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Jon Devine's Blog

Issues: Saving Wildlife and Wild Places

Fearing For Our Fuel-Feathered Friends

May 6, 2010

Posted by Jon Devine in Curbing Pollution , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Reviving the World's Oceans , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places

Tags:
birds, birdwatching, breton NWR, bretonisland, gulf, gulfofmexico, gulfspill, oilspill, wildliferefuge

I read a weird news item about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill today.  Louisiana’s Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is “considering partnering with the Department of Corrections to train prisoners to help clean birds that may be impacted by...

Earth Day (plus 7) and Your Water

April 29, 2010

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

Tags:
40earthday, chesapeake, cleanwateract, cleanwaterrestorationact, greeninfrastructure, non-navigablewaterbodies, water, waterpollution, waterprogram, wetlands

This is my what’s-up-with-water-on-Earth-Day post.  Alas, it is a few days late, but every day is Earth Day, right?  Truthfully, every day is a day with too much on the to-do list, and this one slipped.  Anyhoo, please forgive the...

New Bill Would Finally Fix Clean Water Act

April 21, 2010

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

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

Ever notice that when you discover something, you then start seeing it everywhere, and can’t believe you weren’t aware of it previously?  That’s how I’ve spent the last several years of my life, with the object of my obsession being...

A Worrisome Report Card for the Chesapeake Bay

April 7, 2010

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

Tags:
chesapeake, cleanwateract, nutrientpollution, waterpollution, waterprogram

This post was co-written with Alys Campaigne of Engage Strategies. Today, the Chesapeake Bay Program, a partnership of state and federal entities advised by a number of non-governmental folks, released its annual report card: the Bay Barometer.  Although there were...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

The Little River That Could

October 16, 2007

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

Tags:
cleanwateract, cleanwaterrestorationact, CWA, isolatedwaterbodies, non-navigablewaterbodies, rivers, supremecourt, waterpollution, wetlands

When I was a kid, even though I lived only a couple of miles from the ocean, the most important water body I could imagine was The River.  Hardly even a stream, The River was located beyond The Pit in...