OR&R Joins Congressman Adriano Espaillat and Partners on a Harlem River Environmental Justice Tour

JULY 11, 2022 — OR&R Director Scott Lundgren participated in an Environmental Justice vessel tour of the Harlem River hosted by Congressman Adriano Espaillat in conjunction with the Bronx and Harlem River Watersheds Urban Waters Federal Partnership, Harlem River Working Group, Bronx Council for Environmental Quality, Hudson River Foundation, and WE ACT. 

A group of people.
The NOAA team prior to the June 17, 2022 Harlem River Environmental Justice boat tour. NOAA affiliated participants (L to R) included reps from CESSRST, NYSG, NART, OR&R, and CESSRST(2). Image credit: NOAA.

The Harlem River is part of the Bronx and Harlem River Watersheds location of the Urban Waters Federal Partnership. OR&R is represented at several Urban Waters Federal Partnership sites nationwide, in particular where there is an intersection with our natural resource injury restoration work following pollution; the office also seeks to connect other programs across the agency to Urban Waters Federal Partnership sites in support of NOAA’s 2021 recommitment to the partnership. 

Scott joined other NOAA representatives with connections to this site, including representatives from the NOAA North Atlantic Regional Team; the NOAA Center for Earth System Sciences and Remote Sensing Technologies, a NOAA Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions Cooperative Science Center; and New York Sea Grant.

Seeing the river from the water provided an opportunity to witness extraordinary disparities in waterway and natural resource access on both banks and different areas of the river. It allowed networking among the wide range of government and non-government organizations and discussions about areas of mutual interest.

For further information, contact Reyhan.Mehran@noaa.gov or Scott.Lundgren@noaa.gov. 

Last updated Tuesday, November 8, 2022 1:41pm PST