Governor Christie: THEN and NOW Chart

Includes options protecting waters from toxic pollution as well as weaker standards that maintain the status quo

Washington, D.C. – The Environmental Protection Agency proposed a number of regulatory options late last Friday night, known as steam electric effluent limitation guidelines for power plants, two of which will finally clean up water pollution from hundreds of power plants.

Power plant water discharges are filled with toxic pollution such as mercury, arsenic, lead, and selenium – heavy metals that can cause neurological and developmental damage, cause harm in utero, damage internal organs and cause cancer. Power plants are the biggest sources of water pollution in the country, yet the EPA has not reviewed regulations for this industry in more than 30 years. To address this unacceptable delay, environmental groups filed a lawsuit in 2010 to force the EPA to take action and regulate this dirty industry.

• Read our press release about EPA's proposalto limit Power Plant Pollution
  
• Learn more about EPA's proposal to limit Power Plant Pollution
• Read our letter to the President
• Read our letter to the Office of Management and Budget

Coal-fired power plants are the nation’s biggest water polluters – every year, they dump millions of pounds of pollutants, including toxic metals like arsenic, boron, mercury, cadmium, lead and selenium, into our rivers, streams, and lakes.  In fact, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), more than 50% of all toxic water pollution comes from coal-fired power plants.

April 1 was no joke in Lansing, Michigan, when equipment at a power plant malfunctioned and caused 300 gallons of oil to leak into the Grand River. Two days later in Chalmette, Louisiana, a pipeline connected to a drum full of chemicals broke, releasing the toxic liquid into the surrounding area, along with airborne cancer-causing agents. These two incidents followed even worse disasters in Mayflower, Arkansas and West Columbia, Texas. This means that the U.S. endured four spills over the course of two weeks. And still, oil companies have not been brought to justice.

Rhode Island's most vulnerable populations, most notably inner-city children, seem to be the ones impacted when it comes developing on contaminated sites. A law that set stricter school building protections could be weakened.

PROVIDENCE — Less than a year ago, Rhode Island passed a bill that prohibited the construction of schools on industrial waste sites where there is potential for toxic vapors to seep into classrooms. The law was proudly touted by both state officials and environmental justice advocates as the most stringent in the nation.

Now, two months before the law is even a year old, a movement is underway to gut it.

The era of plastic bags is about to come to an end at shops and restaurants throughout Palo Alto after city officials decided Monday night to greatly expand the city's existing ban on the notorious creek polluters.

Continuing a trend that the city helped launch more than three years ago, the City Council voted Monday night to extend Palo Alto's existing ban on single-use plastic bags at supermarkets. The ordinance that the council approved by a 5-0 vote Monday extends the ban beyond supermarkets to all other retailers and food establishments. It also requires stores to charge 10 cents per paper bag. Staff will revisit this fee in 18 to 24 months.

Property owners in Anne Arundel County will pay more to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay, after a divided County Council passed legislation Monday charging annual stormwater remediation fees.

The bill passed 4-3 after a last-minute attempt by Council Chairman Jerry Walker to amend it. Had the two amendments passed, they would have killed the bill, which was set to expire in two weeks.

Walker, a Gambrills Republican, called the fee — $85 for most homeowners — the largest tax in county history. He voted no, along with Councilmen Derek Fink, R-Pasadena, and Pete Smith, D-Severn.

“I could see the logic behind both sides of the issue,” Smith said after the meeting. The dispute, he said, was on “the implementation and timing of it.”

-- Gaping Hole in Rules Allows Continued Oil and Gas Wastewater Discharges --

Harrisburg, PA – The PA Environmental Quality Board (EQB) voted today to update state water quality standards at a meeting at the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) offices in Harrisburg.  The EQB once again failed to include a standard for levels of salt in Pennsylvania rivers, which environmental groups had urged them to include.

15 environmental and community organizations wrote to the PA Environmental Quality Board (EQB) urging action to restore proposed standards to protect Pennsylvania rivers.  While DEP had proposed a standard for salts (chlorides) in their draft proposal in 2012, the standard was completely removed by DEP in the final version sent to EQB.

Utility ignores coal’s costly health problems in push for dirtier air