NEWS ALERT
Drama! Intrigue! Stormwater!
Local Activists to Talk about the Twists and Turns of Montgomery County Stormwater Fight
For Immediate Release: August 27, 2018
For more information, contact Caroline Brewer at caroline.brewer@anshome.org or call 301-652-9188 x 23, or Lisa Goodnight,lglisagoodnight@gmail.com, 301-523-5394
Chevy Chase, MD -- ANS Director of Conservation Eliza Cava will speak on Tuesday, August 28, 2018 about the drama and intrigue surrounding this spring's stormwater fight in Montgomery County alongside fellow activists from the Potomac Conservancy and Friends of Sligo Creek.
Among the many twists and turns was the first veto of a capital improvement budget in 25 years by County Executive Ike Leggett, causing dispute and confusion among the County Council and the Department of Environmental Protection as to the reasons for his veto and how it might be overcome.
What: Opportunity to gain a greater understanding around the county's stormwater fight. Friends of Sligo Creek is hosting the meeting.
Date: August 28, 2018
Time: Presentation begins at 7:30 pm. Refreshments will be served at 7:15 pm.
Location:
Silver Spring Civic Building
1 Veterans Place
Silver Spring, MD 20910
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About ANS: ANS is the oldest, independent environmental organization in the DMV. Throughout its history, ANS has played a pivotal role in conserving our region’s iconic natural places from development including the C&O Canal, Dyke Marsh and, most recently, Ten Mile Creek. Past ANS member and board president, Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, is credited with launching the now global environmental movement. ANS’s nature experts provide hundreds of opportunities each year for children and adults to enjoy, learn about, and protect the environment.
MacArthur "Genius" Award-Winner Octavia Estelle Butler is the 2018 Taking Nature Black Legacy Environmental Champion. Butler, who died in 2006, was a writer, cultural critic, and literary force of nature. The Washington Post called her “a master storyteller and one of the finest voices in fiction, period.” Calling attention to environmental degradation and its effects on humanity was a theme she repeated in many of her science fiction novels.
Alan Spears, who played a crucial role in the campaign and designation of the 
Pioneering Environmental Justice Advocate Vernice Miller-Travis, a former program officer at the Ford Foundation, who created the foundation’s first-ever environmental justice grant-making portfolio, and who served as a member of the EPA's National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, is also a National Environmental Champion. Vernice, in 2017, helped published a report on recommendations for how the EPA could more thoroughly integrate environmental justice considerations into core permitting functions.
Vince Leggett,
Award-Winning and Trailblazing Researcher and Environmental Health Scientist Dr. Sacoby Wilson, Director of the Community Engagement, Environmental Justice and Health (CEEJH) Initiative 
Kari Fulton, an award-winning environmental and climate justice advocate and organizer, who recently served as Interim Director of the Environmental Justice Climate Change Initiative, the first domestic coalition for Climate Justice, is being honored as a Regional Environmental Champion as well.
The conference's first Youth Environmental Champion is DaJuan Gay, a college student who has fought for low-income citizens to have access to the Chesapeake Bay, and stresses the importance of expanding environmental education to low-income and predominantly minority communities.