OCE News
February 2023:
EPA Must Address New Jersey Clean Air Plan, Consent Decree Says
The US Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to act on New Jersey’s revisions to its state plans to meet air quality standards, according to a consent decree between the agency and environmental groups.
Our Children’s Earth Foundation sued the agency, alleging that it failed to either approve or disapprove the state’s submissions by the deadline. The delay violates the Clean Air Act, which requires the EPA to fully or partially approve or disapprove of revisions to State Implementation Plans within 18 months of receiving them, the group said.
June 2022:
EPA proposes updating gasoline regs, slashing emissions
A series of overdue regulatory updates to a key part of the nation’s fuel distribution network would slash overall emissions of benzene and other pollutants from those sources by more than one-third, according to a newly released EPA proposal.
The draft package, signed yesterday by agency chief Michael Regan and encompassing several Clean Air Act provisions, in part targets emissions from bulk gasoline storage terminals and the equipment used to load gas into tanker trucks for delivery to service stations.
If the package is made final, EPA predicts that stricter standards and other control requirements would cut releases of hazardous pollutants, a category that includes cancer-causing benzene, from about 6,100 tons to 3,900 tons, a drop of 36 percent. Similarly, annual emissions of smog-forming volatile organic compounds would fall from 121,000 tons to 76,000 tons.
The expected upfront compliance costs to industry add up to almost $67 million. At a time when pump prices are at record highs, EPA says that the added expenses “are not expected to result in a significant market impact, regardless of whether they are passed on to the purchaser or absorbed by the firms.” For reasons not spelled out in the proposal, EPA also predicts that there will be modest increases in emissions of sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide and other pollutants.
EPA is undertaking the package as part of a settlement to a federal lawsuit brought by Our Children’s Earth Foundation, a California-based nonprofit; the final version is due a year from now (Greenwire, May 3). In the suit, the group alleged that the agency was long past Clean Air Act deadlines for conducting mandatory reviews of regulations that date back as far as 1983.
May 2021:
Lawsuit Launched Against Florida Department of Environmental Protection, HRK Holdings, Manatee County Port Authority Over Piney Point Disaster
The notice letter comes after the failure, in April, of one of the phosphogypsum stacks at Piney Point — a mountain of toxic waste, topped by an impoundment of hundreds of millions of gallons of process water, stormwater and tons of dredged spoil from Port Manatee. Faced with the impending collapse of the gypstack, state officials ordered the emergency evacuation of hundreds of Manatee County homes and authorized the discharge of up to 480 million gallons of the wastewater into Tampa Bay.
[…]
“When environmental agencies are asleep at the wheel, average citizens have to step up to do the work of government,” said Annie Beaman, co-executive director of Our Children’s Earth Foundation. “One of the tragedies of Piney Point is that it could and should have been avoided — Florida officials saw this coming and still failed to act. Once again, the Tampa Bay environment is suffering. The public and our ecosystems will bear the brunt of this toxic pollution.”
The 215 million gallons of wastewater dumped into Tampa Bay continue to spread throughout the estuary and into Sarasota Bay, transporting tons of nitrogen and other pollutants into waterways and communities that are already approaching a tipping point, struggling to manage excessive pollution that impairs waterways and losing acres of seagrasses to high concentrations of algae fueled by excessive nitrogen.
The fertilizer industry creates more than 30 million tons of phosphogypsum in Florida each year. Phosphogypsum is radioactive and can contain uranium, thorium and radium, which decay into carcinogenic radon. In addition to these radioactive carcinogens, phosphogypsum and process water can contain heavy toxic metals like antimony, arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, fluoride, lead, mercury, nickel, silver, sulfur, thallium and zinc.
July 2020:
Scrap metal yards have sent polluted runoff into Tampa Bay for years, suit says
The state has failed to stop Trademark Metals Recycling from polluting at levels as high as 24 times allowable limits, environmental groups say.
Stormwater carrying toxic metals and petroleum products has been flowing for years into Tampa Bay and Sarasota Bay from six scrap metal recycling centers, according to a lawsuit filed by state environmental groups.
![July 2019:Lawmakers Seek to Bolster Public Records Law[…]The EPA rule change has drawn fire from environmental groups as well. On Wednesday, the Ecological Rights Foundation and the Our Children’s Earth Foundation filed a lawsuit against EPA in the …](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57e58a719de4bb2c92a0fe52/1567176638369-7V2YWCJKKTU7PY970VOQ/Grassley_GovExec_FLICKR+USER+GAGE+SKIDMORE+860x394.jpg)
July 2019:
Lawmakers Seek to Bolster Public Records Law
[…]
The EPA rule change has drawn fire from environmental groups as well. On Wednesday, the Ecological Rights Foundation and the Our Children’s Earth Foundation filed a lawsuit against EPA in the U.S. District Court for the Northern Region of California, challenging the legality of the rule changes.
“EPA’s regulations violate the letter and the spirit of FOIA by codifying political interference in the FOIA process, by ensuring that responses are made even further past the statutory limit, and by attempting to allow EPA to proceed under a veil of secrecy,” said Annie Beaman, director of advocacy and outreach for Our Children’s Earth Foundation. “If EPA wants to stop its dirty laundry from being aired to the public, the solution is to clean up its act, not to struggle against the black letter requirements of FOIA.”
![March 2019:Stanford removes dam, giving endangered fish room to roamWater is now flowing freely along a 480-foot stretch of San Francisquito Creek after Stanford University removed the aged Lagunita Diversion Dam.[…]The dam was part of a decades-old…](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57e58a719de4bb2c92a0fe52/1569968891180-7SL3PGWALFTWK4ZUL5MH/SF+Creek+2019+Photo+courtesy+of+Kurt+Hickman+%3A+Stanford+News+Service..jpg)
March 2019:
Stanford removes dam, giving endangered fish room to roam
Water is now flowing freely along a 480-foot stretch of San Francisquito Creek after Stanford University removed the aged Lagunita Diversion Dam.
[…]
The dam was part of a decades-old controversy regarding Searsville and Lagunita dams. Two environmental groups, Our Children's Earth Foundation and Ecological Rights Foundation, sued Stanford in 2014 claiming that the university had violated the Endangered Species and Clean Water acts by continuing to keep the Lagunita Dam in place.
The dam created a flume that filled Lake Lagunita with drinking water, but the flume and dam have not been operational since the 1930s, according to the university. Stanford added a fish ladder in 1954 to help the steelhead move over the structure, but the ladder was prone to debris jams that caused the steelhead difficulty navigating through the structure, according to a 2014 National Marine Fisheries Service biological opinion on the university's Steelhead Habitat Enhancement Project.
The dam also created about a 1,000-foot-long area of sediment upstream and a deep plunge pool downstream, which impeded the steelhead from spawning, according to the university's November 2017 funding application to the state Department of Fish & Wildlife.
The university and plaintiffs reached a temporary settlement to halt the lawsuit and a separate legal action regarding Searsville Dam until Stanford could obtain regulatory approvals to change water flow at the Jasper Ridge Road Crossing and remove Lagunita Dam. Stanford has completed the so-called low-flow crossing at Jasper Ridge Road.
Removing the structure and adding the improvements created about 14.6 miles of high-quality habitat upstream of the dam.
October 2018:
St. Pete Settles Clean Water Act Lawsuit Over Sewage Releases
St. Petersburg leaders have settled a lawsuit filed by environmental groups in 2016 after the city released millions of gallons of sewage into Tampa Bay.
Under the settlement, the city committed to inspections and improvements to its sewage system. The measures go beyond what was required by a consent order that the Department of Environmental Protection issued in response to the release of up to 200 million gallons of sewage during storms in 2015 and 2016.
“We felt that the consent order that the city entered into with DEP was not going to be adequate to fix the problem,” said Justin Bloom, executive director of Suncoast Waterkeeper. “It lacked adequate investment, investigation and a plan to really fix the infrastructure.”
Suncoast Waterkeeper sued the city under the Federal Clean Water Act. The Ecological Rights Foundation and Our Children’s Earth joined the group in filing the lawsuit.
The settlement has federal oversight and if the city fails to follow the terms, the environmental groups could take it back to court.
