History
As CEO of AAEA for twenty years, Norris McDonald has been blessed with a wide variety of experiences.
Staff and offices have shifted over the years.
His personal and professional circumstances have also shifted over the past two decades.
Marriage, divorce, birth, death, up, down and all around -- the ride for him and AAEA is not over yet.
Fortunately, AAEA has provided many people with invaluable moments and hopefully we have made a difference.
Below you will find important AAEA moments frozen in a snapshot.
A picture is worth a thousand words and we want to provide you with a limitless view.
When McDonald worked for the Environmental Policy Center/Institute (now Friends of the Earth) -- 1979 -1985,
He organized the first Energy Braintrust during the Congressional Black Caucus Weekend in 1981 for the late Congressman Mickey Leland.
In 1987 AAEA sponsored a Capitol Hill event for the release of a toxics waste report by the United Church of Christ.
The report, Toxic Waste and Race, was written by Benjamin Goldman and was one of the first reports of its kind in the 1980's.
Pictured below at left, Norris McDonald presenting award to Benjamin Chavis (Congressman John Lewis is to the right).
The middle picture includes 80's board members David Hahn Baker and Jannie Pittman.
Also pictured are Ben Chavis, Congressman Howard Wolpe (D-MI) and former AAEA board member Bill Chandler (Batelle).
The awards ceremony was moved into the foyer of the north wing of the Rayburn House Office Building because it was raining.
The event was to be held in the courtyard of the Rayburn House Office Building (1987).
Canyon DeShelly at the White House Ruins on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona.
Norris McDonald in the middle with Robert Redford kneeling to his right. Navajo Chairman Peterson Zah is at Redford's right (1984).
AAEA Board member and consultant Derry Bigby and Norris McDonald
with housing inspector conducting and energy audit in Washington, D.C.
Environment Magazine Award (1991)
AAEA/CECE Internship Program 1989. AAEA placed interns at:
1) Sierra Club, 2) United Nations Environment Program, 3) Greenpeace, 4) Chesapeake Bay Program,
5) Maryland Governor's office 6) Environment & Energy Study Institute, 7) Scenic America,
8) American Lung Association, 9) Natural Resources Defense Council, 10) American Forestry Association,
11) Global Tomorrow Coalition, 12) Environmental Action Foundation, and 13) National Wildlife Federation.
AAEA took the intens from the Capitol to the outback of tributaries to the Anacostia River
AAEA reception at Washington Bullets (now Wizards) game
with Congressman Albert Wynn, Norris McDonald, Prince George's County County member,
Bullets point guard and AAEA board member Frank Johnson (1986-1990)
and AAEA board member Derry Bigby backstage at the Capital Centre after a basketball game.
AAEA sponsored Anacostia and Potomac River tours in the 1990s.
Our 22 foot Boston Whaler was docked at Seafarer's Yacht Club, the first African American boat club in the United States.
AAEA President Norris McDonald is pictured releasing lines to begin the tour with inner city youth.
AAEA geologist Dr. Gustave Jackson is standing in the middle of the boat. McDonald also piloted the boat on the tours.
Norris McDonald at the helm. Kids are seated with life jackets on. Dr. Jackson stands at right.
AAEA sponosred tours with EPA sponsored (Gore/Embeki Commission) river tours with representatives from South Africa.
Norris McDonald, Greenpeace president Peter Bahouth and AAEA founding board mmeber Dick Gregory
National Wildlife Federation Conservation Award presented to Norris McDonald
by NWF Chair and Executive Director in Tucson, Arizona ( 1997)
Maryland Governor Paris N. Glendening appointed AAEA President Norris McDonald
to serve on the Maryland Environmental Justice Commission (1998)
AAEA assisted Avesta Sheffiend Steel company in addressing pollition issues at the site
and took Baltimore inner city youth on a tour of the facility.
President Roy Cooke, Avesta Sheffield-East President is in green at left,
Joe Duncan, President of the United Steel Workers of America, Local 1245 in the middle
and Norris McDonald at right at the steel plant near Baltimore.(1998)
AAEA participated in river clean up with EPA Region III during Earth Day
around and in Wissahickon Creek in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1988)
History of Collaborations
Late Congressman Mickey Leland (D-Tx)
- Coordinated the first Congressional Black Caucus Environmental & Energy Braintrust, 1982.
