Major change and renewed commitment. (From The Acting President).

THIS IS THE FIRST ISSUE IN the nine-year publishing history of Conservation Matters in which the names Douglas I. Foy and Stephen H. Burrington don't appear on the CLF staff list. Doug, our president for 25 years, accepted an invitation from Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney to be the state's first-ever Chief of Commonwealth Development (see page 9). Steve, our general counsel and a colleague for 13 years, is Deputy Chief. Doug is responsible for the state agencies of housing, transportation, environmental affairs, and energy, ensuring that they coordinate efforts to forge a sustainable future for Massachusetts. It's a tribute to both CLF and the causes we hold dear that our president would be chosen for such an important position. And where does his departure leave CLF? As strong as ever! The Board of Trustees is conducting a national search for a new president, and I've accepted the honor of serving as acting president. It's a big responsibility, and the talented staff here at CLF will miss Doug and Steve, but none of us has any doubt that CLF will continue to be the voice of environmental advocacy in New England.

This issue of CM exemplifies that continuing, pivotal role. It's devoted to our new Clean Air and Climate Change Project (CACCP), formerly called the Energy Project. CLF senior attorney Seth Kaplan is project director. For his letter on the subject, turn the page. For a look at "Energy," look back to the year 1978, when CLF opposed federal government plans to auction oil drilling sites on Georges Bank. We kept the pressure on for seven years, and no such drilling has ever taken place.

The Energy Project was officially launched in 1980, and it battled from the start to stop construction of a second nuclear plant at Seabrook, NH. Four years passed, but the plant was never built.

In 1985, with a wild and scenic stretch of Maine's Penobscot River about to be inundated by construction of a hydroelectric dam, expert CLF testimony defeated the project. We said that realizing untapped potential for energy conservation would make the dam unnecessary.

Our 1987 report, Power to Spare, cited the benefits and potential--for all New England--of improving energy efficiency. Intervening in many utility proceedings, CLF convinced regulators to require more efficient practices. They subsequently ordered 12 utilities to create efficiency programs, under the guidance of CLF energy collaboratives.

In 1993 and 1994, the Energy Project halted construction of two polluting coal-fired power plants, in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. In 1995, it developed a strategy to close or clean up old, polluting plants. And in 1996, it collaborated in brokering new and visionary restructuring agreements for the electricity industry. These would lead to restructuring laws in five New England states.

Now the Energy Project has morphed into CACCP. This issue of CM contains four stories on that subject. On page 14, in "The Ultimate Bad Weather Forecast," Audrey Schulman writes about the more frequent and more extreme storms, rising seas and sunken coastal areas, higher average temperatures, and increasingly intense heat waves that New England faces unless the burning of fossil fuels is greatly reduced. CACCP director Seth Kaplan tells how we're "communicating the urgency of the situation," and identifies specific steps we're taking and proposing.

One step is to help popularize the use of wind power. In "Reaping the Wind in a Brand New Age" (page 21), Mary Grady visits Vermont's Searsburg Wind Power Facility--New England's largest. On Cape Cod, she's greeted by strong and opposing arguments related to the proposed construction of "Cape Wind," which would be the largest offshore wind farm in the world.

In "A Clean-Air Coup for CLF" (page 26), Katherine J. Paul shows how CLF advocacy has forced Boston's Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority to use ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel in its buses, and to install devices that filter out carcinogens. This translates to a 95% reduction in toxic emissions.

"A Mother Grizzly From Marblehead" (page 31), by Lisa Capone, is a knowing look at clean-air/clean-water activist, and CLF ally Lori Ehrlich, who defends her family and community with the zeal of a mighty bear.

And what could be more relevant to those concerns than that CLF be able to continue defending the law of the land? In "The Campaign for CLF" (page 36), Matthew Johnston shows how, having realized critical new resources, we'll be able to do that.

This compelling issue of CM also contains "From the States", 15 news-filled items from five states (page 6); "Meet the Writers" (page 40); and CM editor Dan Levin's offering in Diversions--"A Timely Look at a Timeless Place" (page 38). Don't miss it. This will be Dan's last issue of CM. I regret to say that he's leaving CLF. We'll miss him.