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Issues: Curbing Pollution

Blind Justices

March 1, 2010

Posted by Jon Devine in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , The Media and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
cleanwateract, cleanwaterrestorationact, non-navigablewaterbodies, water, waterprogram

When I was applying to law schools, I remember writing that I wanted to become a lawyer, rather than a scientist, because that’s where the action was – lawyers would actually make environmental policy.  This was ridiculously small-minded of me,...

Money Talks, But Does It Swim?

February 2, 2010

Posted by Jon Devine in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Living Sustainably , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
budget2011, cleanwateract, CWA, mountaintopremoval, waterprogram

President Obama put forward his proposed budget yesterday, which provides a rare opportunity to look at how the whole federal government is organized and what priorities our leaders see for investments.  On the whole, I think those of us who...

New EPA Report Highlights Threats to America's Lakes

December 18, 2009

Posted by Jon Devine in Curbing Pollution , Living Sustainably , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
greeninfrastructure, gulf, mississippiriver, waterpollution, waterprogram

Most summers, my family rents a house near Little Sebago Lake in Maine for a week.  It’s a fantastic escape from the daily grind – we kayak, we swim, we go tubing, we fish, and I get out and go...

New Bill Gives Americans Good Jobs and Clean Water at the Same Time

December 17, 2009

Posted by Jon Devine in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
greeninfrastructure, waterefficiency

On Wednesday the House of Representatives passed a jobs bill that will dedicate $2 billion for “ready-to-go” drinking water and wastewater projects -- projects that will employ engineers, construction workers, plumbers, architects, maintenance workers, and more. The House also targeted...

Prosecuting Polluters Poorly

September 14, 2009

Posted by Jon Devine in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Health and the Environment , The Media and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
cleanwateract, cleanwaterrestorationact, enforcement, waterpollution, waterprogram

It was great to see Charles Duhigg's article about under-enforcement of water pollution laws yesterday.  Quite apart from the water angle, which we obviously care a whole lot about, it was wonderful to see that good print journalism is still...

Internal Watchdog Says EPA Must Get Busy Protecting Waterways from Nutrient Pollution

September 1, 2009

Posted by Jon Devine in Curbing Pollution , Reviving the World's Oceans , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
cleanwateract, deadzone, gulf, mississippiriver, nutrientpollution, water, waterpollution, waterprogram

I recently attended a conference about the health of the Mississippi River, and I was struck by a compelling analogy my colleague Matt Rota of the Gulf Restoration Network used to describe the giant Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico.  The...

Mountaintop, Flat-top . . . Let's Call the Whole Thing Off

August 11, 2009

Posted by Jon Devine in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
cleanwateract, mountaintopremoval, waterprogram

One of the great things about our country is that the government often must give the public the opportunity to comment on something it is planning on doing, and then must actually consider those comments in making its final decision. ...

Clean Water Champions Stand Up in the Senate

June 18, 2009

Posted by Jon Devine in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
cleanwateract, cleanwaterrestorationact, water, waterprogram

Today, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved the Clean Water Restoration Act, a landmark bill that will reinstate Clean Water Act protections against umpermitted dumping of pollution, filling, or destruction  for a host of water bodies jeopardized by a pair of...

"It Always Takes A Woman"

April 14, 2009

Posted by Jon Devine in Curbing Pollution , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
cleanwateract, cleanwaterrestorationact, water, waterpollution, waterprogram

The title of this post is stolen from EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, who used the line during a recent public appearance.  (Click here, then click on the player button to watch it; the relevant discussion begins at about 15:40.) Administrator Jackson was...

Good News on the Water Front

April 2, 2009

Posted by Jon Devine in Curbing Pollution , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
cleanwateract, cleanwaterrestorationact, supremecourt, water, waterpollution, waterprogram, wetlands

It's a good day.  Today, Senator Russ Feingold and 23 additional Senators joined to introduce the Clean Water Restoration Act of 2009, a bill that would ensure that the Clean Water Act applies to protect a host of water bodies that...

Caring for U.S. water on World Water Day

March 20, 2009

Posted by Jon Devine in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment

Tags:
cleanwateract, cleanwaterrestorationact, waterprogram, worldwaterday

World Water Day is Sunday.   Because I work in NRDC's Water Program, my colleague Melanie Nakagawa encouraged me to offer my two drops, as it were, about the domestic fresh water issues on which we focus.  This isn't as easy...

Taking Out the Trash

February 12, 2009

Posted by Jon Devine in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Living Sustainably

Tags:
anacostia, stormwater, trash, water, waterprogram

Almost every day, I bike to work.  On the bike path, I get a close-up view of the Potomac River, which makes up the boundary between Washington, D.C., and Virginia.  Though it has improved dramatically since the Clean Water Act...

Safe and Sufficient Water: A Presidential To-Do List

November 25, 2008

Posted by Jon Devine in Curbing Pollution , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
armycorpsofengineers, cleanwateract, cleanwaterrestorationact, EPA, greeninfrastructure, greentransition, mountaintopremoval

As many of my colleagues are describing today, NRDC and a host of partner groups in the environmental, conservation, and public health community have created a document, called "Transition to Green," which lays out a detailed set of policies that we...

Beating A Dead Zone

October 22, 2008

Posted by Jon Devine in Curbing Pollution , Reviving the World's Oceans , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
cleanwateract, cleanwaterrestorationact, deadzone, nutrientpollution, wetlands

A new report released today by NRDC brings together recent information about a widespread pollution problem in the Mississippi River Basin and Gulf of Mexico and calls attention to a legal controversy that has made it more difficult to protect resources...

Unless

November 30, 2007

Posted by Jon Devine in Curbing Pollution , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about "The Lorax," Dr. Seuss's brilliant and unbelievably forward-thinking book about ecology, pollution, greed, and (ultimately) redemption.  You see, my 8-year-old is in his school production of a musical based on the book and,...