THE WATERWHEEL FOUNDATION

WaterWheel Backs CLF Lake Champlain Clean-up Initiative

August 30, 2000

The WaterWheel Foundation has awarded a $100,000 grant to The Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) to support CLF's advocacy to clean up Lake Champlain. WaterWheel is the charitable giving arm of the Vermont-based band Phish. Since beginning its Lake Champlain Initiative in 1997, WaterWheel has donated a total of $350,000 to organizations working on issues affecting the Lake.

"Lake Champlain is an incredible resource and we're all concerned about its pollution problems," said Phish Manager John Paluska. "People want action on lake clean up. CLF led the effort to clean up Boston Harbor, hopefully they can achieve the same success with Lake Champlain."

The CLF initiative will focus on enforcing key clean up provisions of the Federal Clean Water Act to address industrial and municipal pollution discharges, polluted run-off from over-development such as malls and parking lots, and to create enforceable watershed clean up plans. In addition, CLF will focus on using the Clean Water Act and working with family farmers to reduce polluted runoff from farms.

"The very serious water pollution problems on Lake Champlain have been well documented over the past 30 years," said CLF Attorney and Natural Resources Project Director, Christopher Kilian. "It is now time to make the difficult choices necessary to clean up the lake. CLF will take action to stop the lake's pollution problems."

The Conservation Law Foundation has a long history of leadership on the most compelling environmental protection and resource management issues in New England. For the past decade, CLF's Vermont Advocacy Center has been a leader on environmental issues affecting the state's water and air quality, wildlife, forests, and communities. In addition, CLF has been instrumental in strengthening Vermont's water quality laws, advocating for protection of streamflows, stopping projects that would harm wetlands, and restoring aquatic habitat. CLF uses a range of approaches to craft solutions to major pollution problems including selective legal enforcement of environmental laws, identification of market-based mechanisms, collaborative negotiations, and assisting community activists.

The WaterWheel Foundation was created by Phish in 1997 to oversee the band's various charitable activities. These include the Touring Division, the band's Vermont-based giving program, and the Lake Champlain Initiative. The Touring Division collects contributions on behalf of a featured non-profit organization at each Phish show and will highlight CLF's Lake Champlain Advocacy at the September 9 show at the Pepsi Arena in Albany, NY. The Vermont-based program funds non-profit groups in Vermont working on social issues or the arts. The Lake Champlain Initiative, which is funding the CLF grant, uses all of the band's royalties from the sale of Ben & Jerry's Phish Food ice cream and related merchandise to support Lake Champlain and its watershed.

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