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DEP HONORS ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERS AND INNOVATORS
Excellence Awards Recognize Significant Environmental Achievements
in New Jersey
(03/166) ATLANTIC CITY
- New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)
Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell will honor environmental
leaders at a ceremony tonight handing out the annual Environmental
Excellence Awards to winners in eight categories. The awards
recognize individuals, businesses, and communities who have
made significant contributions to environmental protection
in New Jersey. The awards ceremony and reception will begin
at 5:15 p.m. in room 319, Atlantic City Convention Center.
"These awards recognize the environmental
leaders in New Jersey's towns, companies, authorities, and
military bases who are achieving superior environmental
performance," said Commissioner Campbell. "These
leaders are setting the standard for innovation and commitment,
while reminding us that some of the best ideas in environmental
protection emerge from local problem solving rather than
traditional regulation."
Winners were selected from a record number
of nominations and were judged on the basis of the documented
environmental benefits, innovation, and long-term impact
of their work to the environment. DEP received nominations
in eight categories: Clean Air, Clean and Plentiful Water,
Safe and Healthy Communities, Open Space Protection and
Preservation, Healthy Ecosystems, Innovative Technology,
Environmental Stewardship and Environmental Leadership.
This is the fourth year the awards, co-sponsored
by the New Jersey State League of Municipalities and the
New Jersey Corporation for Advanced Technology (NJCAT),
have been bestowed on state environmental leaders. This
year, DEP received so many nominations that it awarded Honorable
Mentions for the first time.
The New Jersey State League of Municipalities
is a voluntary association created to help communities do
a better job of self-government by pooling information resources.
The association has been serving local officials for more
than 80 years.
NJCAT is a public-private partnership that
pools the resources of business and industry, entrepreneurs,
university research centers, utilities and government to
promote New Jersey's emerging environmental technologies.
Below is a list of this year's winners
and honorable mentions:
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Clean Air Winner - Naval Air Engineering Station,
Lakehurst
The Naval Air Engineering Station at Lakehurst provides
engineering support to all naval air platforms and has
more than 600 major sources of air emissions, consisting
primarily of utility boilers. This award recognizes
the station's efforts to reduce emissions by initiating
several projects to convert all fuel oil fired boilers
at the facility to cleaner burning natural gas.
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Clean Air Honorable Mention - Cape May County
Municipal Utilities Authority
The Cape May County Municipal Utilities Authority (CMCMUA)
provides solid waste management services for all 16
municipalities within Cape May County. This honorable
mention recognizes the use of landfill gas from the
CMCMUA's Sanitary Landfill as a replacement fuel for
the boilers at the Woodbine Development Center. This
fuel switch provides a significant reduction in the
emissions from the WDC's boiler facilities.
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Clean and Plentiful Water Winner - Pequannock
River Coalition
The Pequannock River Coalition, founded in 1994 as a
grassroots watershed association, promotes the "preservation
of the Pequannock River as a natural, recreational,
aesthetic and water supply resource." This award
recognizes the Coalition's intensive temperature monitoring
program using electronic data loggers at targeted sites
throughout the watershed.
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Clean and Plentiful Water Honorable Mention
- Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners
Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners (PVSC) is a 330
million gallon per day wastewater treatment plant located
in Newark that serves 1.3 million people in parts of
Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Passaic Counties. In 1998,
PVSC created the Passaic River/Newark Bay Restoration
Program to clean the shoreline and remove debris along
the banks of the Passaic River. The PVSC also created
a Pollution Prevention Educational Outreach Program
that visits local grammar schools to discuss point and
non-point source pollution and household waste disposal.
This honorable mention recognizes these efforts.
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Clean and Plentiful Water Honorable Mention
- Ten Towns Great Swamp Watershed Management
The Ten Towns Great Swamp Watershed Management Committee
is an inter-municipal organization that was formed to
prepare and to implement a Great Swamp Watershed Management
Plan. Since its formation, the Ten Towns Committee has
become a model for the entire state for effective partnership,
not only among all four levels of government (municipal,
county, state and federal), but also with private organizations.
This honorable mention recognizes the Committee's ongoing
work in watershed management planning and protection
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Clean and Plentiful Water Honorable Mention
- Raritan Basin Watershed Management Project
The Raritan Basin Watershed Management Project was a
four-year effort funded by DEP and the NJ Water Supply
Authority (NJWSA), and implemented by NJWSA. The Project
involved hundreds of stakeholders in the development
of nine Characterization and Assessment Technical Reports
as well as the Raritan Basin Watershed Management Plan.
