When Baykeeper settles our Clean Water Act lawsuits with polluters, the polluters are required to make mitigation payments to help repair the damage to the ecosystem from their past pollution. These payments are used to provide grants to other nonprofit science, environmental, and community organizations working to protect and restore the San Francisco Bay watershed.
Over our 26-year history, Baykeeper has generated more than $10 million in funding for projects that are creating a healthier San Francisco Bay. During 2014-2015, Baykeeper’s successful legal settlements provided a total of $130,200 for the following projects:
Arc Ecology - $6,200
To support community engagement in the determination of whether Treasure Island should be classified on the National Priorities List for cleanup, due to decades of pollution from past US Navy and current Coast Guard activities.
California Native Plant Society - $10,500
To support workshops to educate 5,000 Bay Area homeowners on native plant landscaping, how to reduce irrigation and chemical inputs, and the larger issues of storm water retention, creek erosion, and chemical runoff in the San Francisco Bay watershed.
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance - $45,000
To support an ongoing campaign to reduce pollution from agricultural runoff, industrial effluent, storm water runoff, and municipal sewage in the main sources of San Francisco Bay’s fresh water, the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers.
Global Community Monitor - $31,500
To support citizen enforcement of the Clean Water Act to help reduce industrial runoff pollution in San Francisco Bay; promotion of a model scrap metal recycler policy to reduce runoff pollution; and technical assistance to Benicia, Martinez, and Crocket communities on the water quality and public health impacts of the transport of explosive and hazardous crude oil to refineries.
The Watershed Project - $37,000
To support community education and implementation of low impact design strategies to harvest rainwater for use in home gardens; improvement, monitoring, and maintenance of the native oyster reef at Point Pinole Regional Shoreline; and an initiative to reduce pollution from litter and other sources, through zero waste school programs and storm water pollution prevention programs.