John,

Your ongoing support has kept us focused on what we need to do to protect people and the planet, and we’re seeing your commitment pay off. We've been doing amazing work in hard-fought campaigns to stop dangerous fossil fuel infrastructure, protect waterways from Big Ag pollution, and keep people’s water on.

Because of your generosity we’ve been able to help many people and check the dangerous power of corporations and the government institutions they try to control. With your support:

• Six thousand comments were filed and 156 residents testified at public hearings to oppose the Astoria NRG fracked gas plant, which would bring more fossil fuels and intensify the pollution in Astoria, Queens — a neighborhood nicknamed “Asthma Alley.”


• More than 9,000 comments were submitted and 175 residents spoke at public hearings against the Danskammer fracked gas plant expansion, which would emit even more dangerous fossil fuel pollution into surrounding communities and contribute to the worsening climate crisis.


• Our organizers are mobilizing supporters to join a week of action, October 11- 15 in Washington, D.C., to urge President Biden to reject fossil fuel projects.


• We’re also pressuring Congress to end fossil fuel subsidies and pass key climate policies and move us toward a sustainable climate future.

Your support has also helped win major victories against Big Ag to protect rivers and streams.

• Food & Water Watch, along with allies Snake River Waterkeeper and Earthrise Law Center, won a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) water pollution permit for factory farms in Idaho. The ruling held that the permit let factory farms off the hook for monitoring their pollution discharges into waterways. Now, not only will factory farms in Idaho be required to monitor and report water pollution for the first time, but this precedent may have a nationwide impact.


• Food & Water Watch and allies filed a lawsuit in December 2019 challenging the EPA’s refusal to strengthen pollution standards for slaughterhouses, even though these facilities are a leading source of water pollution nationally. As a result, the EPA recently announced that it will update water pollution control standards for the slaughterhouse industry. An estimated 4,700 slaughterhouses discharge polluted water to waterways — including the iconic Chesapeake Bay — either directly or indirectly through municipal sewage treatment plants.

Last year, your support also helped keep water on for millions of U.S. residents. Since March 2020, 34 states took action to limit water shutoffs during the pandemic, and 20 of these states imposed a comprehensive moratorium that applied to all water systems. These actions helped prevent COVID infections and deaths. All this was backed by recent research published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine that found water shutoff moratoria are an important public health tool to prevent the spread of disease.

These findings are moving Food & Water Watch to fight even harder for water justice everywhere by pushing for a massive federal investment in our public water infrastructure with the WATER Act, and debt forgiveness through the Maintaining Access to Essential Services Act.

With your help, Food & Water Watch is building a unified, powerful movement for real change. That means fighting for our values. That’s why we’re working to implement a bold plan to make our organization (and the wider movement we’re a part of) more diverse, equitable and inclusive.

We couldn’t have done all this without you. It fills me with hope that we can build the power needed to create a world where everyone has access to safe food, clean drinking water and a livable climate. Your support has made a difference, and with you by our side, we’ll keep fighting!

Thank you for all that you do to protect our planet and fight like you live here!

Onward together,

Wenonah Hauter
Founder and Executive Director
Food & Water Watch