Ann Arbor city council passes EV resolution

By Charles Griffith - Climate & Energy Program Director, Ecology Center

In a great example of a good start, Ann Arbor’s city council approved a plan earlier this month to further prepare the city’s infrastructure to support plug-in electric vehicles. The resolution calls on city staff to review permit and planning processes, as well as zoning codes, to remove barriers to creating plug-in infrastructure.  The resolution also requires the city’s administrator to consider adding plug-in vehicles as part of the city’s fleet.

 Help us continue to make Connecticut Safe and Healthy!

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CSHC leads the way with 3 bills to protect health

HB 6526 Toxics Disclosure and Innovation for Healthy Children. This bill will:

• Require DPH to identify chemicals of concern to children and prioritize 2 every 2 years for action.
• Require manufacturers to disclose the presence of the prioritized chemicals in children’s products.
• Require the development of a plan to shift to safer alternative.
• Assist CT businesses that manufacture children’s products to work with green chemistry experts in CT to shift to a safe alternative.
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pennsylvania currents

One the biggest fears for people living near gas drilling is the possibility of their drinking water being polluted. People expect the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to look out for them and to provide alerts when drinking water is threatened. Unfortunately, that trust has been shaken by a recently uncovered and controversial DEP policy.

Last fall, it was revealed that DEP is not reporting all the contaminants discovered when it tests drinking water suspected to have been contaminated by fracking (hydraulic fracturing at natural gas wells). Instead, DEP’s coded reporting system only provides residents with findings for 8 of 24 contaminants included in DEP tests. Many of the contaminants not reported are carcinogenic and known to pose health hazards.

california currents

Clean Water Calls for a Fracking Moratorium

Big oil has its sights on California. Plans are in motion to make the state the nation’s number one oil producer, moving up from its current 4th place position. New hydraulic fracturing (fracking) techniques are a big part of industry’s strategy. Though oil developers promise an economic boom for the state, increased fracking has the potential to cause serious environmental and health harm, and California residents and other industries might be forced to shoulder those costs.

new jersey currents

There’s an expression we use a lot in New Jersey: “Jersey Strong”. We are proud of our strength and resilience and our ability to stand up to anything. Superstorms, superbugs, superfund sites — you name it, we (think) we can conquer it.

But New Jerseyans aren’t going to be “Jersey Strong” much longer if a bill that will weaken New Jersey’s drinking water quality makes its way through the New Jersey Legislature. The new legislation (A2123), sponsored by Assemblyman John Burzichelli (D-Gloucester), proposes to add industry representatives to the Drinking Water Quality Institute (DWQI). This would allow polluting interests to decide what level of contaminants end up in New Jersey tap water — as if the state’s drinking water situation wasn’t already bad enough. Read More