Norton to Speak at Press Conference Announcing $5 Million Fund to Protect and Restore Anacostia River

Press Release

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will speak at a press conference to announce the creation of the Anacostia River Revitalization Fund, which will help protect and restore the Anacostia River and create a national model for watershed conservation, tomorrow, March 9, 2012, at 10 a.m. at Marvin Gaye Park, Nannie Helen Burroughs Ave. and Division Ave., NE. Norton will be joined by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, Mayor Vincent C. Gray, and David O'Neill, Director of the Eastern Partnership Office of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The fund will invest $1 million this year, with a goal of investing $5 million over the next three years.

"This important funding comes at a critical time, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the District and Maryland in the early stages of implementation of the 10-year Anacostia River cleanup plan mandated by my bill, the Anacostia Watershed Initiative Act," Norton said. "These funds will move the District forward with the message that the city is serious about cleaning up the Anacostia River."

In the fiscal year 2012 omnibus spending bill, Norton was successful in getting $15 million for D.C. Water's Combined Sewer Overflow Long-Term Plan to restore the Anacostia River, her top environmental priority.

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