April 2018:
Possible new species of Manta Ray spotted off Palm Beach; Local wildlife experts excited about potential find
Local wildlife experts believe they may have discovered a new species of manta ray.
Video of the fish was recorded by Our Children's Earth Foundation photographer Ivy Yin off the coast of Palm Beach.
Yin immediately contacted Dr. Andrea Marshall, co-founder of the Marine Megafauna Foundation, about the find.
Marshall studies these animals here in south Florida and believes it could be a new species.
According to Dr. Marshall waters off the south Florida coast may serve as a nursery for this species.
June 2017:
Pregnant sea turtle found injured, rescued in Palm Beach
The turtle weighs nearly 200 pounds and was identified as a female with eggs, according to the Loggerhead MarineLife Center in Jupiter.
Smiley suffered a deep wound to her neck muscle making it difficult for her to lift her neck to breathe while swimming. She said it’s not a typical turtle injury. The wound appears to be at least a few days old since they found maggots in it.
Smiley’s caretakers are optimistic she’ll survive, but can’t say for sure if she will.
“She’s staying in the hospital to make sure she doesn’t drown,” Clark said.
Ivy Yin, a photographer with Our Children’s Earth Foundation was driving on South Ocean Boulevard and documented the turtle rescue.
Earlier this week, a kogia whale beached herself near Reef Road and Yin found it.
It’s sea turtle nesting season and local organizations and residents make sure turtles have a safe beach to nest on by scheduling beach cleanups. Bacteria in the water, storm-water runoff and trash can harm sea life.
“We have such pretty beaches,” Yin said. “But we have serious issues to address.”
What have we done for you lately?
We are constantly developing cases and campaigns, engaging with communities impacted by pollution, and working toward cleaner and healthier ecosystems to help humans and wildlife thrive. Our lawsuits and other efforts focus on protecting and empowering the most vulnerable among us: children, seniors, environmental justice communities, threatened and endangered species.
See below for some highlights of recent media coverage of OCE's actions and achievements, as well as information on our current advocacy work. Our full case list is available here.
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for updates on what we're doing, reading, eating, thinking about, and other musings about why we do what we do.
October 2022:
Over Fifty Groups Petition EPA to Improve Oversight of Water Pollution from Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations
Large CAFOs make up less than 1% of farms in the United States, but the animals confined at these industrial facilities produce approximately one-third of all manure from farms nationwide. A single Large CAFO — which, according to EPA’s definition, confines at least 700 dairy cows, for example, or 2,500 swine weighing 55 pounds or more — can generate as much waste as a city. Unlike cities, however, Large CAFOs typically do not treat or disinfect animal waste prior to disposal.
In support of their request, the groups summarize decades of well-established scientific research showing that CAFOs — and Large CAFOs, in particular — routinely discharge water pollution that threatens public health and the environment, including nitrogen, phosphorus, disease-causing pathogens, and pharmaceuticals. In addition, they include personal stories from people who live in communities harmed by CAFO pollution across the country. These community members report that CAFOs create serious water contamination problems, degrade drinking water, and impair opportunities for fishing, boating, and engaging in other forms of recreation.
May 2022:
Bradenton settles lawsuit over 160 million gallons in sewage spills since 2018
The city of Bradenton settled a lawsuit from environmental advocacy groups over an estimated 160 million gallons of sewage dumped into the Manatee River since 2018.
The aging infrastructure at Bradenton's wastewater treatment facility has been overwhelmed by heavy rainfall on several occasions, causing raw and partially treated sewage to be diverted into the river.
[…]
The settlement requires Bradenton to invest at least $220,000 in projects to improve local waters and estuarine habitats.
It also outlines deadlines for improvements to the city's sewage treatment plant meant to upgrade pumping, treatment, and disinfection capabilities. The city also will assess pipe conditions to find any leaks and ensure that backup power is available.
December 2021:
Florida signs off on controversial Piney Point project in Manatee County
Florida environmental regulators issued a permit Thursday for a controversial project that involves injecting wastewater from a troubled former phosphate plant into the ground.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection announced it made the long-anticipated move of issuing the permit to Manatee County for an injection well at the Piney Point site. The site drew widespread attention — and $100 million from the state — this spring after massive amounts of polluted water were released to avert a potential catastrophe.
