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STEVE FLEISCHLI assumed the role of President of Waterkeeper Alliance from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in June 2007. Mr. Kennedy now serves as Chairman of Waterkeeper Alliance.
Mr. Fleischli held the position of Executive Director of Waterkeeper Alliance from 2003 to 2007. During that time, he led the organization through enormous growth, including the expansion of the Waterkeeper grassroots model to 162 communities across six continents. Meanwhile, he oversaw an expanded organizational focus on national and international protection of water resources, ranging from citizen suits over concentrated animal feeding operations to international petitions over transboundary mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. He also co-founded Waterkeeper magazine.
Prior to joining the Alliance staff in 2003, Steve Fleischli served as the Executive Director and Baykeeper for the Santa Monica Baykeeper in Los Angeles. Among other things, he was instrumental in the passage of rules to eliminate summer beach closures in Santa Monica Bay and trash in Los Angeles-area rivers. Steve also sued the City of Los Angeles for its illegal discharges of raw sewage into local waters. This case – which the U.S. Department of Justice calls "one of the largest sewage cases in U.S. history" – resulted in a finding that the City violated federal laws more than 3,600 times and eventually led to a $2 billion settlement agreement for restoration of the city’s sewage infrastructure. He has also testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works regarding stormwater pollution. Under his leadership, the Santa Monica Baykeeper received numerous awards for program successes including kelp habitat restoration and volunteer water quality monitoring.
In addition, as a legal and policy analyst for Heal the Bay in Santa Monica, Steve helped settle a lawsuit against the United States Environmental Protection Agency for its failure to develop Total Maximum Daily Loads for over one hundred impaired waterways in the Los Angeles area. Authoring a comprehensive report on the lack of water quality enforcement by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, Steve also has helped draft and secure passage of numerous California state legislative measures, including AB 411 (statewide bathing water standards), AB 2019 (Storm Water Enforcement Act of 1998) and AB 1186 (storm water fee provisions).
Steve has served as an Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine University School of Law and as President of the California Coastkeeper Alliance, a member of the Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor Safety Committee, a member of the Steering Committee for the City of Los Angeles’ Integrated Resources Plan and was a founding board member and is the current President of Energy Independence Now, a non-profit organization dedicated to a clean, renewable energy and transportation economy in California. He holds a law degree from UCLA School of Law and a Bachelor's Degree with honors from the University of Colorado, Boulder, with majors in Environmental, Population & Organismic Biology; Economics; and Environmental Conservation.
He is also the author of a novel about violence in American high schools, My Sweet Butterfly (2006).
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