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It's not all a House of Cards
Last week, I traveled from our Montclair office to the Statehouse in Trenton for a Clean Water Lobby Day. On the way there, the scene that played in my mind mirrored one from House of Cards. I thought of Kevin Spacey rolling his eyes before he opened the door to the hallway and the lobbyists dying of anticipation waiting on the other side of the door. The whole scene was set to some kind of instrumental beat in tune with the fast paced heartbeat of the lobbyists, and the conversation between legislators and lobbyists I imagined just short of fifteen seconds. The reality of the day was
Making a Career in Environmental Protection: from Canvassing to Chief of Staff
Lisa Plevin, Chief of Staff for EPA Region 2, is one of us – a former door to door canvasser and community organizer of Clean Water Action. Lisa is essentially a Jersey Girl, having moved to New Jersey at age six, graduated from Stockton College in 1981 and immediately started her environmental career.
Michigan Budget Passes Legislature with Flint Supplemental
Earlier this month in a legislative session that went until the early hours of the morning, both chambers of the Michigan Legislature passed the budget for 2017. Included in the budget omnibus bill is $114.3 million in emergency supplemental funding for solutions to the Flint water crisis. As late as the week before, it looked like there was a good possibility that the Legislature would adjourn for summer recess without passing funding for Flint. The State Senate passed $128 million in emergency funding for Flint with a 34-3 vote in early May. For weeks, the Senate bill languished in the House
Christie Administration Floods the Garden State
Right now, over 90 percent of New Jersey's waters do not meet one or more water quality standards. These standards are set by New Jersey under the law and the state is obligated to meet them. So, one would think that our state government would be doing all they can to improve the quality of our water by ensuring the standards are enforced. Nope. They are, in fact, doing the complete opposite. The Christie Administration's NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently adopted changes to roll back water quality protections in its Flood Hazard Area Control Act (FHACA), putting our
Will State House Lawmakers Ever Stand Up for Flint?
It was a dark, cold January day, shortly after Michigan officials had finally admitted that the people of Flint had been exposed to poisoned water running through their taps. We drove from Lansing to St Michael’s Church in Flint for an organizing meeting. Local activists, people from the non-profit community, and even experts who had run door-to-door canvasses in response to Hurricane Sandy, were all there to do something about the water crisis that is still being ignored by our state government. It is hard for me to write about what happened in Flint. The most important voices of this tragedy