[…]
Piney Point includes hazardous phosphogypsum stacks, a byproduct of phosphate production, which took place at the site from 1966 to 1999. It also contains large reservoirs of contaminated wastewater.
About 215 million gallons of wastewater were discharged from the site into Tampa Bay in April because of fears about a potentially catastrophic breach of a reservoir. A federal lawsuit filed in June by environmental groups said the discharges, in part, caused harmful algae blooms and fish kills. Also, nearby residents had to be temporarily evacuated because of the fears of a breach.
April 2021:
Largo settles wastewater lawsuit over concerns of pollution in Old Tampa Bay
City agrees to improvements and $100,000 payment to Tampa Bay Estuary Program.
Largo officials have committed to improving their wastewater system in a settlement with environmentalists who sued over concerns about the city polluting Tampa Bay.
The agreement aims to reduce the amount of contaminants, including nitrogen, released from the city to Old Tampa Bay around Feather Sound.
March 2020:
VIDEO: Pod of dolphins swimming, playing off Palm Beach
Ivy Yin with Our Children's Earth Foundation filmed at least 15 dolphins swimming, leaping, and playing in the ocean on Friday.
The pod stuck around for several minutes and put on quite a show.
The Our Children's Earth Foundation is a non-profit environmental group that advocates for clean air and clean water to protect children from the harmful effects of pollution.
September 2019:
Environmental Groups Secure Key Settlement in Protecting Bay Waters
Suncoast Waterkeeper, Our Children’s Earth Foundation, and the Ecological Rights Foundation are celebrating a third legal victory in the ongoing "Sick of Sewage" campaign. The groups have secured a positive settlement with Sarasota County that will bring the county back into compliance with the federal Clean Water Act, after an ill-suited plan to consolidate its wide-ranging sewage system put over a billion gallons of sewage water into Phillippi Creek and Sarasota Bay.
After a series of horrific sewage spills in 2016, the environmental groups brought suit against the cities of St. Petersburg and Gulfport in an effort to stop serious and ongoing Clean Water Act violations. During the course of the successful two-year litigation against St. Pete and Gulfport, Suncoast Waterkeeper began investigating sewage spills in Sarasota County, which revealed what they called "a shocking pattern of longstanding, systematic infrastructure failures and disregard for public health and water quality in area waters."
April 2019:
Sarasota County Facing Lawsuit After Environmental Groups Claim Faulty Systems Are Polluting Suncoast Waterways
SunCoast Waterkeeper, Our Children’s Earth Foundation and Ecological Rights Foundation filed a suit Monday in the U.S. District Court in Tampa. The groups claim a faulty storm sewer system is polluting our waters and violating the Clean Water Act of Florida.
With the amazing beach weather we’ve been having lately, it’s easy to forget how bad conditions were just a few months ago. These groups say although they know the county did not cause the red tide, they claim there’s proof that they didn’t help get rid of it. Now, people are actively trying to figure out why it lingered here for so long.
[…]
Environmental groups now saying one of the significant pollutants is coming from the county’s sewer system – specifically from their Bee Ridge Facility – where millions of gallons of wastewater were dumped into the gulf.
“We realize that it’s a complex system and that there’s a lot of causes for water pollution, but it’s the basic job of county and local government to protect humans from raw sewage and protect the environment from discharges into our creeks and our water systems that end up in the bay,” Environmental Lawyer, Justin Bloom, who is the founder of Suncoast Water Keepers, explained.
In the lawsuit, the groups claim that over the course of many years, Sarasota County has failed to maintain its sewage system. It says the infrastructure is aging and gets inundated very quickly, so not only is raw sewage spilling, but storm water as well, has been dumping into our waterways - way more often than it should.
June 2018:
Wood Pellet Company Polluting East Texas at 10x Permitted Rate
The German Pellets facility consumes more than a million tons of trees per year to produce wood pellets, which are shipped to Europe, where they are burned for electricity under the false premise that doing so is carbon neutral. The facility also emits tons of unlawful air pollution right here in Texas.
