Freshwater Future Weekly: April 8, 2022

THIS WEEK: Social Media Training Recording Available; New Pipeline Monitoring Rules Appealed by Oil and Gas Industry; Illinois Bill to Aid Environmental Justice Committees Moves Forward; Ontario Boaters are Part of Invasive Species Management; New York Organizations in Need of a New Website and Communications Tools? Grants Available!
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Social Media Training Recording Available

On April 5th, we hosted a social Media Training webinar facilitated by our Outreach and Communications Intern, Alex Ang. Alex leveraged her own experience as a social media influencer and previous Marketing Intern for a water bottle company to talk about the power of social media and how organizations can use it to tell their stories. You won’t want to miss this high-energy and fun session that makes social media seem doable. You can find the recorded session here.

We’ll keep you informed of future sessions detailing the many intricacies of using social media and storytelling. 

New Pipeline Monitoring Rules Appealed by Oil and Gas Industry 

Weaknesses in pipeline monitoring and oversight requirements recently received an upgrade from the U.S. federal agency that oversees pipelines.  The rule amendments now classify certain coastal waters, the Great Lakes, and coastal beaches as unusually sensitive areas requiring additional monitoring. Unfortunately, two oil and gas industry groups have stopped the rule from being enforced after petitioning “for a stay and review of the rule”.  Hopefully, a decision will be made quickly to keep the rules in place which close loopholes needed to protect drinking water sources from contamination by pipelines leaks and failures.

Illinois Bill to Aid Environmental Justice Committees Moves Forward 

Community activists in Illinois played an instrumental role in getting a new bill introduced and passed in the House that increases community engagement and oversight for industries seeking new permits in environmental justice communities.  Some of the requirements would include evaluating cumulative impacts, compliance history of the companies, public meetings and translations services if needed. It also provides a process to challenge issued permits.This approach is a step in the right direction to prevent pollution in our communities that are most harmed by industrial pollution.

Ontario Boaters are Part of Invasive Species Management

New legislation under the provincial invasive species act says watercraft must be cleaned when being transferred between bodies of water. The legislation recognizes boats as one of the ways invasive species, such as zebra and quagga mussels move from one body of water to another. Cleaning boats when they are being moved should reduce the spread of invasive aquatic plants and animals like zebra mussels. Despite new potential fines, local boaters have been supportive of the new regulations.

New York Organizations in Need of a New Website and Communications Tools? Grants Available!

If you are part of an organization or know of a community-based water organization located in New York state that needs the resources to build a new website and wants more tools to track communications, this program may be able to help! Freshwater Future has been helping groups by providing new websites with integrated databases to help community organizations with their communications, outreach and tracking, and we now have funding for two New York groups to participate.  Awards include consulting time to develop the tools based on the organization’s needs as well as training time and a $3,000 cash award to pay for organization’s time during project implementation. If you are interested please fill out the application above and please share with other groups.  For questions please call Laurie at 231.348.8200, ext. 107 or email: laurie@freshwaterfuture.org

Deadline is April 15, 2022!  Find the application here