Tom FitzGerald lands seat on Ohio River commission

Louisville environmental attorney Tom FitzGerald has accepted a presidential nomination to ORSANCO, the commission that establishes water quality standards for the Ohio River.

President Barack Obama appointed FitzGerald and two others to represent the United States on the commission, which has other commissioners from the eight states that fall within its jurisdiction.

He's an unusual appointment in that the commission hasn't had a lot of independent environmental advocates among its members -- especially attorneys who use their skills to fight against pollution instead of defending companies or industries abilities to pollute.

One of the people he's replacing, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, was a leading attorney for oil and gas companies and pipelines associated with fracking in the upper Midwest and Northeast states, for example.

He will no doubt bring his passion for public health and the environment to the commission as it wrestles with questions about how to continue making improvements in water quality for a river depended on by millions for drinking water and recreation and commerce.

There is one area where I expect "Fitz" may pull the commission a little further along, and that has to do with all these so-called chemicals of emerging concern. These are the endocrine disrupters that mimic hormones that aren't fully removed by sewage treatment and can get into waterways by other means, too.

Indeed, in a written statement today, he identified them as a concern:

As aquatic and human toxicology advances, we learn of the potential effects of low-dose exposure to a range of chemicals present in wastewater, stormwater, and industrial releases into the mainstem and its tributaries.

He also wrote this:

The need to improve source water protection from accidental spills and releases has been brought home in recent years from chemical spills and slurry impoundment failures. ... Nonpoint source pollution from urban runoff, agricultural activities, and abandoned mines remains a major cause of water pollution in the Ohio River. And each of these areas will take collaborative, and in some cases innovative strategies among the states and local communities for the 25 million people who live in the Basin

He wrapped it up this way:

I am honored to have been appointed by President Obama to this position, and look forward to working with the other Federal and State Commissioners, with the staff, many of whom I have known for a number of my years as an advocate, and with PIACO and the other ORSANCO committees, in a shared commitment to the as-yet elusive goal of the 1977 Clean Water Act of ending water pollution and safeguarding the health of one of the nation's truly Great Rivers.

And no, I'm told that the nomination does not need Senate approval.