William Brownell Golden (born October 9, 1948, in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American attorney and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

who represented the

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

and

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

district in the

Massachusetts Senate The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the ...

from 1985 to 1991. He was a candidate for

Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts The lieutenant governor of Massachusetts is the first in the line to discharge the powers and duties of the office of governor following the incapacitation of the Governor of Massachusetts. The constitutional honorific title for the office is His ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, but lost in the Democratic primary to Marjorie Clapprood. Golden participated in the creation of the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...

, the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

, the

Massachusetts Water Resources Authority The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) is a public authority in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that provides wholesale drinking water and sewage services to certain municipalities and industrial users in the state, primarily in th ...

, the Urban Harbors Institute and Save the Harbor/Save the Bay.

Education

Golden graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1970 and earned his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from

Boston University School of Law Boston University School of Law (Boston Law or BU Law) is the law school of Boston University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top law schools in the United States and considered an eli ...

in 1974. Mr. Golden was also awarded an MPA from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1981.

Role in Boston Harbor Cleanup

City Solicitor A city attorney is a position in city and municipal government in the United States. The city attorney is the attorney representing the municipality. Unlike a district attorney or public defender, who usually handles criminal cases, a city a ...

for

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Greater Boston, Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 1 ...

, William Golden filed the lawsuit in December 1982 against the Metropolitan District Commission that initiated the court-ordered cleanup of

Boston Harbor Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeastern United States. History Since ...

and the creation of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA). Peter Shelley of the

Conservation Law Foundation Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) is an environmental advocacy organization based in New England. Since 1966, CLF's mission has been to advocate for New England's environment and its communities. CLF's advocacy work takes place across five integr ...

wrote in a 2011 editorial that "no story about the Boston Harbor cleanup would be complete without mentioning Bill illiamGolden, then solicitor for the City of Quincy, whose fateful jog on the feces-strewn

Wollaston Beach Wollaston Beach is the largest public beach in the Boston harbor. The beach is located parallel to Quincy Shore Drive in North Quincy, Massachusetts, which was constructed to provide access to the bay beach for Greater Boston. Wollaston beach ex ...

in 1982 made him mad as hell and got the whole ball rolling." William Golden's lawsuit against the

Department of Conservation and Recreation The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is a state agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, situated in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. It is best known for its parks and parkways. The DCR's mission is ...

(DCR) set off the chain of events that in 1986 led federal Judge David Mazzone to order the DCR to comply with the state and federal

Clean Water Act of 1972 The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters; recognizing the responsibiliti ...

. The legislature created the new Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) to manage Boston's drinking and wastewater. The MWRA subsequently implemented a 13-year, $4.5 billion venture to clean up the harbor. Since Golden's lawsuit against the MDC and the subsequent creation of the MWRA, Boston finally stopped pumping its

sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged from residenc ...

directly into the harbor, greatly improving the

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

and

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

in the area. Accordingly, in January 1985, State Senator Golden went on to form the nonprofit environmental group Save the Harbor/Save the Bay with Judge Paul Garrity and Boston Globe columnist Ian Menzies, to lobby for the restoration and preservation of Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay. The Environmental Protection Agency now calls the Boston Harbor a "great American jewel."

National Institute for Coastal and Harbor Infrastructure

Golden serves as the

executive director Executive director is commonly the title of the chief executive officer of a non-profit organization, government agency or international organization. The title is widely used in North American and European not-for-profit organizations, though ...

of the National Institute for Coastal and Harbor Infrastructure (NICHI). The website for the non-profit organization states that "NICHI is committed to building a broad national

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

of private and public interests to advocate for a national interstate coastal infrastructure system that integrates, enhances and funds local, regional and state coastal

climate adaptation Climate change adaptation is the process of adjusting to current or expected effects of climate change.IPCC, 2022Annex II: Glossary öller, V., R. van Diemen, J.B.R. Matthews, C. Méndez, S. Semenov, J.S. Fuglestvedt, A. Reisinger (eds.) InClimat ...

plans."

Law career

William B. Golden currently serves as Of Counsel to the firm Baker, Braverman & Barbadoro, P.C. Mr. Golden has represented clients in the areas of

environmental law Environmental law is a collective term encompassing aspects of the law that provide protection to the environment. A related but distinct set of regulatory regimes, now strongly influenced by environmental legal principles, focus on the manage ...

and general

litigation - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

, and also heads the

Election Law Election law is a branch of public law that relates to the democratic processes, election of representatives and office holders, and referendums, through the regulation of the electoral system, voting rights, ballot access, election management b ...

Practice Group for the firm.

Restoration of Lightship Nantucket I WLV-612

Lightship Nantucket I WLV-612 was the last ship to serve a full tour of duty on the treacherous

Nantucket Shoals Nantucket Shoals is an area of dangerously shallow water in the Atlantic Ocean that extends from Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, eastward for and southeastward for ; in places water depth can be as shallow as . Depth soundings are unpredictable d ...

station and the last US lightship in commission. After being decommissioned on 29 March 1985, ending the 165-year era of United States Lightship service, William and his wife Kristen Golden purchased and restored Nantucket 612 as the only fully operational Lightship in the United States.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Golden, William B. 1948 births Democratic Party Massachusetts state senators People from Weymouth, Massachusetts Yale University alumni Boston University School of Law alumni Harvard Kennedy School alumni Living people Democratic Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives