Last week, NPR took a deeper look at the natural gas boom in the U.S. The special series, “The Fracking Boom: Missing Answers,” questions what the gas boom is doing to the air and water in communities where fracking has become a household name…
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Clean Water Act
Advocates and EPA Reach Agreement to Protect Chesapeake Bay from Stormwater Discharges
Anacostia Riverkeeper
05-21-2012
The rivers in our nation’s capital should be restored to their full potential, not be the dumping ground for bacteria, metals and other waste. This permit marks a major, though seriously overdue, milestone in this 40th year anniversary of the Clean Water Act…
New Mexico’s failure to enforce its own rules highlights the need to close oil and gas loopholes in the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. OCD’s inadequate performance shows why citizens need to have federal standards…
The worst part about the situation is that, in spite of what scientists and water conservationists are telling us about the delicate state of the Potomac, Congress is actively pursuing legislation that will reduce federal environmental oversight…
American Rivers named the Potomac River, known as ‘the nation’s river’ as it flows through the capital, the most endangered in the country. While the Potomac is cleaner than it used to be, the river is still…
Group Files Suit to Obtain Records of Closed Door Clean Air Act Meetings at White House
Environmental Integrity Project
05-11-2012
Industry lobbyists have every right to meet with the White House about EPA rules. But the public ought to know what was said at these meetings and whether it influenced decisions that are supposed to protect our health and the environment…
Report Shows that Great Lakes Remain Vulnerable to New Wave of Mining
National Wildlife Federation
05-10-2012
So-called “sulfide mining” seeks to extract precious metals from sulfide rock formations—a process that produces mine waste that turns water into battery acid, devastating water resources and fish and wildlife habitat…
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 exempted hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) in the Halliburton Loophole—except when diesel is used. Recent Congressional investigations revealed diesel use in fracking fluids remains widespread…
River Rally 2012—The Largest International Gathering of Water Protection Advocates
River Network
05-05-2012
When two bodies of water come together in a confluence, each stream provides its unique characteristics to form a more powerful entity. The same can be said of River Rally 2012, when River Network and Waterkeeper Alliance join forces to convene the largest gathering ever of clean water advocates…
Quakers Close PNC Bank Doors With Crime Scene Tape on 200 Mile Walk
Earth Quaker Action Team
05-05-2012
Two dozen Quakers and Lancaster, PA residents rallied in protest of PNC’s investment in mountaintop removal coal mining and fracking on May 5 at the PNC bank on 1356 Columbia Ave…
TransCanada’s New Permit Still Threatens Nebraska’s Water and U.S. Energy Security
BOLD Nebraska
05-03-2012
News broke today that TransCanada plans to re-apply for a Presidential Permit for the cross-border Keystone XL tar sands pipeline sometime tomorrow. However, all indications show that the new application breaks its promise…
The result of this case shows that citizens do have the power to take ownership over the conditions in our rivers. This case was a great example of people coming together to stop even more destructive pollution of our waters…
We need your help to urge the Administration to release that guidance now, and to make the protections for our waters as strong as possible…
We must also remember that air pollution is just one of several concerns with fracking. The chemicals used during the process have the potential to devastate local water supplies. Yet fracking is still exempt from the Safe Water Drinking Act…
Environmental Quality Board Gives Green Light to further Study Delaware River Upgrade Petition
Delaware Riverkeeper
04-18-2012
Exceptional value protection in the Delaware Basin will ensure the opportunities of clean water—vibrant livelihoods, safe recreation and healthy drinking water. These are values consistent with national and state investments…
Malibu Beach Water Quality to Improve Under New Agreement
Santa Monica Baykeeper and Natural Resources Defense Council
04-14-2012
An agreement reached on April 13 by the City of Malibu, Santa Monica Baykeeper and the Natural Resources Defense Council seeks to significantly improve beachwater quality along the Malibu coastline for millions of beachgoers who visit each year by reducing stormwater pollution before it reaches the ocean…
Waterkeeper Alliance Announces Series to Celebrate the Right to Clean Water
Waterkeeper Alliance
04-14-2012
When we give people the opportunity to play in their local waterways, we connect their hearts and minds with the essential nature of clean water and empower them to help protect this precious resource…
Industrial facilities continue to dump millions of pounds of toxic chemicals into America’s rivers, streams, lakes and ocean waters each year—threatening both the environment and human health…
8.5 Million Pounds of Toxic Chemicals Dumped into New Jersey’s Waterways
Delaware Riverkeeper Network
04-04-2012
The Delaware River goes from a Wild and Scenic River with exceptional water quality upstream to the fifth worst in the nation in terms of toxic discharges as it flows downstream. The lion’s share of the toxic pollution comes from DuPont in Salem County…
Campaign Calls for National Plan to Curb Ocean Acidification and Save Sea Life
Center for Biological Diversity
04-04-2012
The world’s oceans have already become about 30 percent more acidic since the Industrial Revolution as a result of a chemical change in seawater that happens when ocean waters absorb CO2 pollution that’s been emitted into the air…
The EPA attributes 45 percent of phosphorous loading, 35 percent of nitrogen loading and 60 percent of sediment loading into the Bay to agricultural sources. Animal manure accounts for about half of the nitrogen loads. Companies like Perdue are reaping immense profits…
Many places across the globe are running out of drinking water, and countless water bodies are now undrinkable…
HAPPY WORLD WATER DAY—Tell Congress: Access to Clean Drinking Water is a Basic Human Right!
Waterkeeper Alliance
03-22-2012
Sign the Tell Congress: Access to Clean Drinking Water is a Basic Human Right! petition today…
“America’s waterways are a polluter’s paradise right now. Polluters dumped 226 million pounds of toxic chemicals into our lakes, rivers and streams in 2010,” said Shelley Vinyard, clean water advocate with Environment America. “We must turn the tide of…
The letter conveyed House members’ deep support for President Obama to finalize guidelines and conduct a rulemaking to help restore protections to 2.4 million miles of streams and 20 million acres of wetlands nationwide that are currently at risk of increased pollution…
There’s a lot of talk lately about the comfort-of-your-own-home brand of advocacy known as slacktivism, but grassroots environmentalists on the Hudson River aren’t paying much attention to it. They’re too busy doing cleanups, taking water quality samples and occupying government agencies…
As this report is released, the Colorado Legislature is considering whether to follow Pennsylvania in stripping local governments of the ability to regulate oil and gas development. If local control is removed only the COGCC will regulate drilling…
When the Clean Water Act of 1972 was signed into law, its framers knew that our waters must be protected and restored for the good of the communities that depend on them. They recognized that clean water was a fundamental right of every citizen…
EPA Finds Water Safe to Drink Despite Explosive Levels of Methane and Other Toxins
Water Defense
03-19-2012
Independent testing has found that 11 Dimock families’ water is contaminated with explosive levels of methane, as well as heavy metals, radioactive material and fracking chemicals like ethylene glycol—commonly known as antifreeze…
Natural Gas Industry Gets Water Permits for Fracking While Science and Public Get Ignored
Earthworks
03-15-2012
“As drilling explodes across the Basin, communities and the environment are being harmed. It’s no wonder that residents are speaking out, taking a closer look at the work of the SRBC, and turning out for meetings like never before…
Highly turbid waters degrade trout habitat by clogging the spaces in gravel stream beds that are used as nurseries and increases the temperature of the water which put harmful stresses on the trout. State law requires permits for certain quarrying operations to…
