Action Plan for Norton's Anacostia River Clean-Up Bill Released Today
Action Plan for Norton's Anacostia River Clean-Up Bill Released Today
WASHINGTON, DC - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), who in 2003 introduced the Anacostia Watershed Initiative with four regional co-sponsors, and got it passed as part of the Water Resources Development Act of 2007, today will join House Leader Steny Hoyer and other regional and local officials at a press conference where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will release its10-year comprehensive Anacostia River Watershed Plan to clean-up and protect the Anacostia River and its tributaries. The press conference will be held at 1 p.m. at the Bladensburg Waterfront Park, locate at 4601 Annapolis Road, Bladensburg, Md. "The Anacostia has been my environmental priority since coming to Congress," Norton said. "With the Action Plan released today, comprehensive clean-up of the Anacostia becomes a top environmental priority for the region and the federal government."
The bill the Congresswoman introduced addressed the District's outdated and inadequate combined sewer system and the runoff from federal facilities, as well as other properties in Maryland. Norton also secured $55 million for the effort - $35 million for the combined sewer overflow problem and $20 million for clean-up of the Anacostia River. The action plan released today will contain a roadmap for funding, including cost-sharing strategies between the federal government and local jurisdictions. The plan includes more than 3,000 projects for river and stream restoration, storm water controls, wetland creation and restoration, fish blockage removal, and reforestation. The plan also includes strategies for controlling trash and toxic contamination.
Clean-up of the Anacostia River has been, and remains, a top priority for Norton. "This is a joint 10-year plan with teeth," Norton said. "It commits the Governors of Maryland and Virginia, the Mayor of the District of Columbia, and county executives of Montgomery County and Prince George's County, for the first time, to take action jointly."