Clean Water Action is a proud member of the Minnesota Clean Energy & Jobs Campaign, which mobilizes more than 50 energy, labor, youth, faith, environment, and conservation groups, as well as clean energy businesses to advance groundbreaking state policies that create jobs for Minnesotans and generate clean, local, renewable energy, while protecting our health.

The campaign answers Governor Dayton’s call to establish Minnesota’s sustainable energy future this year and beyond — and promotes economic, energy and climate solutions supported by the majority of Minnesota voters.

Why Now?

Six years ago, our state took a big bipartisan step to cleaner energy and a stronger economy, proving that we can create thousands of jobs. But our work is not done — and we cannot afford to wait.

We must take the next step to promote clean, renewable energy; reduce costs and red tape for these industries; and promote energy efficiency to ensure family-supporting jobs, clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and a protected natural environment for future generations.

Download a fact sheet, including a list of policies we're proposing for Minnesota.

Take Action Tell your legislators to support clean energy and jobs for Minnesota's future.

More than two months ago President Obama nominated Gina McCarthy, a dedicated public servant with nearly three decades of experience, to be EPA Administrator. We’re still waiting for the Senate to confirm her. You can make sure she gets a vote, and that your Senators vote YES, by telling your Senators “I stand with Gina!” Click here to tell your Senators!

Washington, DC:  Clean Water Action joined dozens of groups to urge President Obama to protect our water from pollution from power plants. The groups are urging the release of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed “Steam Electric Power Generating Category Effluent Limitation Guidelines” for public comment by the court-ordered deadline of April 19th.

“Coal fired power plants are the largest water polluters in the U.S. They account for nearly three quarters of toxic water pollution,” said Robert Wendelgass, Clean Water Action President and CEO. “The amount of toxic pollution, which includes arsenic, mercury, cadmium and selenium, which are all harmful to humans and aquatic life – are incredible and must be drastically reduced.”

Did your State Senator vote to protect our water? Did your Assembly Member work to ensure all Californians have access to safe and affordable water? Are your legislators and the Governor standing up for you or are they standing with polluters? Find out all of that and more!

Our California Clean Water Legislative Scorecard grades your legislators on their work to protect our water, our environment and our communities during the 2011-2012 legislative session, which ended in August!  In it, we track Clean Water Action’s 2011 – 2012 legislative priorities including:

• ensuring Californians have access to  safe and affordable drinking water, and
• making sure the water quality of our state’s precious waterways is improved, and that state policies ensure environmental justice, reduce exposure to toxic chemicals, and prevent plastic pollution and waste.
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Clean Water Action has worked with local groups around the state to raise awareness of water dangers and other risks posed by oil and gas drilling and fracking. Together with local “fractivists” and municipalities, Clean Water Action helped win new fracking regulations and local moratorium measures, including those in Fort Collins and Boulder County. The Fort Collins moratorium is in effect through July 2013. The Boulder County moratorium expires this February, but will likely be extended to give the county time to update and strengthen its recently adopted fracking regulations. Helping additional communities exercise their rights for local control of drilling and fracking operations is a priority for the coming year.

“Setback” rules determining the distance allowed between drill sites and structures such as homes and schools were also hotly debated. Current state law allows drilling and fracking as close 350 feet in densely populated areas and 150 feet in rural areas. A state “setbacks stakeholder” group is recommending new drill site setback standards.

Communities along the Front Range are concerned about current standards and are looking to scientific studies to guide setbacks rulemaking. Clean Water Action supports a 2,000-foot minimum drill site setback in Colorado. Read more

inside

• What is fracking?
• Take Action - Stop Frakcing CA!
• California: the New Frack Frontier
• Fracking Threatens California’s Water Supply
• Fracking, Chemicals, and Water
• Increased Seismic Risks?
• Fracking Threatens California’s Air Quality and Exacerbates Climate Change
• Lack of Oversight in California
• Governor Brown: Supporting Big Oil

Clean Water Action is working to protect California from the dangers of hydraulic fracturing (fracking). Across the country, communities are suffering from health impacts related to fracking including: contaminated drinking water and polluted air, degradation of local waterways, and decreased property values. In most states, fracking operations are designed to extract natural gas reserves. In California, it’s all about oil.

California has the largest oil shale play in the nation- the Monterey Shale. It spans much of the Central Valley and the Central Coast along with Los Angeles. It lies below most of the sources of drinking water for Central Valley residents and contains 15 billion barrels of oil that have historically been too difficult to extract.  Until now.

Following one of the most disappointing sessions for the environment in 2011, this year environmental advocates and legislators in Annapolis pulled out all the stops and were successful passing bills that will significantly improve and protect Maryland’s water quality and resources. We made a lot of progress in 2012, but there is much to be done.  Make sure you stay involved. 

clean water action reaches a settlement with pennsylvania sewage plant that was dumping fracking wastewater

• Read more about the agreement
• Download the settlement
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Love Minnesota’s children? Help protect their health from toxic chemicals in toys, shampoo and other products. Join Clean Water Action and the Healthy Legacy Coalition on Valentine’s Day at the Minnesota Capitol!

This is just one of many events for the environment coming up in January and February.

We look forward to seeing you there.

The energy we use in Minnesota is directly connected to the quantity and quality of our water. Energy production is the largest consumer of water in the state and the old ways of generating power which rely on burning fossil fuels or nuclear fission harm our health and our environment.

Ending future energy dependence on dirty fuels such as coal, oil and nuclear.

Achieving energy independence by investing in local sources such as wind and solar and maximizing conservation and efficiency measure to reduce fuel use and costs.