Many industrial facilities discharge polluted runoff into storm drains that lead to our creeks, rivers, and bays. If uncontrolled, that runoff may contain high concentrations of pollutants, such as toxic metals and petroleum hydrocarbons. These contaminants place a heavy burden on fish and other animals. For example, copper – found in motor vehicle brake linings, pesticides and building materials – is highly toxic in the aquatic environment. Other pollutants, such as mercury, dioxins, and PCBs, accumulate in fish tissues, causing health problems for the predators and the humans who eat them.

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In 1962, Rachel Carson warned of the dangers of man-made chemicals to wildlife and to humans in her book, Silent Spring, concluding that "our fate is connected with the animals." The effects of synthetic chemicals on wildlife include:

• Decreased hatching success
• Birth defects and fertility Problems
• Behavior abnormalities
• Compromised immune systems
• Cancers

Rachel Carson was right. It is now widely known that man-made chemicals, such as endocrine-disrupting chemicals, are  indeed affecting wildlife and human health.

EcoRights identifies pollution sources and, by exercising our citizens’ rights to enforce the federal Clean Water Act and other state and federal laws, we take steps to ensure those sources are cleaned up.  We make uthe owners of polluting facilities reduce their discharges to legal and acceptable levels. At some facilities, that may require the excavation and removal of contaminated soils and sediments. At other facilities, it might only require the implementation of better waste and pollutant management practices, such as sediment traps, oil/water separators, or merely sweeping up and keeping industrial materials under covered areas.