News

Clean Water Act settlement links GHG regulation to ocean acidification

3/10/10 U.S. EPA settled a lawsuit yesterday by agreeing to use the Clean Water Act to address ocean acidification, a move that some see as opening a side door to federal curbs on greenhouse gases that scientists link to problems in the marine environment. Read Full Article

An Ominous Warning on the Effects of Ocean Acidification

2/15/10 A new study says the seas are acidifying ten times faster today than 55 million years ago when a mass extinction of marine species occurred. And, the study concludes, current changes in ocean chemistry due to the burning of fossil fuels may portend a new wave of die-offs. Read Full Article

Feinstein's Rider Doesn't Make the Cut

2/26/10 The federal jobs bill passed off the Senate floor this week without the contentious rider proposed by Senator Dianne Feinstein, which would have weakened endangered species protections in the Delta. Read Full Article

Farmworkers against California water bond

2/23/10 Op-Ed by United Farm Workers president Arturo Rodriguez, who says the UFW's reason for opposing the bond: We don't believe that the giant agriculture corporations should get more subsidized water until farmworkers get the right to protect themselves, including the right to clean and fresh drinking water. Read Full Article

Rulings Restrict Clean Water Act, Foiling E.P.A.

2/28/10 Thousands of the nation’s largest water polluters are outside the Clean Water Act’s reach because the Supreme Court has left uncertain which waterways are protected by that law, according to interviews with regulators. As a result, some businesses are declaring that the law no longer applies to them. And pollution rates are rising.

About 117 million Americans get their drinking water from sources fed by waters that are vulnerable to exclusion from the Clean Water Act, according to E.P.A. reports. Read Full Article