Cantrell To Participate As A Panelist For American Bar Conference

New Orleans LA

09 April, 2022

7:48 AM

Description

Press release from the City of New Orleans: April 6, 2022 NEW ORLEANS – On Thursday, April 7, Mayor LaToya Cantrell will participate as a panelist at the American Bar Association's 51st Spring Conference on Environmental Law in San Francisco. Mayor Cantrell will join Jennifer Hernandez, Partner at Holland & Knight, and Tomi Vest, General Counsel at the New York City Mayor's Office of Climate & Sustainability, to discuss the effects of climate change on cities across the nation and its impact on infrastructure and citizens. The panel titled The Evolving City: How Cities Respond to Climate Change will be moderated by Christine Jochim of Brownstein Hyatt Farber. "My participation on this panel is a testament to the work we are accomplishing in New Orleans," said Mayor LaToya Cantrell. "We are at the crossroads of climate change and critical infrastructure improvements. The nation and the world are watching how we address these issues. We have weathered major natural disasters and are working to create more green infrastructure, stormwater management projects, hazard mitigation initiatives and solar programs with the help of federal government investments. In addition, national and international organizations are paying attention and are eager to invest in our city because they see and understand the importance of New Orleans and her people on the global stage. They understand because of the practical implementation of climate change mitigation we have demonstrated on the ground to promote resiliency. We are creating an environment where their capital investments can flourish, ultimately providing our people with access to world-class services and businesses they deserve. We must continue to remain laser-focused on capturing billions rather than millions of federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act resources because New Orleans is perfectly positioned to access these resources. This is due to our effectiveness in spending federal dollars at an unprecedented rate. As a testament to this ability, recently I met with the United States Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council and the White House Council on Environmental Quality and provided background on our capacity to utilize federal resources. People are coming to New Orleans to understand climate change and infrastructure needs on the ground because we are the case study. We must remain united and focused on the improvements we are seeking. The decisions we make over the next four years will determine where we are in the next 40 to 50 years. Now is our time!" The panel discussion will focus on the effects of climate change and the increasing number of natural disasters that impact cities around the world. Mayor Cantrell will discuss how New Orleans is stepping up to respond to climate change and natural disasters by launching innovative mitigation and stormwater management projects to repair and replace severely damaged infrastructure. The Mayor will also discuss how the City is leveraging economic and housing dollars to spur transformative redevelopment in areas most impacted. Mayor Cantrell will also attend a plenary session titled Infrastructure Bill – Transformational Change, or More of the Same?, which features a discussion on the rebuilding of roads, bridges, and new climate resilience and broadband initiatives as a part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). She will also attend the 60 Days' Notice: Citizen Suits after 50 years of the Clean Water Act (and other short stories) session, which will highlight citizen suits on environmental statutes, and the speakers will discuss how states, citizen suit plaintiffs and defense counsel prepare for suits that address changes to environmental practice. This press release was produced by the City of New Orleans. The views expressed here are the author's own.