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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - Alabama Dept Of Environmental Management
FEB. 2008 (Irvington, New York) –Waterkeeper Wins Mercury Battle.
In a complete victory for public and environmental health, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia today invalidated a pair of EPA rules that would have allowed coal-fired power plants to overwhelm waterways, fish and communities with harmful levels of mercury for decades to come. Power plants, the largest source of manmade mercury in the country, spew 48 tons of the dangerous neurotoxin into the air each year, while a single gram – 1/70th of a teaspoon – of mercury per year is enough to contaminate a 25-acre lake to the point that fish are unsafe to eat. EPA estimates that as many as 600,000 babies may be born in the United States annually with irreversible brain damage because pregnant mothers ate mercury-contaminated fish.
Named 2007 Conservation Organization of the year by Alabama Environmental Council & Alabama’s 2006 Watershed Organization of the year by Alabama Rivers Alliance, Black Warrior Riverkeeper is a member of Waterkeeper Alliance.
NOV. 2007 - Black Warrior Riverkeeper's latest musical sponsor, Umphrey's McGee, is playing a concert at WorkPlay this Saturday, November 17th to help raise funds and awareness. Umphrey's has donated an impressive Backstage Passes Package to Riverkeeper for a Charity Auction!
SEPT. 2007 - Black Warrior Riverkeeper has filed suit against Metro Tire Landfill in U.S. District Court. The lawsuit alleges that the landfill has significant and ongoing pollution violations. Pollutants include: Benzene (a known carcinogen), Chloromethane (possible carcinogen), 1,2-Dichloroethane (probable carcinogen), Ethylbenzene, Toluene, Vinyl Chloride (known carcinogen), and Xylenes, o,m,p. Laboratory results of Black Warrior Riverkeeper’s water samples indicated that Benzene and Vinyl Chloride were also present in concentrations exceeding maximum contaminant levels for drinking water.