Op-Ed: An epic victory in the battle for free-flowing rivers and clean water
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine was visiting me in New Hampshire to watch the last race for the U.S. Senate in that state.
He had some reservations about Senator Jeanne Shaheen. She was known as an environmental environmentalist, and he didn’t think she could win the race. It was the first time I had met him, and he was a fellow conservationist with a great deal of experience with New Hampshire land management issues.
It was a tough day for me and my friend that day. We both had to cancel our plans, because our respective flights had been delayed due to icy weather. The race was as close as any race has ever gotten, and we were both very nervous.
When I got home I opened Twitter and was blown away by what I found: that we now had the longest race in history, with the race still being undecided.
Even though it was a long day for all involved, I believe our day was made that day. It was, even in all the hard work and effort, a big victory of principle and character in the fight for the protection of free-flowing rivers.
If you thought winning the battle on the Senate race was an important win for local, state and national conservation efforts, you are mistaken. It only put a small dent in the growing list of victories for free flowing rivers in the battle to protect our nation’s waterways from the very real threat of climate change.
New Hampshire won the battle that day for the protection of clean water and free-flowing rivers for the simple reason that Jeanne Shaheen was in the Senate for nearly a decade and made herself responsible for the decisions.
New Hampshire had some of the most significant conservation campaigns of the past two decades on its hands – campaigns that could have been stopped if the elected officials had decided not to participate.
They decided.
We won the battle, and the victory is not only in the New Hampshire Senate race – where I believe we’re going to win the final count, with the race almost being called now – but it’s also in the