American Association of Blacks in Energy
- President of DC Chapter, 1984-85
- Chapter housed at Environmental Policy Center and Environmental Policy Institute (now Friends of the Earth)
No Fear Coalition
- Assisted with the passage of the No Fear Act of 2002
- Webmaster for No Fear Coalition web site, 2001, 2002
Federal Employees Legal Defense Fund
- Webmaster for FELDF web site, 2002
United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice
- Reception in Rayburn House Office Building to Publicize Toxic Waste & Race, 1986
Anacostia Congress Heights Partnership
- Cosponsor No Drive Day, 1995
Malcolm X Cultural Education Center
- Cosponsor No Drive Day, 1995
- Recipient of their 1993 Community Service Award
National Hispanic Environmental Council
- Protested Green Group Meeting in Stone Mountain, GA for hording diversity $$, 2002
- Meetings with Green Groups to expand diversity and partnerships
Environmental Justice Coalition
- Founded in 2002 to pass EJ Act Webmaster for web site.
Friends of the Earth
- Leased office space, 1995-1997
- Cosponsor, Our Unfair Share II: A Survey of Pollution in Washington, D.C., 1998
- Cosponsor No Drive Day, 1995
- Cosponsor Brentwood Postal Facility Rally & Press Conference, (Anthrax threat), 2001
EPA Victims Against Racial Discrimination
- Partner in passage of HR 169 in House of Reps, 2001
- Cosponsor Brentwood Postal Facility Rally & Press Conference, (Anthrax threat), 2001
Accokeek Foundation
- Board of Directors, 1994-2001
Environmental Law Institute
- ELI donated office space, 1993
- Consistent partner for outreach and fundraising
Women Like Us
- Cosponsor, Rally & Press Conference at Brentwood Postal Facility, 2001
Chesapeake Bay Foundation
- Funding assistance, 1986
- Internship Program, 1989, 1990
- Cosponsor No Drive Day, 1995
Greenpeace
- Cooperative Canvassing, 1990
- Internship Program, 1989, 1990
- Cosponsor No Drive Day, 1995
- Funding assistance, 1988, 1989
Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Coalition
- Founded in 2002. Webmaster for web site
National Wildlife Federation
- Cosponsor, Our Unfair Share: A Survey of Pollution Sites in Washington, D.C., 1994
- Cosponsor No Drive Day, 1995
- Internship Program, 1990, 1991
- Recipient of their Conservation Award, 1995
Sierra Club
- Internship Program, 1989
- Health Survey with River Terrace Community, 2001
- Cosponsor No Drive Day, 1995
Scenic America
- Internship Program, 1989
American Lung Association
- Internship Program, 1989
- Cosponsor No Drive Day, 1995
United Nations Environment Program
- Internship Program, 1989
Global Tomorrow Coalition
- Recipient of their environmental award, 1994 - Internship Program
Natural Resources Defense Council
- Cleveland Water Resources Project, 1992
- Cosponsor No Drive Day, 1995
Environmental & Energy Study Institute
- Leased office space, 1990-1992
- Internship program, 1991
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Funding
- Earth Day Programs--Philadelphia, PA, 1988-91
- Water Resources Project, Kelly's Tank, W.VA., 1991
- Water Education & Training (WET) Program, 1993
- Water Education & Clean Up Project, 1994
- Support for Our Unfair Share II, A Survey of Pollution in Washington, D.C., 1995
- Support for Our Unfair Share III, Race & Pollution in Washington, D.C. (Office of Environmental Justice), 1995
- Reviewer, Community/University Partnership Grants Program, 1996
- Reviewer, EMPACT Grants Program, 2001
- Office of Environmental Justice, Cosponsor No Drive Day, 1995
- Peer consultant, Framework for Cumulative Risk Assessment, 2001
River Terrace Community
- Coordinated 1990 Earth Day Event - Health Surveys, 2001
Anacostia Watershed Society
- Cosponsor No Drive Day, 1995
National Audubon Society
- Cosponsor No Drive Day, 1995
- Cosponsor Recycling Conference, 1993
Maryland Department of Environment
- Cosponsor No Drive Day, 1995
- Community Group Representative, Maryland Advisory Council on Environmental Justice (appointed by Governor Parris N. Glendening), 1997
DC Environmental Regulation Administration (now Environmental Health Administration)
- Cosponsor No Drive Day, 1995
Environmental Justice
- Participated in Planning Meetings for 1st People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, 1990
- Participated in 1st EJ Meetings with EPA Administrator William Reilly, 1991
- Attended 1st People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, 1991
- Signatory to EJ community Discrimination in Employment Letter to traditional environmental groups, 1991
- Protested Green Groups Greed in hording money directed to minority communities, Stone Mountain, Georgia (with National Hispanic Environmental Council), 2002
- Attended 2nd People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, 2002
- Established Environmental Justice Coalition to pass an Environmental Justice Act, 2002
Washington Gas
- Installed High Efficiency Furnaces in Public Housing, 1987
DC Department of Public Works
- Cosponsor No Drive Day, 1995