The Raritan Plan provides strategies for management
of six critical issues highlighted by the technical
reports: water supply, surface water quality, stormwater
management, ground water, stream ecosystem health and
riparian ecosystems integrity. This honorable mention
recognizes the ongoing work of the Project and the Alliance
to implement the Raritan Basin Watershed Management
Plan.
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Healthy Ecosystems Winner - Hackensack Riverkeeper,
Inc.
The Hackensack Riverkeeper represents the interests
of the natural, living, and recreational resources of
the Hackensack River through environmental advocacy,
education, and conservation programs. The Hackensack
Riverkeeper carries out its mission through a combination
of both formal and informal environmental education
projects focused on raising the level of awareness and
sensitivity of the people of the Hackensack River watershed.
The group also advocates for the responsible restoration
and conservation of the various fish and wildlife habitats
that exist within the Hackensack River watershed. By
assuming the role of citizen steward for the watershed,
the Hackensack Riverkeeper participates proactively
to promote sustainable development. This award recognizes
the ongoing work of the Hackensack Riverkeeper, Inc.
to protect this valuable ecosystem.
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Healthy Ecosystems Honorable Mention - Warren
Grove
The Warren Grove Air National Guard Range (WGR) is located
in the heart of the Pinelands National Reserve and consists
of approximately 9,400 acres, most of which are undeveloped
and serve as a buffer to weapons range operations. The
safety buffer, as well as parts of the impact zone where
gunnery training occurs, is dominated by pygmy pine
forests with occasional wetlands including Atlantic
white cedar swamps, hardwood swamps, savannas and lowland
forests. To maintain a healthy ecosystem, the base developed
an Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan that
includes priority goals that support ecosystem and watershed
management, threatened and endangered species management,
and outreach and education. This honorable mention recognizes
the implementation of the WGR Integrated Natural Resources
Management Plan.
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Innovative Technology Winner - RangeSafe Technology
Demonstration Initiative
The RangeSafe Technology Demonstration Initiative (RTDI)
was established at Picatinny Arsenal in 1998 to speed
the development and commercialization of innovative
technology solutions to environmental challenges associated
with the life-cycle management of the Army's weapons
and munitions. RTDI demonstrates new technologies for
the remediation of existing contaminated sites, develops
innovative technologies to reduce the future environmental
impact of Department of Defense (DoD) operations on
natural resources and develops improved mechanisms for
the transfer of technologies from the DoD to commercial
applications nationwide. This award recognizes the overall
RangeSafe program as well as the recently completed
soil clean up and stabilization demonstration at firing
range 25 on Fort Dix.
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Innovative Technology Honorable Mention -
Janssen Pharmaceutica
Janssen Pharmaceutica is a Johnson & Johnson company
that produces and manufactures prescription medications
for central nervous system disorders and pain management,
among others. With the support of the New Jersey Board
of Public Utilities, Janssen invested in solar energy
to meet Johnson & Johnson's Next Generation Pollution
Prevention Goals to reduce harmful emissions such as
nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide. Janssen's
solar system generates enough electricity during the
daytime to power over 600 homes. In addition to generating
clean electricity, the system insulates the building,
reducing the cost of heating and air conditioning while
extending the life of the roof. This honorable mention
recognizes Janssen's solar program and emissions reductions.
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Open Space Protection and Preservation Winner
- Chesterfield Township
The Township of Chesterfield is a sparsely developed
agricultural community situated in the northwest portion
of Burlington County. The Township covers 21.61 square
miles and the entire land area of the Township is designated
in the New Jersey State Plan as Planning Area 4 - rural.
The Township has made farmland preservation a priority,
permanently preserving approximately 3,300 acres of
farmland to date under a variety of local, county and
state programs. The Township has spent many years planning
for a transfer of development credits program to direct
future growth to a designated "receiving area"
while limiting development in the rural environs of
Chesterfield. This planning effort culminated in the
vision of a neo-traditional town to be developed in
the receiving area that would incorporate a variety
of housing types, neighborhood commercial facilities,
civic uses, and active and passive open space areas.
This award recognizes Chesterfield's farmland preservation
efforts and visionary planning.
