New IJC Member: Lana Pollack

Mike Killion: Peter Lambert ~Enlarge

From Washington, D.C. comes word that the U.S. Senate has finally confirmed Lana Pollack as one of three U.S. members of the International Joint Commission following her nomination by President Obama last winter.

As a longtime fan of Lana's during her three terms in the Michigan Senate and as a former employee of hers at the Michigan Environmental Council, I can assure anyone reading these words that she is not going to be a mere figurehead chair-warmer at the IJC. Instead, she'll ask tough questions, forge thoughtful policies, be accessible to citizens, and shun the platitudes that characterize much Great Lakes dialogue.

She also has an unparalleled ethic as a public servant and environmental champion.

But she will also serve the binational, diplomatic tradition of the century-old IJC.

To read up on Lana, check this and this.