Want to know how your state Representative and Senator votes on the environment? Download our Pennsylvania Environmental Scorecard (pdf, 560 kb) and find out!
Clean Water Action and Sierra Club have scored all Pennsylvania legislators on their votes on air quality, clean energy, transportation, open space, and more. Votes scored covered both 2007 and 2008.
Get the Pennsylvania Environmental Scorecard (pdf, 560 kb)
Tell the EPA you want your family's drinking water to be free of harmful levels of the toxic chemical perchlorate
Perchlorate, the main combustion ingredient in missile and rocket fuel, is a Cold War era chemical that interferes with thyroid function and may cause cancer. It is also present in fireworks and other propellants.
Extensive data show that perchlorate contamination in water and food supplies poses a serious threat to public health. Perchlorate exposure can harm mental and physical development. Fetuses and children are especially vulnerable to thyroid problems, even at low levels of exposure.
The drinking water of over 67,000 Minnesota residents is contaminated by toxic chemicals known as PFCs. Three types of PFCs (PFOS, PFOA, and PFBA) pollute the municipal water systems and private wells of eight communities in Minnesota, the Mississippi River and the Chain of Lakes, and six separate states around the country.
The science is clear: we need to quickly reduce the pollution that leads to global warming in order to avoid severe impacts.
The future is clear: we can stop global warming by making a clean, efficient and renewable energy future for our nation.
A recently released study by the Union of Concerned Scientists and more than 50 independent scientific experts shows that if global warming goes unchecked by late this century, summers in large parts of Connecticut could resemble sweltering summers today in Georgia.
Without strong action on global warming Connecticut could face the following:
Over 200 diseases and disabilities are now linked to toxins in our everyday environments. Toxic chemicals and heavy metals are widely used in manufacturing and threaten health and child development. Many types of cancer, as well as learning disabilities, asthma, infertility, Parkinson's Disease, brain damage and birth defects are now linked to the toxic substances found in our daily environments.
Safer alternatives exist for many chemicals of concern, and others can be developed with the right resources. The European Union has banned approximately 1,400 of the most toxic chemicals, and Connecticut companies will need to transition to safer alternatives to stay viable in the global market.
Diesel Pollution Makes Rhode Islanders Sick
We see it everywhere—thick clouds of black exhaust billow from trucks, buses, construction equipment, and trains.
But the scariest thing about diesel pollution is what we don’t see. Diesel exhaust contains very fine black soot particles and air toxins. When we inhale these tiny particles they become lodged in our lungs, triggering asthma and heart attacks. Government agencies also classify black soot as a known or probable carcinogen.
The Florida Department of Community Affairs' (DCA) received thousands of comments from Hold the Line activists and Clean Water Action members and responded by strongly opposing Miami-Dade County's ill advised efforts to develop outside our Urban Development Boundary (UDB).
If County Commissioners do not rescind these amendments, the DCA's objections could cost the county hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal costs.
Let's keep the pressure on! Please tell Miami Dade Commissioners that it is wrong to waste our taxpayer dollars to help private development interests!
Rhode Island's water is shared by all of us.
Rhode Island's drinking water, tourism, economic development, fisheries and much of our recreation depends on the state's clean flowing rivers and streams. With proper planning and use, the region's ample rainfall will continue to provide adequate water for Rhode Island's needs in the future.
Unfortunately, Rhode Island doesn't have a plan in place that will ensure enough water is available to supply all of our needs.
It's time to share our water more wisely.
The Global Warming Solutions Act will protect our environment and revitalize our economy
Global Warming threatens Rhode Island's environment, economy, and infrastructure. Warming temperatures and a shifting climate threaten the delicately balanced ecosystems and the ability of natural species in Rhode Island and Narragansett Bay to survive. The costs of inaction to the threat of global warming are great, and addressing this problem now through measured efforts is more responsible and less costly than reacting to what effects will come our way.
Plans for a new coal plant -- Big Stone II -- near Milbank, South Dakota call for using billions of gallons of water. This threatens Big Stone Lake and takes us in the wrong direction.
We should, instead, be using clean, abundant, renewable energy to meet our needs -- avoiding damage to our air and water. We need to send a clear message that investing in dirty coal is not the answer.
Since it was dumped there generations ago, asbestos and other toxic material has sat in piles on the 32 acres of land by the Wissahickon Creek at the intersection of Whitpain Township, Upper Dublin Township and Ambler Borough, known as the BoRit asbestos site. This is the largest asbestos waste pile in the United States and it has never been properly dealt with. The site is hazardous to the health and environment of the communities living by it and needs to be cleaned up now!
Pennsylvanians get their drinking water from our state's more than 83,000 miles of waterways, acres of lakes, reservoirs and wetlands, and a natural system of underground aquifers.
Unfortunately, many of these vital water sources have been contaminated or are at risk of contamination.
Despite their importance, drinking water sources receive no special protection from pollution and polluting activities in Pennsylvania! Without action, our drinking water sources are in danger.