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Open Space Protection and Preservation Honorable
Mention - Mount Laurel Township Recreation and Open
Space Program
Mount Laurel Township has prepared a Recreation and
Open Space Plan Program to inventory all existing municipally-owned
sites that are used for recreation and open space, as
well as for parcels of land that could potentially be
acquired and added to this list for future open space
and recreational purposes. Through the development of
this Plan, Mount Laurel discovered its shortage of lands
dedicated to recreation and open space when faced with
the high demand from its present dense and growing population.
The Township has used DEP's Green Acres Planning Incentive
Grant Program and the Burlington County's Local Open
Space Program as a way to satisfy this high demand by
acquiring both more and diverse sites for use as open
space and passive and active recreation. This honorable
mention recognizes the development and implementation
of the Recreation and Open Space Plan.
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Safe and Healthy Communities Winner - Huntsman
Huntsman's West Deptford site is one of 48 sites in
the US and one of three in New Jersey that has been
recognized by both the OSHA Volunteer Protection Program
and the EPA Performance Track Program. Performance Track
is a voluntary public-private partnership that encourages
environmental excellence and continuous improvement
through the use of environmental management systems,
local community involvement and measurable results.
This award recognizes the ongoing Environmental Management
System and related programs of Huntsman.
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Environmental Stewardship Winner - Dr. Christopher
C. Obrupta
Dr. Christopher Obropta was an environmental consultant
for 12 years prior to assuming the leadership of the
New Jersey Agriculture Experiment Station/Rutgers Cooperative
Extension's Water Resource Program. During these years,
Dr. Obropta had an opportunity to work with municipalities,
counties, and watershed associations to implement nonpoint
source pollution control projects. Although he worked
on over a dozen projects with different project partners,
two projects that are highly successful are the restoration
of Strawbridge Lake in Moorestown and the urban flood
plain restoration project in Rahway. These projects
are classic examples of consensus and partnership building,
innovative designing and implementation. As the newly
hired Rutgers Cooperative Extension Specialist in Water
Resources, Dr. Obropta has been given the opportunity
to continue to work with groups throughout the State
to provide technical support to continue to address
water resource problems in New Jersey.
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Environmental Stewardship Honorable Mention
- George Hawkins
As Executive Director of the Stony Brook Millstone Watershed
Association, George Hawkins is responsible for overseeing
the associations' mission to preserve the natural environment
in the 285 square mile drainage basin for the Stony
Brook and Millstone River. Operations include: a) an
education program that offers more than 400 programs
a year for 10,000 adults and children, including programs
for 120 schools and 200 teachers; b) a watershed management
program which includes StreamWatch, the state's largest
volunteer monitoring and streambank restoration program;
c) a 785 acre nature reserve that includes 10 miles
of trails, 17 buildings, an arboretum and a 3 acre pond;
d) the Watershed Organic Farm, the largest community
supported organic farm in the Northeast; and e) the
Natural Lands Network, a group of more than 40 local
environmental organizations. Recent additions include
an NSF grant to study wetlands, an internet-based environmental
curriculum program, and the formation of the Watershed
Institute to help citizens' throughout New Jersey to
protect the environment. This enterprise has quadrupled
in size to a staff of 28 with a budget of $1.6 million.
- Environmental Leadership Winner - James A.
Shissias
Since 1974, James Shissias has been an environmental leader
in New Jersey at PSEG as General Manager - Environmental
Affairs. In this job, he has had an important role in
shaping PSEG's corporate environmental conscience and
image. The importance of his impact outside the company
is witnessed by his long standing appointments by several
Governors to the NJ Environmental Education Commission,
the State Soil Conservation Committee and the Low Level
Radioactive Waste Siting Board. He was appointed by the
DEP Commissioner to the Endangered and Non-Game Species
Advisory Committee and the New Jersey Waterfowl Advisory
Committee. Mr. Shissias has led businesses beyond PSEG
in his positions as Chairman of the Environmental Affairs
Committee of the State Chamber of Commerce and Vice President
of the Water Resources Association of the Delaware River
Basin. He is a member of the board of directors for New
Jersey Audubon and Crossroads of the American Revolution
Association. He is also past president of the Common Wealth
of New Jersey, Inc. Mr. Shissias has been a member of
the board for the College of New Jersey Foundation and
the Center for Analysis of Public Issues.
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