When German Pellets decided to build its wood pellet manufacturing facility in Woodville in 2012, TCEQ required the facility to limit emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to 64 tons per year. It turns out, however, the facility actually emits 580 tons per year, nearly ten-times more than allowed. VOCs are air pollutants that combine with sunlight to produce ground-level ozone. Breathing ozone can trigger a variety of health problems, particularly for children, the elderly, and people of all ages who have lung diseases such as asthma.
The VOC emissions from the Woodville mill also contain particularly hazardous air pollutants like methanol, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde. EPA considers these pollutants either probable human carcinogens or capable of causing acute respiratory and neurological conditions.
April 2018:
Does St. Pete want to settle federal sewage lawsuit? Or fight it?
The federal case is the last vestige of St. Petersburg's massive sewage crisis, during which the city released up to 1 billion gallons of waste — up to 200 million of which ended up in Tampa Bay. Environmental groups Suncoast Waterkeeper, Our Children's Earth Foundation and Ecological Rights Foundation filed it in December 2016, hoping to force the city into a pact enforced by the federal government to improve its ailing sewage system.
August 2016:
Environmental Groups Win National Victory for Clean Water
The agreement marks the first time that EPA will evaluate setting numeric standards and practices for responsible stormwater retention at industrial sites. Stormwater retention is a green infrastructure practice that involves holding water and sediment on site through features like bioswales and rain gardens. Keeping and treating stormwater on site instead of discharging it into the nearest river improves water quality and slows erosion in smaller creeks and rivers.
Another first time outcome of the settlement is EPA’s agreement to propose restrictions on the use of coal tar sealants in the United States, a product that is poisoning ecosystems nationwide and exposing infants and children to a high risk of developing cancer later in life.
July 2014:
Sewage in San Francisco Bay: Settlement reached to prevent overflows
Over the past 10 years, about 2.4 billion gallons of partially treated sewage has entered the bay, said Jared Blumenfeld, an EPA regional administrator.
“For many years, the health of San Francisco Bay has been imperiled by ongoing pollution, including enormous discharges of raw and partially treated sewage from communities in the East Bay,” Blumenfeld said. “Many of these discharges are the result of aging, deteriorated sewer infrastructure that will be fixed under the EPA order.”
Along with spreading disease-causing organisms that can threaten public health, the raw and untreated sewage can deplete oxygen in the 1,600-square-mile bay and hurt fish, migratory birds and other wildlife.
“It’s more of ‘death by 1,000 cuts’ in terms of impact to the bay,” said Deb Self, executive director of San Francisco Baykeeper, which was among those that brought the legal action to enforce the Clean Water Act.
Others behind the lawsuit were the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Board and the Our Children’s Earth Foundation.
Under the agreement, EBMUD, the Stege district and the cities will assess and upgrade their sewer system infrastructure, including at EBMUD’s three wet water treatment facilities.
August 2010:
Settlement Reached with City and County of Honolulu to Address Wastewater Collection & Treatment Systems
The settlement which also resolves lawsuits brought by the Sierra Club, Hawaii’s Thousand Friends and Our Children’s Earth Foundation, includes a comprehensive compliance schedule for the city to upgrade its wastewater collection system by June 2020. Under the settlement, the Honouliuli wastewater treatment plant will need to be upgraded to secondary treatment by 2024. The Sand Island plant will need to be upgraded by 2035, but could be extended to 2038 based on a showing of economic hardship.
Work on the wastewater collection system will include rehabilitation and replacement of both gravity and force main sewer pipes, backup strategies to minimize the risks of force main spills, a cleaning and maintenance program, improvements to Honolulu’s program to control fats, oils and grease from entering into the wastewater system from food establishments, and repair to pump stations.
“Today’s settlement represents a significant commitment that will address the city and county of Honolulu’s aging wastewater collection and treatment systems,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “The end result will not just be an improvement to the system’s infrastructure. It will also significantly reduce both the public health risk caused by exposure to pathogens in raw sewage and the amount of harmful pollutants entering Honolulu’s vibrant marine environment.”
September 2016:
Environmental groups signal intent to sue St. Pete after sewage dump
Suncoast Waterkeeper, Inc., Our Children’s Earth Foundation and the Ecological Rights Foundation filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue for violating the federal Clean Water Act. The groups want the city to undergo sewage system upgrades and to fund “environmental mitigation projects.”
