Week 15: The Final Stretch

My time here is the nation's capital is up, for now. All-in-all it has been very rewarding. I have enjoyed my short spat as a city dweller, but as of this weekend it's back to the woods of NH. Even though I only have a few days left, things are not over yet.

Today I got to go to my first Senate Hearing; the topic was The State of Science at the EPA. George Gray, the Science Advisor/Assistant Administrator of ORD, was the headlining testimony for the hearing. Barbara Boxer was the official chair, being the chairperson of the Environment and Public Works Committee. However, the in situ chair was really Senator Whitehouse from Road Island. The two of them provided a substantial one-two punch to Gray. Boxer, with her enthusiastic, emotionally driven statements and Whitehouse with his cornering precise questions forced Gray to respond very carefully to their inquiries--at one point, in regards to the number of scientists at the EPA that feel their work is obstructed by political influence. Overall it was a very interesting hearing.

Being the tourist that I am at heart, I decided that I needed some pictures to record the event, I was especially excited to have one of Boxer. I tried simply holding my camera over my head and shooting from my angle in the back row of seats. This method was not effective at anything other than earning the painful glares of most of the other observes in the room as my flash lit up the chamber (I stupidly forgot to turn it off). No, I could not wait until the hearing was over, because you never know when the senators will need to leave. I turned off the flash and tried several more times to the dislike of my fellow onlookers, but I am leaving DC in three days anyways. I will share the pictures, however none are really distinguishable except the one of the crest on the wall.

Here is the crap that I took that earned me some of the animosity
that could have been aimed at the issues being discussesd!

This is the only decent photo I managed to get...pretty cool though,
good proof of my presence at the Seante.

We have meetings scheduled and documents to draft all the way up until my last hour; I am glad that I will be busy though. My internship has served me very well during my time here. I came in wanting to see the process of creating environmental policy and contributing factors. I was able to see and/or hear about every step of the process: identifying potential issues, research, synthesizing the research, making recommendations, drafting documents/papers, debating how to create policy, creating policy, then debating how to enforce policy, and maybe even debating if policies that are created are justified or even sometimes legal. I may not have mentioned every step, but there are a lot. I still haven't seen all take place first hand. Additionally, I got to attend meetings, hearings, and conferences that I never imagined I could. Overall, this experience has given me a much clearer perspective of policy from a practical point of view. I think it has been an invaluable experience.

There are still museums that I wish I could explore, monuments I would like to visit, and events that I want to attend. Yet, I feel as though I spent my time well overall. Plus, I am glad to have reasons to come back again someday, besides job hunting (although I am still unsure if the city is where I want to be).

Thanks for sharing the semester with me...I am glad I came out in one piece!

Good-bye, D.C.!