Michael Witt
General Counsel
Passaic Valley Sewage Commission
Biography
Michael Witt is General Counsel for the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (PVSC) in Newark, New Jersey. PVSC is one of the oldest dedicated environmental agencies in the United States and is the country’s the fifth largest waste water treatment facility, serving over 1.5 million people. For over 25 years in both private and public practice, Michael has focused his practice primarily on environmental and governmental entity representation. Michael works extensively in the area of wastewater regulation and litigation and has considerable experience handling matters arising under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (Superfund), the Federal Clean Water Act, the New Jersey Water Pollution Control Act, the New Jersey Sewerage Authorities Law and the New Jersey Municipal and County Utilities Authorities Law. Michael appears in court and before United States Environmental Protection Agency and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. His outstanding work in environmental law earned him spots on New Jersey Monthly Magazine’s list of young Rising Stars and Super Lawyers.
In 2021, Michael was elected to serve on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA). NACWA is the nation’s recognized leader in legislative, regulatory and legal advocacy on the full spectrum of clean water issues, as well as a top technical resource for water management, sustainability and ecosystem protection interests. Michael is also a member of NACWA’s Task Force on Environmental Justice, serves on NACWA’s Legal Committee, and is on the Editorial Board for NACWA’s Consent Decree Handbook.
Michael dedicates significant time to service to the legal community. Michael was appointed to the New Jersey State Bar Association's Committee on Continuing Legal Education and the Committee on Renewable Energy, Clean Tech, and Climate Change. He served for two years as Chair of the NJSBA’s Local Government Law Section, advocating for government entities on the municipal and county levels, and is still on the Section’s Board of Directors. By appointment of the New Jersey Supreme Court, Michael served for eight years on the District VI Ethics Committee. Michael is a frequent lecturer for the State Bar on topics such as the New Jersey Open Public Records Act, Ethics for Government Attorneys and Labor Law for Government Attorneys. He also lectures on Ethics for Engineers for the New Jersey Water Environment Association and counts his proudest achievement as having been inducted as an honorary member of the NJWEA’s Select Society of Sanitary Sludge Shovelers, the first attorney in New Jersey to have been so honored.
Michael lives in Bound Brook, New Jersey, with his wife Camilla (a professor at Rutgers University), sons Sam and Oscar, and dog Aida.
Rutgers Climate Bridge Panel 1: Impact on People
Abstract
Publicly owned clean water utilities – agencies that provide sewage treatment services – are some of the oldest environmental and public health agencies in existence. Due to the acceleration of climate change and the increasingly catastrophic consequences that change has brought, clean water utilities are increasingly finding themselves at the intersection of resiliency planning and the still-evolving concept of environmental justice. This presentation will focus on a real-life example of one such intersection that is currently taking place in Newark, New Jersey. Discussion will center on identifying some of the myriad considerations that go into the decision-making process when performing resiliency planning in an environmental justice community and the competing interests of the people who present those considerations.