“St. Petersburg’s recent extraordinarily large sewage discharges to Tampa Bay have caused serious human health risks and environmental damage. The needed infrastructure improvements are urgent, the ecological impacts will take a long time to heal, as will the damage to the public’s confidence, shaken by the city’s failure to notify and warn the public of these spills. The systemic improvements required to address these shortcomings are significant and will benefit from citizen participation and oversight,” the groups said in a press release.
The groups acknowledged the city has admitted its failures and promised to improve sewage systems. While the groups called that, “a positive and welcome step,” they also said it’s not enough.
“St. Pete does not have a good record of addressing the root causes of the ongoing sewage system problems. Citizen suit enforcement is needed because the legal system functions differently, and in many cases more efficiently, than the political system.”
January 2015:
Stanford considering the fate of century-old dam threatening endangered trout
In 1892, a private company built the dam and created the Searsville Reservoir, hoping to make a new source of water for San Francisco. There was a small problem: the water that pooled up in the Reservoir was undrinkable.
The solution: Searsville Lake! For decades, people flocked there to swim and boat. In the meantime, Stanford acquired the 1,200 acres surrounding the dam to study things like local plant life, animals, and air quality. To protect that research, in 1975, the university made the land off-limits to the public.
Today, Searsville Lake is more of a marsh, almost completely full of sediment that people wouldn’t want to swim in. Steelhead trout, on the other hand, would love to swim in it – if they could get there. And that’s what Sproul says the environmental groups want to see. First, they want Stanford to stop taking water out of the creek.
“And we also want them to allow fish passage past Searsville Dam back up to the upper watershed. [There are] various ways they could do that. Taking out the dam would be the best,” says Sproul.
November 2013:
Country’s Largest Public Power Provider Takes Next Major Step to Move Beyond Coal
Today the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) announced it will retire coal boilers at three of its coal plants in Alabama and Kentucky. Retiring these coal boilers means less pollution in the air and water in the southeast U.S. According to the Clean Air Task Force, the Colbert coal plant in Alabama alone contributed to 940 asthma attacks, 83 heart attacks, and 57 deaths per year. These retirements also mean less of the carbon pollution that is pushing our climate to the brink.
This is big. It’s a great move for public health, for clean air and water, and for our climate. It will also help protect families across the southeast from rising energy bills as the cost of coal-generated electricity has continued to increase. I applaud TVA and its new president and CEO, Bill Johnson, for their leadership in setting this great American institution on a new course for the twenty-first century.
This is also big news for the people of the Tennessee Valley who have been working for years for cleaner air and a healthier environment in the Valley, including our friends at the Southern Environmental Law Center, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Earthjustice, Environmental Integrity Project, Our Children’s Earth Foundation, and National Parks Conservation Association.
Residents, businesses and industries have spoken loud and clear: they want TVA to provide affordable, reliable and clean power.
Current & Recent Campaigns
Cargill Salt & Cayuga Lake
Cargill is a huge company with all kinds of operations throughout the world (check out this Mighty Earth report on Cargill to learn more about the various aspects and impacts of Cargill’s global business).
In mid 2019, we took action to address the negative environmental impacts of a Cargill salt mine located on one of the finger lakes in upstate New York, Cayuga Lake. We are working closely with individuals who care about these pollution sources, as well as local groups leading ongoing efforts to protect Cayuga Lake including Cayuga Lake Environmental Action Now or CLEAN [website|facebook].
The pollution we seek to address includes chloride, sodium, free cyanide, salt dust, brine, chlorine, and other troubling compounds. Impacted waterways include Minnegar Brook, Gulf Creek, and Cayuga Lake, which is an important drinking water source for several communities.
Pollution reports have shown for years that spills of salt and leaks of polluted water regularly enter these waterways.
