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Renowned author James Kunstler to speak at Connecticut meeting on water pollution

Release Date: 05/21/2001
Contact Information: Amy Miller, EPA Press Office (617-918-1042)

BOSTON - James Howard Kunstler, a noted author and speaker on urban sprawl, will be the keynote speaker 1:30 to 3 pm tomorrow, Tuesday, May 22, at a three-day meeting at the Madison Beach Hotel in Madison, Conn.

Kunstler, who has written two books about urban sprawl, will speak about the effect of sprawl on people and the environment during a meeting of government officials involved with reducing runoff pollution into surface and ground water resources in the northeast.

Kunstler's speech, called "Parking Lot Nation: The Coming End of Suburbia," will be the keynote address at the annual meeting of the Nonpoint Source Work Group of the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC). The work group is made up of state and federal agency staff who work on runoff issues in the six New England states, New York and New Jersey.

Runoff pollution, also called nonpoint source pollution, is largely caused by land use. In urban areas, pollutants like oil, animal waste and trash that accumulate on roads and parking lots are washed into nearby waterways by rain and snow melt. In this way, sprawl exacerbates the problem of water pollution. This year's meeting focuses on water quality and land management improvements achieved after a decade of Clean Water Act programs to address runoff pollution.

Kunstler, who has lectured at Yale, MIT, Harvard and dozens of other universities and professional associations, wrote "The Geography of Nowhere" and "Home from Nowhere" about sprawl in America. Kunstler also has written eight novels and is a regular contributor to the New York Times, where he writes on environmental and economic issues.

The meeting is sponsored by the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission and the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, with partial funding from EPA. More information on the event is available from http://www.neiwpcc.org/nps2.html.

Directions: Take I-95 to Exit 61 and then South on 79 to a right onto Route 1 South. After about a mile, take a left onto West Wharf Road. Madison Beach Hotel is at 94 West Wharf Road.