Flint, MI– An advocate for Flint residents during the water crisis was recently hired by the the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Dimple Chaudhary, who is now the Deputy General Counsel for Nationwide Resource Protection Programs, used to serve as the Deputy Litigation Director at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Her appointment was announced Jan. 21, along with 16 other new hires.
As an attorney at the NRDC, she worked with the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan to represent Flint residents in a case regarding the lead contamination in the city’s water, which led to a settlement in 2017, requiring the replacement of Flint’s lead service lines in three years and for the State to provide the City with $97 million to do that.
She also fought for the court to order the City and Michigan officials to provide bottled water delivery to every household during the crisis.
She didn’t stop advocating for Flint then. Last year, she argued that residents deserve service line excavations in University Park and Smith Village.
Chaudhary also sat down with Julia Louis-Dreyfus for an interview on Now This News and spoke about the dangers of lead in water, and the situation in Flint. The NRDC encouraged people to send letters to the Former EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler to strengthen protections against toxic lead in drinking water.
The EPA stated in a press release that the new hires “will advance the Biden-Harris administration’s agenda to tackle the climate crisis, advance environmental justice and create clean energy jobs.”
Some Flint residents were disappointed when it was announced that President Joe Biden would be picking Former EPA Chief Gina McCarthy to serve as the senior White House adviser on climate change.
“Everybody comes through here and says they’re not going to forget Flint, but we keep getting slapped in the face every time we turn around,” said Former Mayor Karen Weaver on McCarthy’s appointment.
Before Biden was inaugurated, residents said they hoped his administration would not forget about Flint, and the challenges they are still facing.
Dan Utech, EPA’s incoming Chief of Staff said in the press release that the “EPA will be at the heart of President Biden’s commitment to protect public health and the environment while building a clean energy future that creates good paying jobs.”
According to the release, the new hires were sworn in on January 20, 2021 and received ethics training “as part of the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to the highest ethical standards.”