Orange Environment, Inc. is a non-profit, tax exempt organization whose mission is to protect the environment of Orange County, New York and promote the sustainability of its communities. OE’s approach to its mission involves increasing the participation of citizens in key community decisions that will affect the environment, promoting grassroots involvement as a base of power necessary to achieve these ends, facilitating the critical education of the public about key environmental issues, and acting for the improvement of environmental quality in Orange County.
Since 1982, OE has played a key role in defining and defending the natural character of Orange county and in addressing its major environmental problems. Orange Environment, Inc. has often stood alone as a watchdog protecting Orange County’s environmental integrity and the critical review and management of change. We have worked with dozens of local community groups to help them respond to development proposals or other projects, helped review impact documents, and participated in the legal process as an intervener in state regulatory hearings and a litigant in state and federal court.
OE offers an alternative vision for Orange County, one based on conservation of water, energy and other resources, waste minimization as an alternative focus to waste disposal, restoration and protection of our rivers, wetlands and groundwater, and ecological design and planning that allows the community to control its future – a long term sustainable vision of a healthy and vibrant region.