Blog Post: October 6, 2014
Ten years ago, San Francisco Baykeeper won a major victory for protecting California waterways from pesticides, when we secured the first regulations on agricultural pesticides in the nation. This year Baykeeper is celebrating 25 years of work to defend the Bay from pollution, and looking back at...
25th Anniversary Flash from the Past: Dow Chemical Required to Clean Up Its Contamination of the Bay
Blog Post: September 15, 2014
In 2002, Baykeeper compelled Dow Chemical’s Pittsburg plant to keep dangerous toxic chemicals from contaminating Suisun Bay, an inlet of San Francisco Bay.
Dow’s pollution included a long list of chemicals that cause cancer and reproductive harm, including chlorinated solvents. In addition to...
Blog Post: August 11, 2014
In 2000, Baykeeper and a coalition of neighborhood and environmental groups won crucial changes in the redevelopment of San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood. In a major win for San Francisco Bay and the Mission Bay neighborhood, the changes prevented annual overflows of 30 million gallons of...
Blog Post: July 22, 2014
In 1998, Baykeeper and our partners won a great victory for San Francisco Bay when we compelled two oil refineries to stop contaminating the Bay with selenium. The refinery owners, oil giants Unocal and Exxon, also paid $4.8 million in penalties. The funds were used for projects that included...
Blog Post: June 17, 2014
More than 50 swimmers, sailors, stand-up paddle boarders, kayakers, and rowers, along with the San Francisco Fire Department fire boat, the Hornblower hybrid ferry, a hybrid yacht, and the Baykeeper pollution patrol boat rode swift incoming currents under sunny skies, in the first-ever Bay Parade...
Column: June 2, 2014
In the late 1980s, San Francisco Bay’s health was in serious decline. Environmental laws were in place to protect the Bay from pollution, but they were not being enforced. Media reports warned that the Bay might even be dying.
In the face of these threats, Dr. Michael Herz, a researcher and...
Blog Post: April 9, 2014
By Mike Herz, Baykeeper Founder
Just a few months after Baykeeper’s founding in 1989, we received an anonymous tip about illegal dredging that led to a covert investigation, media scandal, retaliatory damage to the Baykeeper boat, a criminal investigation, and finally, jail time for the offenders....
Featured Stories: March 11, 2014
In honor of our 25th Anniversary, Baykeeper presents the story of our founding in 1989.
In the late 1980s, Dr. Michael Herz, a research scientist who had been studying and advocating on behalf of San Francisco Bay for the previous decade, was becoming increasingly alarmed. Environmental laws that...