Ocean-based fish farms pose a unique threat to aquatic ecosystems because no more than a porous net separates genetically altered fish and thousands of tons of pollutants from nearby streams, coastal waters, and sensitive marine life. In 2000, NELC brought a first-of-its kind lawsuit on behalf of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group against Heritage […]
In 2000, NELC filed suit under the Clean Air Act and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act against the U.S. Department of the Army to put an end to its practice of open burning and open detonation (OB/OD) disposal of unwanted munitions, rocket motors, and other explosives at the Sierra Army Depot in Herlong, CA. The […]
For years, Wolcottville Sand and Gravel Corporation discharged mine dewatering wastes filled with contaminants from its Milan, Michigan, quarry into the North Branch Palmer Drain, which empties into Stoney Creek. By the time NELC filed a lawsuit in 1998, the company had committed thousands of violations of its permitted limits for total suspended solids and flow. […]
In 1996, Bayou Steel’s “mini-mill” in LaPlace, LA, was the second largest source of airborne lead in the entire state. Not only did the scrap metal facility emit excess quantities of carcinogens such as lead, cadmium, and chromium into the air, it also routinely exceeded its particulate matter limits, frequently failed to run its air […]
In 1995, NELC filed suit against French Paper Co., a Niles, MI-based specialty paper products facility, for discharging excessive solids and oxygen-depleting chemicals into the St. Joseph River. By the time of the lawsuit, French Paper had exceeded its permitted limits on total suspended solids and biological oxygen demand by 800% and 200%, respectively, within […]
In 1995, NELC filed suit against garbage giant Laidlaw Environmental Services for violating the Clean Water Act hundreds of times at its Hilliard, OH, facility. Brought on behalf of the Ohio Public Interest Research Group and the Ohio Environmental Council, our lawsuit focused on Laidlaw’s years of repeated, illegal discharges of heavy metals into the […]
Dow Chemical Company’s Midland, MI, facility had repeatedly violated its Clean Water Act permits by discharging excess quantities of phosphorus, the herbicide 2,4-D, and the toxic chemical 2,4,6-TCP into the Tittabawassee River. Each of these chemicals can harm aquatic ecosystems in their own ways: high levels of phosphorus can lead to toxic algal blooms; 2,4-D, […]
Beginning in 1984, ICI Americas, Inc., a division of Imperial Chemical Industries, then the fourth-largest chemical company in the world, discharged toxic wastewater into a small brook from its specialty chemicals and dye-making plant in southeastern Massachusetts. ICI’s discharge contained harmful pollutants such as ammonia and copper at such high concentrations that samples had to […]
The Ohio River, which flows along the border between the Southern and Midwestern U.S., is a unique ecological habitat for 160 species of fish and an invaluable water source for millions of people. In the 1980s, Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corporation routinely discharged wastewater containing excess quantities of toxic pollutants and suspended solids from its Martins Ferry, […]
Although the Saugus River marshes contained the largest shellfish beds north of Boston, their bounty had long been off limits for human consumption due to industrial and municipal pollution. General Electric’s facility in Lynn, MA was one contributor to the poor water quality, discharging up to 99 million gallons of wastewater per day into the […]