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Issues
Water covers three-quarters of the earth's surface. Rivers are the vascular system of the planet, delivering life-giving water to fields and faucets, carving valleys and canyons, depositing rich sediments on alluvial plains, flushing waste to the ocean. A human can survive a month or more without food; without water he or she will perish in a few days.
A century ago, most of the water that supported Native Hawaiian communities, their taro patches, and their fisheries on the east side of O`ahu was diverted to the central part of the island to grow sugar. When Big Sugar pulled up stakes decades later, a mighty struggle ensued. Should the water go to restore what was lost, or be used for golf courses and expensive crops? Tom Turner tells the tale.
Learn how taro and native Hawaiians win
Massey Energy, a major player in mountaintop removal mining, must pay $20 million in fines for Clean Water Act violations
Federal efforts to weaken regulations governing logging on steep, landslide-prone hillsides successfully rebuffed
A federal judge rules that using Lake O as a polluted water reservoir is illegal without a federal permit.
A judge has tossed out a biological opinion where political considerations prevailed over science.
A federal judge in West Virginia has ruled that the practice of dumping the rubble into streams from blown up mountaintops violates the Clean Water Act.
To justify an increase in logging on steep slopes in the Northwest, the Forest Service ignored advice from leading scientists including some from the Fish and Wildlife Service.
An attempt by irrigators to overturn minimum flows for salmon is rejected.
The primary zone of the California Delta is truly the heart of the state. This western watershed for the Sierra Nevada mountains is home to a multitude of wildlife and family farms, it also provides drinking water to millions of Californians. A recent proposal to allow 162 units of housing within this zone at Clarksburg was successfully challenged by Earthjustice and a coalition of local residents.
One of the dirtiest rivers in the nation finally has a chance to recover from years of pollution.
Water district must comply with the Clean Water Act before dumping into this drinking water source.
Voters allowed to consider initiative on cruise ships
A federal court granted a temporary restraining order that limits expansive mining at several mountaintop removal mines currently being challenged by environmental groups in Appalachia
Vote will block funds for policy of disowning certain waters.
Agreement with EPA ends years of agency delay in guarding against deadly parasites and bacteria
Judge Downes determines Army Corps' CBM wastewater storage permit is illegal.
Future oil and gas development strategies will go through environmental impact analysis
Tougher pollution standards for farms, ranches near Lake Okeechobee
Court affirms state environmental agency must enforce clean water law
Large farming operation to pay for damages to swamp and nature center caused by their irrigation runoff.
Earthjustice wins another victory in the Waiahole Ditch case, garnering further proctection for Windward O`ahu streams and the communities that depend on them.
Supreme Court sides with the Miccosukee Tribe and Earthjustice to halt the pumping of pollutants into the Everglades.
Ninth Circuit denies challenge to Forest Service decision that protects endangered chinook salmon and steelhead trout.
Earthjustice teamed with Alaskan Native groups and a political party to succesfully challenge a new Alaska state law that inhibited public access to courts.
DC District Court rejects industry's challenge to a rule requiring permits for discharge into wetlands and streams.
Victory for the public trust doctrine and native Hawaiian rights.
Army Corps of Engineers nationwide permits protected by federal court.
San Francisco Ruling Could Apply Everywhere
Maui Meadows Homeowners Association wins designation for the`Iao Aquifer, the principal source of drinking water for Central and South Maui and Pa`ia, as state ground water management areas.
Rare tie vote sustains fines against California farmer who wrecked vernal pools without a permit
Kamehameha withdraws permit application and agrees to leave Windward O`ahu water in its streams.
Kamehameha Schools to fully restore flows to three streams that feed the famous falls
A Florida developer is stopped attempting to turn a public spring into a private diving club.
San Pedro River granted a chance to recover
In March 2001, Earthjustice compelled the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce phosphorus pollution flowing into Lake Okeechobee by 70 percent.
Monica Reimer, an attorney in the Tallahassee office, writes about Earthjustice clients that are most definitely not what springs to mind when one thinks of “environmentalist.” The tale revolves around the only jury trial in the history of Earthjustice, an ultimately successful attempt to keep in public ownership a south Florida jewel known as Fisheating Creek.
A century ago, most of the water that supported Native Hawaiian communities, their taro patches, and their fisheries on the east side of O`ahu was diverted to the central part of the island to grow sugar. When Big Sugar pulled up stakes decades later, a mighty struggle ensued. Should the water go to restore what was lost, or be used for golf courses and expensive crops? Tom Turner tells the tale.
