linking toxic chemical exposure to a serious health problem, it becomes more obvious that the law intended to keep harmful chemicals in check - the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976 - is not working.
Now, we have the chance to fix this problem - and to protect future generations from serious harm. By updating TSCA, Congress can create the foundation for a sound and comprehensive chemicals policy that protects public health and the environment, while restoring the luster of safety to U.S. goods in the world market. Take action: Take
action: Tell Congress you support real chemical reform and the removal
of the most hazardous chemicals from everyday products.
We can't wait to act on coal ash! Americans deserve clean energy. We shouldn't be poisoned by dirty coal plants and coal ash, and then be asked to foot the bill. Tell the President and the EPA.
Coal ash is a concentrated toxic by-product of burning coal and is a growing problem across the nation. The EPA and the National Academy of Sciences research show that coal ash is toxic, and threatens human health.
Yet Big Coal has been fighting any change to the status quo, lobbying against these proposed regulations and asking the nation’s energy regulators to charge ratepayers for any coal ash cleanup charges.
Don't let the Senate stall progress! Tell them we need strong legislation on climate and energy, not attacks on the Clean Air Act.
Your U.S. Senators could be asked to vote soon on an amendment that could take away the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) ability to enforce the Clean Air Act. Late last year, EPA announced that global warming emissions represent a danger to public health just like other forms of air pollution, and that the Clean Air Act needs to be put into action to reduce this pollution.
Clean Water Action is working to strengthen and defend our important laws that protect public health and the environment...but we can't do it without your help.
The science is clear: climate change has already begun to devastate our water resources, and we must act now to head off the worst impacts on public health, on water and other natural resources, and on our economy. Some U.S. Senators and industry lobbyists want to undermine the Clean Air Act. This is a dangerous precedent and flies in the face of what science tells us our government needs to do right now.
Do you have just 30 seconds to send an e-mail to your Senators urging them to fix both our climate and our economic crises?
Take action now.
What is it that "We, The People" all want? Clean water, a healthy planet and a clean energy future for America.
Climate and energy legislation are vitally important to the success of our economy and the health our environment. America's energy policy should be driven by clean energy incentives and firm limits on carbon pollution, which will help drive America's economic recovery. We must invest in energy efficient technologies which would create hundreds of thousands of new construction, energy service, and building maintenance and operations jobs by 2020, and ultimately reduce consumers' energy bills.
Federal legislation has been introduced in Congress that would ban the toxic chemical BPA from food and beverage containers.
BPA, first developed as a synthetic sex hormone, can be found in re-useable water bottles, the lining of your soup or soda cans, baby bottles, sippy cups, and other polycarbonate plastic products. It has been shown to leach from containers directly into food and beverages, especially when heated. Why is this a problem?
More than 200 studies have found that low dose exposures to BPA are linked to heart disease, breast and testicular cancers, reproductive problems, and other diseases reaching epidemic proportions in the United States. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted research that revealed detectable levels of BPA in the bodies of 93% of Americans.
The Clean Water Act was passed in 1972 to protect all of the nation's waters. Under pressure from polluters and in the wake of murky Supreme Court rulings, the Bush Administration allowed polluters to misuse and pollute many lakes, rivers and streams.
But we have a chance make sure that all of America's waters are protected. It's called the Clean Water Restoration Act.
The United States has some of the best drinking water in the world. So you might think that we know what effect trace amounts of pharmaceuticals have on humans and wildlife once they end up in our water, but we don't.