DNREC Appoints new environmental justice coordinator

Delaware- DNREC secretary Shawn Garvin announced on Wednesday a new appointment to the department’s leadership.

He named Dr. Katera Moore as the agency – and that state’s – first environmental justice coordinator.

Dr. Moore will be joining the office of the secretary to help assist the state’s underserved communities who have historically experienced adverse human health an environmental impacts to their populations.

Moore is an seasoned educator who hold a doctorate in Earth an environmental sciences, and is an urban geographer who hopes to use an environmental justice lens to focus on and examine how socio-political structures contribute to disparities in day to day life.

We spoke to Dr. Moore who tells us that in the positions she hopes to: “foster meaningful participation in the decision making process that impacts people’s lived experiences.”

She went on to state that “On the Natural resources side it would be making sure that people are included in our decisions about how were managing out natural resources, and then also on the environmental control side.”

In addition to appointing Dr. Moore to this new position secretary Garvin also announced the launch of a new DNREC environmental justice webpage.

He says the new page (de.gov/dnrecej) will help foster two way communication between the department and residents so that DNREC can help facilitate environmental justice that may be long overdue, especially to those residing in that state’s underserved communities.

In our interview with Dr. Moore she told us that “The reality is we just need an informed citizenry and that makes everybody better. For me, its to find ways and processes to do just that.”

DNREC is also looking forward to receiving feedback and constructive criticism for the development of their online content that helps foster active participation on environmental justice issues.