Issues

Energy

Water is necessary for life. Streams, rivers, lakes, and estuaries must be protected from pollution discharged from cities and factories. Water quality is also a mirror of human actions on the land, such as logging, farming, grazing, irrigation, mining, and urban development. Protecting the quality of our water means recognizing the connection between all human activities and this precious resource.

Regulating Water Pollution

Types of Pollution

Specific Water Topics

The energy we depend upon to cook, illuminate and heat our homes, and move about comes at a cost to the environment and our health. The challenge is to choose energy sources that will not ruin life as we know it—whether through climate change, radiation-induced cancers, or habitat destruction—yet will be there when we need it. The most efficient and clean sources of energy are not necessarily those that will reap the greatest financial rewards for energy producers.

Energy Sources

Northwest Energy Topics

Protecting the health of species—fish, birds, amphibians, mammals— and protecting human health from pollution are often synonymous. Toxic contaminants have the worst effects at the top of the food chain—on people, eagles, and orca whales, for example. But many of the most devastating effects of pollution can disrupt entire food webs—those carefully balanced worlds in which microscopic plants and animals are food for yet larger creatures that are the prey for small fish that are eaten by the iconic salmon—that underpin our environment and our lives.

Regulating Threats to Species

Pollution and Habitat Threats to Species

Related News

Protecting Salmon in Idaho Waters

Protecting Salmon in Idaho Waters

In a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), NWEA has forced one more step towards protecting salmon in Idaho waters.  As the result of the NWEA lawsuit, EPA has agreed to consult with the federal expert fish and wildlife agencies on Idaho ...
Cleaning Up the Rogue River: Update

Cleaning Up the Rogue River: Update

In our effort to clean up the Rogue River because government agencies won’t do their jobs, NWEA filed its opening brief to enforce the City of Medford’s discharge permit. Despite our having obtained a partial settlement with the city earlier, Medford’s continued ...
Politics Are Killing Our Salmon

Politics Are Killing Our Salmon

by Nina Bell • January 24, 2021 •  ​A Fishing Enthusiast asks: Why do state and federal agencies keep delaying enforcement of clean water laws that are supposed to protect salmon? The answer to the question is, in a word: politics.  Meeting water quality ...

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