Protect Florida’s Treasured Waters - Overview
"...a number of Florida’s most magnificent waterways, including three that have been designated as Outstanding Florida Waterways, are facing imminent threat from poorly planned developments and nutrient pollution run-off..."

Protect Florida’s Water Resources!
Audubon and our partners in conservation are working hard to see that Congress passes the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act. Many of Florida’s wetlands and surface waters have been identified as impaired or threatened.

• Many of Florida’s counties rank in the worst 20% of all U.S. counties in terms of number of impaired waterways.
• It is estimated that close to 35% (over 806,000 acres) of the total wetlands in Florida’s panhandle are at risk.

7/26/05:
Summary of the Harmful Provisions in the Energy Bill - Listed below are just a few of the provisions in the final energy bill: (see the full report at U.S. PIRG).

• Threatens drinking water by amending the Safe Drinking Water Act to allow the unregulated underground injection of chemicals during oil and gas development and during geothermal energy development. [Section 322]
• Grants the oil and gas industries an exemption for their construction activities from compliance with Clean Water Act provisions that require all types of construction activities to reduce polluted runoff from these sites. [Section 323]
• Provides "backdoor immunity" to the producers and distributors, of the likely carcinogenic gasoline additive MTBE by removing MTBE claims from state court to federal court when the claims are based on state tort law, nuisance law, or consumer law. This unfairly deprives injured parties and their representatives (water utilities, states AGs, etc) of their right to have their claims heard in their state forum and could derail many legal claims entirely, effectively shielding those companies responsible for MTBE contamination from their full financial liability for the damages they have caused. [Sec. 1504]

7/24/05:
Lawmakers remove roadblock to energy bill
".. House and Senate conferees abandoned giving makers of the gasoline additive MTBE liability protection against environmental lawsuits on Sunday, removing the major roadblock to enactment of broad energy legislation. Senate negotiators rejected a House proposal for a..." Associated Press.

Find out more about MTBE in drinking water.

7/12/05:
Coalition Launches Landmark Campaign: "ExxposeExxon.com" - The ExxposeExxon.com website will reveal the truth about the world’s largest and most profitable oil company’s actions: including actively lobbying Congress to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, trying to avoid paying all the damages due to those harmed by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, and funding organizations that work to discredit the science behind global warming.

Apr. 21, 2005:
"Oil Companies Lose Effort to End Suits Over Contaminated Water" - The ruling means that plaintiffs can proceed with some 80 lawsuits against oil companies asserting that the additive, methyl tertiary-butyl ether, or MTBE, fouled groundwater... The suits assert that the oil companies contaminated wells and underground aquifers across the country by adding MTBE to gasoline as a way to reduce air pollution. They say the oil companies knew that MTBE would cause widespread contamination because the chemical does not readily cling to soil and moves faster and farther in the ground than other gasoline components.

01/22/03:
Toxic Releases and Health: A Review of Pollution Data and Current Knowledge on the Health Effects of Toxic Chemicals - Industrial facilities nationwide release hundreds of millions of pounds of chemicals linked to cancer, to developmental and reproductive problems, and to neurological and respiratory disorders into the nation’s air and water. Yet, communities in the shadow of industrial facilities typically have access to only limited information on how these discharges may be affecting their health...

View maps by state showing locations of toxic chemical releases:

• Maps of releases linked to cancer by state, 2000
• Maps of dioxins releases by state, 2000
• Maps of releases linked to neurological effects by state, 2000
• Maps of releases linked to reproductive effects by state, 2000
• Maps of releases linked to respiratory effects by state, 2000
• Maps of Releases linked to developmental effects by state, 2000