Improving Recycling on Long Island
The Long Island Recycling Initiative is a team of concerned citizens focused on recycling practices and programs in Long Island. Its mission is to bring transparency, efficiency and best practices to recycling programs across Long Island. Because of the patchwork-quilt of townships, villages, hamlets, and garbage districts that currently oversee the waste management and recycling functions of Long Island, it is especially challenging for policy makers and waste management businesses to identify and resolve problems in the system and adopt best practices proven to work in other jurisdictions across the country. Through research into the current state of affairs as well as best practices and policies, Long Island Recycling Initiative intends to identify opportunities and aid the towns and villages of Long Island in increasing their recycling rates. Learn more and access resources at https://www.lirecycling.org.
Governmental Transparency & Public Advocacy
Throughout its history, OCE has successfully challenged and exposed governmental agencies that fail to meet their responsibility to protect and serve the public. This anti-corruption and pro-transparency work reflects our commitment to educate communities about environmental issues, to investigate noncompliant and negligent polluters, to enforce environmental laws and regulations, and to encourage reform at the highest levels of government. From its start, OCE has built a strong reputation as an effective public interest watchdog by enforcing laws that require governmental agencies to disclose key information about how they manage our natural resources.
OCE is committed to holding publicly-funded agencies and governmental staff accountable to ensure that the public interest remains a central component of our democracy. We fight for full enforcement of public disclosure laws like the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), including the provision that records be provided without charge when disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest. In the most recent development in our multi-year legal campaign to get documents from the National Marine Fisheries Service, we beat back the federal government’s attempts to sharply limit when public interest groups could be reimbursed for the time they spend trying to get information from agencies.
For more insight into how we have obtained information from agencies and prevailed in our appeals for fee waivers, or to share your experiences seeking documents from state and federal agencies, please contact us.
Biomass in the South
The biomass industry in the southeastern United States has expanded 10-fold in the past 10 years. Rural communities bear the brunt of the industrial pollution from this industry, which primarily exists to export wood pellets to Europe. Wood pellets have increased in use due to a loophole in the European Union’s accounting system that is based on the notion that biomass can be carbon neutral because trees grow back and absorb carbon as they grow. But burning wood pellets emits large amounts of greenhouse gases and replanted trees take many decades to grow enough to absorb as much carbon dioxide as the industry emits, and not all the saplings survive. Additionally, the manufacturing process is extremely dirty and dangerous for public health.
OCE is engaged in formal permit challenges of nearly a dozen facilities, many of which are owned and operated by Enviva, Drax, and German Pellets. We face uphill battles in most of these cases, but we will continue to pressure state officials to require basic pollution controls and compliance with legal pollution limits in order to protect nearby communities. Our coalition is strong and led by talented attorneys at the Environmental Integrity Project.
Sick of Sewage in Florida
Sarasota Bay in September 2016, when a massive fish kill occurred due to red tide that was likely fueled by millions of gallons of sewage that spilled, overflowed, and was dumped into local waters during storms throughout September. Photo by Our Children's Earth Foundation.
Our Children's Earth Foundation has a long history of advocacy related to protecting people and ecosystems from one of the more disgusting realities of modern life: sewage pollution. We've brought lawsuits and worked with cities throughout the United States to ensure that aging, leaky, and otherwise inadequate sewage infrastructure is updated, and that impacted residents have a voice in developing solutions. Spills and overflows of raw and partially-treated sewage occur regularly in metropolitan areas, and the worst instances result in massive die-offs of fish, birds, and other animals that rely on nearby waters.
We are currently involved in a regional effort in Florida's Tampa Bay area to address sewage system failures that have garnered national and international headlines since mid-2016, when hundreds of millions of gallons of raw and partially treated sewage were discharged to Tampa Bay, Boca Ciega Bay, and other waters adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico.
Public health concerns at Elkhorn Slough
Our Children's Earth got a grant from the Rose Foundation to raise awareness and protect public health in the Moss Landing area, where anglers and their families are being exposed to dangerous levels of mercury and PCBs in certain fish tissues, especially leopard shark and bat ray.
California's Office of Environmental Health and Hazards Assessment (OEHHA) recently issued a consumption advisory urging children and women of child-bearing age to avoid eating these species entirely while also limiting consumption of several other species: asian clam, speckled sanddab, and surfperches.
If you or anyone you know fishes at Elkhorn Slough, please take note of OEHHA's important health guidelines, read OEHHA's full report, fill out the short survey on our Elkhorn page, and contact us with any questions.