Clean Water Victory

Clean Water Victory!

Regularly updating water pollution permits spurs innovation and progress. Thanks to the legal team at the Earthrise Law Center and to NEDC board member Karl Anuta for years of hard work on this matter, and to Governor Kate Brown for including a major commitment in her newly-released budget to reduce Oregon’s water quality permit backlog.
Columbia Gorge wildflowers

Summer 2018 Newsletter

Check out NEDC’s Summer Newsletter to read more about our recent work and other news

Environmental Regulators Ignore Junkyard Fire

Willamette Week journalists interview NEDC Executive Director Mark Riskedahl about this preventable catastrophe

Willamette Dams Litigation

We are partnering with Native Fish SocietyWildEarth Guardians and Advocates for the West in a new lawsuit to press federal agencies to do more to protect salmon and steelhead

Lawsuit Filed to Address “Zombie Permits”

NEDC has filed a lawsuit seeking to require Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality to address an enormous backlog of administratively extended Zombie Permits
air quality, air toxics

Cleaner Air Oregon

NEDC’s participation in the new air toxics regulatory reform effort, Cleaner Air Oregon, continues.

Oregon Floodplain Development Legal Victory

Working to manage floodplain development in Oregon to protect salmon and make our communities more resilient in the face of increasing threats from extreme weather events.

Air Toxics Testimony

NEDC’s Executive Director Mark Riskedahl was recently invited to provide testimony about air toxics regulatory oversight
NEDC
PGE's coal-fired power plant in Boardman, OR

New Study Shows Mercury Controls Also Reduce Other Pollutants

NEDC’s advocacy for mercury control technology at Oregon’s only coal-fired power plant has additional side-benefit of dramatically reducing other pollutants as well
advocacy, civic engagement, community engagement, education, environment, law, NEDC, Pacific Northwest, Portland, public service, student

NEDC by the Numbers

Here is a quick summary of some of the things we’ve achieved over the past five years, by the numbers.
CWA, environment, law, NEDC, NPDES, Pacific Northwest, Pollution, Portland
Fairy Falls

Seeking Stronger Oversight for Permit Renewals

Reducing polluted runoff from industrial facilities continues to be one of NEDC’s highest priorities.
Hannah Clements, 2L, NEDC Law Clerk and Wyss Scholar

Hannah Clements Named Wyss Scholar

Lewis & Clark Law School is pleased to announce that Hannah Clements ’20 is the second Wyss Scholar to be selected from the law school. The Wyss Foundation is a private, charitable organization dedicated to western public lands issues, and its Scholars Program supports graduate-level education for the next generation of leaders in western land conservation.

Appeal of State Issued Crude Oil Terminal Air Permit

NEDC along with various other environmental groups filed a petition for reconsideration asking DEQ to reconsider its decision to authorize an air permit for a major crude oil transloading facility on the Columbia River.
Clean Air Act, collaboration, environment, law, NEDC, Oregon, Pacific Northwest, Pollution

NEDC files petition to redesignate Lakeview as Nonattainment

Lakeview’s persistent violations of federal particulate matter standards endangers public health and the environment.
Clatskanie, Clean Air Act, crude by rail, crude oil, lawsuit, NEDC, oil by rail, oil terminal
Crude oil train stopped along the Columbia River. Photo by Andrew Hawley.

Lawsuit Urges Halt to Clatskanie Oil Terminal’s Violation of Clean Air Act

NEDC, along with other environmental groups, filed a lawsuit alleging that Cascade Kelly Holdings LLC dba Global Partners violated the Clean Air Act by constructing a crude oil transloading facility without the necessary permit.
coal, crude oil, energy transport, LNG, NEDC, Pacific Northwest, rail, transloading facility
Crude oil train on the tracks in Oregon

Addressing Dirty Energy Proposals in the Pacific Northwest

Large-scale extraction of coal, oil and gas in the center of North America has made Washington and Oregon ports particularly attractive destinations for proposals to facilitate movement of these dirty energy sources to markets across the globe.  The scale and frenetic pace of these proposals has us, along with citizens across the region, concerned. Is the green image of the Pacific Northwest in the midst of a major transformation?
Clatskanie, Clean Air Act, climate change, collaboration, Columbia River, crude by rail, crude oil, energy transport, environment, Global, law, lawsuit, NEDC, oil by rail, oil terminal, oil transport, oil, Oregon, Pacific Northwest, Pollution, rail, trains, transloading facility

Oregon Refuses to Protect Public from Oil Terminal’s New Air Pollution

Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality rejected a petition submitted on behalf of tens of thousands of Oregonians asking the agency to protect Oregon’s air from harmful new oil terminal pollution by requiring Global Partners to obtain a more protective air pollution permit.

Summer energy law course; distance learning comes to LC law school

Lewis & Clark Law School is pleased to announce the availability of an exciting on-line course for attorneys, policymakers, and anyone else interested in energy law issues.

From June 9-12, Lewis & Clark Law School Professor Melissa Powers will offer Electricity Essentials: Renewables, Utilities & Transmission. This course will provide a comprehensive overview of the U.S. electricity supply and will address the following key components, important to anyone seeking a better understanding of the electricity system in the United States:

environment

Clean Water: Still Relevant at 50 — Webinar April 8

Legal experts and scholars discuss the impact–good and bad–of the CWA over five decades.

Vancouver Rail Oil Terminal Officially Dead; Port Admits to Violating the Law

The final chapter has closed in NEDC, Columbia Riverkeeper, and the Sierra Club’s multi-year lawsuit against the Port of Vancouver, Washington, over a proposal to build what would have been the nation’s largest rail-to-marine oil terminal there.
Ryan Shannon and friend on Davidson glacier outsider Skagway Alaska.

An Alaskan summer of a lifetime for LC law student Ryan Shannon..

Ryan Shannon, LC Law student, recently shared his summer experience working for Trustees of Alaska in Anchorage. He credits the environmental law program, NEDC and PILP for an amazing opportunity:

Protecting Headwaters on Mt. Hood

NEDC and other local environmental groups are working hard to protect Mt. Hood’s fragile alpine habitat where the Forest Service has failed to ensure such protections and continues to fail to implement effective restoration.

Strides for the Spokane

Marla Nelson, NEDC’s Legal Fellow, discusses her first Clean Water Act enforcement case against a facility along the Spokane River.

Q & A: Decker v. NEDC

NEDC’s Executive Director, Mark Riskedahl, reflects on NEDC’s recent trip to the Supreme Court and the resulting opinion issued in March of this year.

Defending the Chetco

NEDC and Earthrise recently won a significant victory for the Chetco River and for open and transparent government.

The Portland Mercury highlights NEDC’s enforcement work to protect the Columbia Slough

Read the Portland Mercury story on NEDC’s Clean Water Act enforcement work in the Columbia Slough and a recent complaint filed against Parkrose Auto Center.

NEDC’s Logging Road Pollution Case featured on front page of the Oregonian

NEDC’s logging road pollution case to be argued in the Supreme Court today. Oregonian features the case in a front page story.

The Columbian urges Clark County to comply with stormwater regulations

In a recent op-ed, the Columbia tells Clark County and developers to comply with pollution control requirements.
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