waterkeeper alliance

2019 Will Be a Big Year for Water

2019 Will Be a Big Year for Water

By Tara Lohan In the last few weeks of 2018, the Trump administration set the stage for a big battle over water in the new year. At stake is an important rule that defines which waters are protected under the Clean Water Act. The Trump administration seeks to roll back important protections for wetlands and […]

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    Will Hurricane Florence Flood North Carolina Factory Farms and Manure Pits?

    Will Hurricane Florence Flood North Carolina Factory Farms and Manure Pits?

    When Hurricane Matthew hit North Carolina in 2016, it flooded more than 140 feces-strewn industrial-scale swine and poultry barns, more than a dozen open pits brimming with liquid hog waste and thousands of acres of manure-saturated fields. As Hurricane Florence—far bigger than Matthew—bears down on the state, Environmental Working Group (EWG) and Waterkeeper Alliance are […]

    Energy Transfer Pipeline Explodes in Pennsylvania

    Energy Transfer Pipeline Explodes in Pennsylvania

    A pipeline exploded in Beaver County, Pennsylvania at approximately 5 a.m. Monday morning, causing a large fire and prompting the evacuation of dozens of homes in the area. The 24-inch natural gas line, owned by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners and its subsidiary Sunoco, was buried three feet deep and activated only a week ago on […]

    Federal Judge Blocks Construction of Bayou Bridge Pipeline

    Federal Judge Blocks Construction of Bayou Bridge Pipeline

    Federal District Court Judge Shelly Dick on Friday halted the construction of the controversial Bayou Bridge pipeline across the Atchafalaya Basin. The decision grants a preliminary injunction to prevent ongoing irreparable harm to this ecological treasure while a lawsuit, filed Jan. 11, is being heard. Judge Dick found that the lawsuit filed by several groups—Atchafalaya […]

    Can the Great Lakes Become Fishable, Drinkable and Swimmable Again?

    Can the Great Lakes Become Fishable, Drinkable and Swimmable Again?

    By Susan Cosier As Mark Mattson waited to speak to Canada’s minister for the environment, Catherine McKenna, about the Great Lakes last December, he could feel the weight of the 184-page report he carried in his shoulder bag. At the Toronto meeting, McKenna asked Mattson, founder and president of the Lake Ontario arm of the […]

    U.S. Bank Quietly Joins $4B Deal With Dakota Access Owner After Declaring End to Oil and Gas Pipeline Loans

    U.S. Bank Quietly Joins $4B Deal With Dakota Access Owner After Declaring End to Oil and Gas Pipeline Loans

    By Sharon Kelly At a shareholder meeting this past spring, U.S. Bank announced it would be the first large American bank to completely stop issuing loans for oil and gas pipeline construction projects. Environmental groups, indigenous activists and divestment advocates hailed U.S. Bank’s announcement as a triumph. Yet that triumph—and the bank’s commitment—seems less sure […]

    Build Barriers to Protect Our Great Lakes From Invasion, Our Jobs Are At Stake

    Build Barriers to Protect Our Great Lakes From Invasion, Our Jobs Are At Stake

    By Marc Yaggi and Sandy Bihn Before President Trump took office, a barrier designed to protect American jobs from a growing foreign threat had been researched by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. A month after President Trump took office, while promising that his strongman tactics would protect American jobs above all else, he quietly […]

    Pruitt Appears in Big Beef Video Urging Farmers to Kill Clean Water Rule

    Pruitt Appears in Big Beef Video Urging Farmers to Kill Clean Water Rule

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Scott Pruitt appears in a video sponsored by the beef industry calling on farmers and ranchers to file official comments on a proposal to withdraw and rewrite the Obama-era “Waters of the United States” rule (or WOTUS) before the Aug. 28 deadline. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) video […]

    Communities Demand Trump and Pruitt ‘Stop Pandering to Billionaire Coal Executives’ and Protect Their Families

    Communities Demand Trump and Pruitt ‘Stop Pandering to Billionaire Coal Executives’ and Protect Their Families

    Community leaders from across the U.S. traveled to Washington, DC, Monday to testify at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELG) hearing, demanding Donald Trump and his EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, stop pandering to billionaire coal executives and protect every family and community from coal plants dumping toxic, industrial sludge into their drinking […]