Community Update

The
Atlantic (NY) Chapter of the Sierra Club today announced its
endorsement of Rita Louie in the upcoming primary election for
Haverstraw Town Supervisor on September 10, 2013.

"We
are very pleased to announce today that the Sierra Club officially
endorses Pomona Trustee Louie for election," said George Klein,
Chair of the Lower Hudson Group of Sierra Club’s Atlantic Chapter.
"We are confident that she will continue to work to protect New
York’s environment, for our families and for our future."

Louie has
been one of the leaders in the fight to oppose United Water’s plans
to build a desalination plant in Haverstraw to treat water from the
Hudson River and sell it to Rockland residents for drinking water. As
part of the Rockland Water Coalition, of which Sierra Club is also a
member, Louie has stood up at countless public information sessions,
hearings, and town board meetings exposing the damage this expensive
and unnecessary plant will do to Haverstraw Bay, the highest rated
ecosystem in the Hudson, and the plant’s potential to greatly
exacerbate global warming through its intensive energy use.

Louie also
has a record of protecting open space and wetlands in her district,
and, if elected, plans to work towards energy efficiency and flood
reduction in the town though green infrastructure improvements.

"We
are deeply grateful to Rita for her strong stand to protect the
health and environment of Rockland residents,” said Gale Pisha,
Political Chair of the Rockland Sierra Club branch of Lower Hudson
Group. "She is a true environmental champion who has a vision
to revitalize Haverstraw through green job creation, while protecting
New York’s clean air, clean water and special places."

Along with
the endorsement, the Sierra Club will lend its volunteer strength to
Louie's campaign. "We pledge to do all we can to help ensure
Rita is elected," concluded Pisha. ”We look forward to a
victory party for the environment on primary election night and to
many more years of Rita fighting for the environment as Haverstraw
Town Supervisor.”