Coast / Oceans
Seafood workers fear more than drought is working against Apalachicola Bay
ACF Stakeholders to study issues affecting bay life
Our trash speaks volumes
Appeal from the Great Whale Conservancy!
CWN Board Member Gershon Cohen from Alaska, has launched a campaign to move the shipping lanes further off the coast of California by a few miles to get the cargo ships, oil tankers, and cruise ships out of the most critical blue whale feeding habitat in the world. Here’s a link to a petition on the Great Whale Conservancy website, which will also present a link to a new web-video on the ship strike issue that his organization posted on you tube.
http://www.greatwhaleconservancy.org/stop-ship-strikes
It would be GREATLY APPRECIATED if you would post an announcement of this effort with the link on your respective websites, facebook pages, and twitter accounts.For those who might think this is a bit far afield from our central clean water mission, please consider: by choosing to protect blue whale habitat and food (krill) we must turn the clock back on ocean acidification, since the carbonic acid increase from CO2 deposition is going to make it impossible for calcium carbonate-dependent critters to develop shells. If we don’t, the entire ocean ecosystem collapses, and we will go with it. So – this is about blue whales – but it is a step towards leveraging broader support towards ocean protection and climate change, which as you all know, has been somewhat challenging to develop.
The Great Whale Conservancy is hoping that bringing in THE most charismatic megafauna of them all might help. The goal is to get 100,000 signatures by Earth Day when we ask Obama to tell the Navy to allow the lanes to be moved into the Pt. Mugu Naval Air Station waters. Very doable. Please help us get a win here by posting this wherever you can.
For more information contact Gershon Cohen, Great Whale Conservancy, Earth Island Institute, Box 956, Haines, Alaska 99827, 907-766-300, gershon@aptalaska.net
www.eii.org/csaw
Hurricane Sandy Hearing Update-November 2012
A number of Clean Water Network member groups and individuals are working hard in the region hit hard by Hurricane Sandy. On Thursday, November 29th, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing to discuss the environmental impacts from Superstorm Sandy on the affected region. For more information on the hearing click HERE. Even though the EPW hearing only heard testimony from Members of Congress, CWN Member organization, Hackensack Riverkeeper prepared testimony for the hearing. Click on the link below to read their testimony regarding the devastation Hurricane Sandy did to the state of New Jersey and the region.
CWN Attends Meeting with White House Council on Environmental Quality
On July 26th, CWN's own Casey Knecht met with members of the White House Council on Environmental Quality to discuss the prevention of chemical disasters by using safer chemical processes. The meeting was organized by Greenpeace and involved a number of other environmental groups and public health groups. A petition with 60,000 signatures was presented to the council to prevent chemical disasters. The photo was taken immediately after the meeting and features those in attendance as well as others who signed the petition in front of the White House.
Comments on NFIP Proposed Changes
Attached below are comments on FEMA’s Scoping Process for Preparation of a Programmatic EIS for the National Flood Insurance Program. The NFIP has been in need of changes and improvements for quite some time. These comments were submitted and signed by 58 organizations, including Clean Water Network.
Institute for Fisheries Resources
National Ocean Policy Letter to Maryland Governor O'Malley
A coalition of organizations, including Clean Water Network, has signed onto a letter addressed to Governor Martin O'Malley of Maryland. The letter, spearheaded by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), encourages Governor O'Malley to involve the state of Maryland in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Body. The Regional Planning group is currently being established by the National Ocean Council. Maryland can have two representatives on the Regional Planning Body. To access the letter click below.