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The author of the article took several quotes from government officials to depict the severity of the situation: mainly taking quotes from governors and even the president to illustrate how the hurricane affected the surrounding communities and mentalities of those living in such towns. In addition, the author added statistics of the support relief and the number of deceased due to the storm. The author also discussed the background of many of the public transportation work shifts, such as airlfight and train systems: they were down becuase of the storm.

Yes they have a way in plan to help address this issue to be resolved over the next couple years. Working with the commission, the students to help create better and improved ways to deal with sewage waste. Already there is a "solids and floatables" control that has been in place, which has significantly helped reduce the space that trash and other objects to not take up space that could be used by the water flow. This has also reduced the amount of trash that was getting dumped into waterways. 

The largest risk at hand would be how the nautral disaster, Hurricane Sandy, affected the beaches of New Jersey, causing some the beaches to lose a significant amount of sand; this becomes a risk because the beaches weren't available to use. The beaches of New Jersey make most of the profit in tourism: the shore gaining $35.5 billion for tourism locations. This became a risk becuase there was money lost during and after the storm, as groups tried to repair the shores. In addition, the cost to repair the shores were extremely costly. Another group that received risks and hazards were the communities near the shores: they had to change their entire lifestyle when the beaches were destroyed after the storm. Those communities had to learn how to live without the beaches' resources and had to get accustomed to not going down to the shores while the beaches were being restored.

After the storms, many towns affected came up with ways to increase protection in infrastructure. Town officials working alongside exerpts have been working to upgrade their plans on making their communities more resilient to natural disasters. There have also many several funds and donations for the towns affected by Sandy; there have also been ways on how to help prevent flooding in such areas. In the article, it discusses how "the DEP has worked with local officials to design a proposed $230 million federally-funded system of flood walls along the Hudson River for Hoboken and parts of Weehawken and Jersey City."

The main point of the article was that EPA researchers input portable air sensors that monitor levels of particulate matter and nitrogen oxide- pollutants that cause short and long-term health effects and are regulated under Clean Air Act. The goal was to get good on-the-ground air quality data for our environmental justice community. Data that is collected, understood, and used by those being directly impacted by the pollution. This was supported by the input of EPA air sensors installed into the communities. 

"Hurricane Irene marches north, leaving at least 8 people dead and close to 2 million without power in the states it has already hit. Tonight it bore down on millions more from the Delmarva peninsula to the Jersey Shore and the New York metropolitan area."

"More than a million residents and visitors of the Jersey Shore have been evacuated, though a stubborn 600 people, many of them senior citizens, remain in high rise buildings on a barrier island in Atlantic City, according to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Even before the core of the hurricane reached the area Sunday, Christie said winds could reach up to 75 mph at the upper floors of some of the buildings."

"New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered 2,000 National Guard troops deployed to Long Island, New York City, and the Hudson Valley area to help with the storm. Troops will help staff shelters, control evacuation routes, monitor flood threats at the World Trade Center site and work with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to secure railways and train tunnels."

"Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has issued a prepare-to-deploy order for 6,500 active duty troops from all the services to support hurricane relief efforts if necessary."

The membership is comprised of the Passaic Valley Sewage Commission working in hands with New Jersey Future. The NJ future consist of students from their own communities so boht working together, the community and the commission help build and work better together towards creating better and quick solutions. 

The aftermaths of Sandy had created many vulnerabilites to the communities around the shores. There were about 840 million gallons of raw sewage scattered into the Passaic River; and since the sewerage system had struggled to get back to full operating hours and service, there were 4.4 billion gallons of partially treated sewage were released into New York Harbor. In addition, many infrastructure was severely damaged after the storm: houses, power substations, police headquarters, etc.

Yes, filing complaints in one way might help reduce pollution but it won't completely eliminate it. I think by filing complaints, it does give the issue precendence in coming to the top so people become more aware by it, but along wiht complaining people need to take action and come up with plans to resolve the complaints.