Welcoming Rosa Hance!

My name is Rosa Hance (she/her) and I am thrilled to begin my work as Energy Policy Contractor for the Choose Clean Water Coalition.

I grew up on the water. My childhood home on Long Island was a short bike ride from the beach and I spent my summers swimming, sailing (and capsizing), kayaking and floating on the Great South Bay and Atlantic Ocean. I've always been something of a tree hugger and as a teen helped my mom support the preservation of the last wildlife preserve in our densely populated suburb. Mostly though, my contribution consisted of personal actions and debates with my University of Maryland college friends late into the night.

After earning a degree in Spanish and Art History, I worked as a teacher and at a maritime museum. It wasn't until later, though, that as a mom I worried about the future for my daughter and joined my local chapter of the Sierra Club. A broad coalition was beginning to build its “Don't Frack Maryland” campaign. I was excited to work on the campaign and my personal connection to the water inspired me to take an active role. I asked some outgoing friends to join me canvassing for petition signatures from businesses who believed in a fracking ban. Living in a rural county in Southern Maryland, it was not for popular political reasons that people I spoke to came to oppose fracking. It was because of the damage and the risks that hydraulic fracturing created for groundwater, drinking water, recreation, tourism, and the seafood and maritime industry. The experience shifted the way that I thought about the capability and impact of diverse individual voices singing together as a choir—each with their own harmony but with the same verse.

Since then I have waded in deeper and deeper with the impacts of energy infrastructure on our water. Coal plants upstream of me on the Potomac and Patuxent Rivers have tried to push past their wastewater discharge permit limits for years. Stronger permits were necessary to protect the state of Maryland when federal regulations rolled back limitations on toxins like mercury and arsenic. I've testified before the EPA, Maryland Department of the Environment, Maryland General Assembly, and county commissions on the impacts of burning coal on water quality and improving regulations, enforcement, and accountability. In the process of transitioning to a just and equitable future, we must compel industry to clean renewable energy and protecting impacted workers, communities, and natural resources.

For a few years now I have enjoyed serving as a volunteer member of the Choose Clean Water Coalition and participating in virtual lobby days. It's with joy that I am commencing my role as Energy Policy Contractor and I look forward to working with the Coalition’s member organizations in this new capacity.

Rosa Hance is the Choose Clean Water Coalition’s Energy Policy Contractor