The world's largest prize for environmental action has been awarded to Caroline Cannon, an Inupiat leader and former president of the Native Village of Point Hope in Alaska. Cannon is the North American recipient of the Goldman Environmental Prize, a major prize awarded annually to grassroots environmental heroes from the six inhabited continents.

Erik Grafe, an Earthjustice attorney in Alaska who has worked with the honoree, said she was richly deserving of the award.

"Caroline is a fearless and inspirational advocate for the protection of the Arctic Ocean and a way of life dependent on a healthy ocean ecosystem," he said. "Over the past several years, Caroline's leadership has raised awareness of the dangers posed by proposed oil and gas activities to the vibrant indigenous subsistence culture of northern Alaska that has depended for millennia on hunting and fishing in the Arctic Ocean. Earthjustice has been honored to work with the Native Village of Point Hope and Caroline in the effort to protect the Arctic Ocean, its wildlife, and its people. We congratulate her on her well-deserved recognition."

The House has passed legislation that would prevent the EPA from strongly regulating coal ash.

Earthjustice President Trip Van Noppen is strongly denouncing a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives today, passing H.R. 2273, which would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from strongly regulating coal ash:

"Nearly three years after the tragic spill of more than 1 billion gallons of toxic coal ash in Kingston, Tennessee, it’s obvious that federally enforceable safeguards for the disposal of this toxic waste are long overdue. In fact, 267 members of the House of Representatives have taken the disturbing step of moving us even further away from this important public safety goal.

Red tide victims in Florida

<The Earthjustice office in Florida just released this statement on a major fish kill off the state's coastline>

It’s ironic that, on the very day the Florida Chamber announces it wants to fight limits on sewage, fertilizer and manure pollution, there’s a massive fish kill off Sarasota, Sanibel Island and Charlotte County caused by red tide—red tide that’s fueled by sewage, manure, and fertilizer pollution.

"The Florida Chamber is playing politics with our public health, and that’s really sad,” said Earthjustice attorney Monica Reimer.” The Chamber is ignoring the horrible reality in the water today. We’ve got hundreds of dead fish going belly up in a prime tourist area, off Sanibel Island. The Florida Chamber ought to be looking after all the tourism business affected by toxic algae outbreaks and fish kills like this one. Instead, they are once again doing the bidding of corporate polluters who use our public waters as their free, private sewers."

Dead Mojarra/Sand Bream and Jack, west of Franklin Lock, on the Caloosahatchee River. Photo taken on June 13, 2011. (Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation)

The U.S. House of Representatives was a in a cruel mood, yesterday, when it passed H.R. 2018, a bill that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from protecting our nation's waterways and drinking supplies—and give that power to the states.

But, don't take my word for why this legislation is so potentially devastating. Just check out these recent pictures of the toxic green algae epidemic in Florida's waterways. The slime—caused by unregulated nutrient runoff from agricultural operations and other sources—is choking the life out of such major rivers as the St. Johns and Caloosahatchee. You can't swim in them, drink from them, or eat fish from them. And, if H.R. 2018 becomes law, you can bet that state legislators will try to keep them that way.

You decide. Check out this picture of Florida's waterways—choked with algae—and choose which of the following quotes best describes the photo. Both speakers were referring to attempts in the state legislature to keep the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating the amount of nutrients flowing from utilities, industry and large-scale farms into Florida's waterways. The nutrients feed an explosion of algae.

The first quote is from Associated Industries of Florida CEO and President Barney Bishop, speaking at a business symposium:

Ladies and gentleman, we have clean water in Florida... Don't let any environmentalist tell you otherwise. It is clean, it smells good, it looks good.

The next quote is from David Guest, managing attorney of the Florida office for Earthjustice, which Bishop hyperbolically described as being communist-inspired:

These toxic algae outbreaks are a threat to little kids splashing in the shallows, to family pets and to the elderly... We need to clean up this pollution as soon as we can, and that’s what these EPA limits on sewage, manure and fertilizer pollution are all about.

I’ve spent half my life chasing salmon with rod in hand and heart in mouth, but it seems that I am the one who’s been hooked. Enchanted, perhaps, is a better way of describing my love of all things salmon; thus, at 8 p.m. this Sunday, you’ll find me riveted in front of a TV watching the PBS special, Salmon: Running The Gauntlet.

From everything I’ve read and seen, this is one powerful documentary about the Columbia and Snake rivers salmon, and the heroic efforts of those who seek to save them. Shot and written from the point of view of the salmon, it takes you through the life cycle of a fish that faces hostility at every twist and turn of its existence. How any survive is part miracle, and part dedication by the kind of people who surround me here at Earthjustice.  

Florida Gov. Rick Scott

Coming from an Irish family and working for Earthjustice, I have an affection for green that is DNA-deep. But, I know the difference between the green of nature and the green of greed -- and nowhere is that difference so starkly obvious as in Florida. An explosion of green algae slime, fed by uncontrolled agricultural and sewage runoff, is taking over that state's famed waterways. It's murdering fish by the thousands, stinking up the air, fouling everything it touchs, and preventing recreation use.

It's like a green oil spill that can't be shut off. Or should I say, won't be shut off.

The source of this affliction is well known - and so is the cure: runoff limits set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency after years of collaborative study with state authorities. All that stands in the way of their being implemented is the ultimate state authority: Gov. Rick Scott. Clearly in the back pocket of industry, Scott has rejected the plan, which would restore the tourist-friendly sparkle of waters that draw tourists by the millions each year. As Earthjustice attorney David Guest puts it:

Today—Earth Day—I was trying to figure out what kind of angle to write about, when I remembered a column I wrote last year, reflecting on the first Earth Day in 1970.

What struck me about that column is how it revealed that recycling, which we now take for granted as a cultural and financial institution, didn't exist on any kind of public scale just 41 years ago. The first Earth Day brought about this remarkable social change. Thus, in the spirit of recycling, I offer up last year's column, with its reflections on what it was like when it all began.

(In 1970, Terry Winckler organized the first Earth Day in Orange County, CA. A true grassroots movement, it exploded out of nowhere, he recalls, giving his war-weary generation something positive to rally around. Here are some of his recollections.)

It was a simpler, dirtier time, 40 years ago. Everybody littered and no one seemed to notice our trash-encrusted public places. Was recycling even a word in 1970?

As Chesapeake Energy Corp. struggles to contain a massive spill of toxic, hydraulic fluids yesterday at a natural gas fracking site in Pennsylvania, it also is struggling to explain how this dangerous event happened and how they are handling it. I mean, how do you explain away the poisoning of water supplies, waterways and farmers' fields?

Of course, you can't explain it away, but Chesapeake tried anyhow. They put out a news release that makes jaws drop and eyeballs roll. Fortunately, the group American Rivers was able to translate the release so that we all can read between the lines and understand what Chesapeake is really saying. Prepare to laugh and cry.

Earthjustice continues to be engaged with the consequences of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a year after it occurred:

• On Tuesday (April 26), our attorneys will be in oral arguments in the 5th District Federal Court, New Orleans, in our legal challenges to five new deepwater exploration permits, and one shallow water permit.
• An ongoing oil spill response plan case challenges the BP response plan, which claimed it could recover almost 500,000 barrels a day (it actually took three months to stop the spill of over 200 million gallons).
• We are intervenors in a deepwater drilling moratorium case.
• We are preparing to litigate with Shell over its permit application for a deepwater drilling rig in the Gulf. It proposes to drill in a high-pressure oil formation similar to what BP drilled in.
• We are seeking disclosure of ingredients in oil dispersants, such as were used in the Gulf oil spill a year ago. Our goal is to determine how toxic these dispersants are.