The petition will be used to support Clean Water Action's direct efforts to help get this bill passed.
The Clean Water Act was passed in 1972 to protect all the nation's waters. However, the Bush Administration, at the urging of special interests, has interpreted the law to apply only to some bodies of water. This is not what the law intended or what the American people want.
The bi-partisan Clean Water Restoration Act (H.R. 2421 and S. 1870) is closer than ever to passing in the House. This legislation restates and clarifies the original intent of the Clean Water Act -- to protect all waters of the United States.
Take Action: Tell your Representative and Senators to support the Clean Water Restoration Act!
The science is clear: deep reductions of global warming pollution are needed to avoid severe impacts of global warming including floods, drought, and threats to water resources.
The solution is clear: we can stop global warming and boost our economy by taking bold action now to build a clean, efficient and renewable energy future for our nation
A recently released peer-reviewed study by more than 50 independent scientific experts shows that if global warming goes unchecked, by late this century, summers in places like Massachusetts could resemble sweltering summers today in Georgia.
Canada and other states continue to flood Michigan with their garbage because it's dirt cheap to dump here. In 2005, 6.2 million tons of Canadian and out-of-state trash were dumped in Michigan!
That's 100,000 tons more than in 2004. Nearly one-third of all the garbage in our landfills comes from outside Michigan and it comes here for two simple reasons:
You can help fight the trashing of our beautiful state! Write your State Senator and Representative today and urge them to stop the flood of trash into Michigan.
Global warming is the most significant environmental and humanitarian emergency that our planet has ever faced and the Governor's leadership is critical is at this pivotal moment in our fight.
Sign the petition and urge the Governor to continue her leadership in the fight against climate change by issuing an executive order that directs the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants.
As the recent toy recalls demonstrate, our nation's system for regulating chemicals in everyday products is broken. And those chemicals are ending up in our environment and in our bodies.
The Michigan Legislature has taken an initial step to protect kids by passing a package of legislation (HB 4132 & 4399; SB 174) that penalizes retailers for selling children's products with lead levels exceeding the lenient federal recall limits. That's a good start, but its not just kids' products, and it's not just lead.
Gov. Rick Perry is calling for doubling the number of nuclear reactors in Texas. Luminant, formerly TXU Corp., in proposing two new reactors at its Comanche Peak nuclear plant southwest of Dallas. Exelon Corp. wants to add two reactors in Victoria County in Southeast Texas.
Both the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) say a surge toward nuclear to meet the country's energy needs and curb global warming is unwise. Clean Water Action agrees.
Nuclear power is not the answer to global warming:
Texas' dependence on fossil fuels and nuclear power is an economic burden on its citizens and a threat to public health. As our population increases, we must prioritize clean energy and energy efficiency to protect public health and the environment, keep electricity affordable and bring jobs to Texas.
To beat back global warming, we need to summon a new natural resource—real political will. Join 1Sky Michigan to send a clear message to our leaders that America wants bold action on climate change. Tell them to support the 1Sky solutions:
Solution 1: Create 5 million green jobs in order to conserve 20% of our energy by 2015.
Solution 2: Freeze climate pollution levels now, then cut by at least 25% below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80% by 2050.
Solution 3: No new coal plants that emit global warming pollution; invest in renewable energy.
Join 1Sky Michigan today.
Coal-burning power plants are the largest industrial source of mercury emissions in the United States, and ten percent of these emissions come from plants in Texas - more than any other state. Five of the nation's top ten emitters of mercury are in the Lone Star State.
When mercury is released into the air, it settles in rivers, lakes, and streams. Bacteria in the water convert it to methyl mercury, a very toxic form of mercury. The toxic mercury bioaccumulates in the bodies of animals. Eating contaminated fish is the main way people are exposed to unsafe levels of mercury. Unlike with some other toxins, there is no way to clean or cook mercury out of fish.
Did you know that there are approximately 80,000 chemicals in commercial use but that for most of them, we have done little or no testing for their potential health or environmental impacts?
Safer alternatives do exist and right now the California Environmental Protection Agency is studying the best ways make that happen.
Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station (OCNGS), the nation's oldest nuclear power plant needs to shut down when it's current license expires in 2009, despite its owners' (Exelon) desire to extend its license another 20 years.
Oyster Creek's safety systems are extremely compromised due to rust and metal fatigue. The primary is a large hollow steel shell (drywell liner) that contains the radiation. Currently, its worst spots are now only half as thick as it was when the plant opened.
The New Jersey Highlands consists of 800,000 acres of largely contiguous forest stretching from Northwest Bergen County to Northern Hunterdon County. Over 4 million New Jerseyans in over 30 of 40 legislative districts receive at least some of their water from the New Jersey Highlands. The 2004 New Jersey Highlands Protection Act is one of the most important drinking water laws that the New Jersey Environmental Federation has helped to pass.
