NACWA Environmental Justice Committee Hosts First Virtual Meeting
NACWA’s Environmental Justice (EJ) Committee held its first virtual meeting on April 7 and discussed a number of current hot topics in the environmental justice space.
During the meeting, Matthew Lee, Environmental Protection Specialist in EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice, gave a presentation on EPA’s updated EJScreen mapping tool. After taking questions from the committee, Lee and Chitra Kumar, also with EPA’s EJ Office, encouraged NACWA to reach out with any comments or additional questions from NACWA members concerning EJScreen.
Andy Kricun, Managing Director of Moonshot Missions and former CEO of the Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority, also led a robust discussion concerning potential engagement between NACWA and EPA’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC), on which he sits. As a result of that discussion, NACWA will be looking for opportunities to communicate and work with the NEJAC going forward.
The committee is co-chaired by Andrew Lee, Interim General Manager and CEO for Seattle Public Utilities, and Sharise Horne, Director of Community Benefits and Partnerships for Louisville and Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District. It was established by NACWA President Kishia Powell earlier this year.
Please contact Amanda Aspatore with any questions or to join the committee, or if you have any comments you would like NACWA to consider submitting to EPA about the EJScreen tool.