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EPA Employees Selected as Finalists for 2014 Service to America Medals

Release Date: 05/05/2014
Contact Information: Cathy Milbourn (News Media Only) [email protected] 202-564-7849 202-564-4355

WASHINGTON- Today the Partnership for Public Service honored three U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employees that have been selected as finalists for the 2014 Service to America Medals, which pay tribute to America’s dedicated federal workforce, highlighting those who have made significant contributions to our country.

EPA is proud to announce that Ramona Trovato, Bill Charmley, and Doug Norton were selected as Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals (Sammies) finalists for their commitment and innovation, as well as the impact of their work on addressing the needs of the nation. Ramona Trovato, Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Research and Development is a finalist in the Career Achievement Category; Bill Charmley, Director of the Assessment and Standards Division, Office of Air and Radiation’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality, is a finalist for the Science and Environment Category; and, Doug Norton, Senior Environmental Scientist in the Office of Water’s Watershed Branch, is a finalist for Citizen Services.

“It is important to recognize the dedication and hard work of EPA employees in solving challenges facing our country,” says EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, “I am proud to work alongside these employees who have dedicated their careers to improving the lives of the American people.”

E. Ramona Trovato is nominated for her outstanding public service career dedicated to protecting human health and the environment. Her many accomplishments as a career executive include designing, developing, and implementing an effective and impactful children’s environmental health program at EPA; instituting a rapid response environmental laboratory strategy to respond to natural and man- made disasters, and restructuring an entire environmental research and development enterprise to be more relevant, timely, and responsive in developing solutions to the nation's most pressing environmental and public health challenges.

Bill Charmley is nominated, along with his National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration counterpart, for leading the team that developed, completed, issued and began implementation of historic fuel economy and greenhouse gas emission standards that will nearly double the fuel economy for cars and light-duty trucks to 54.5 miles per gallon in 2025 and will save Americans over $1.7 trillion in fuel costs. The program is projected to cut over 6 billion metric tons of the harmful greenhouse gas pollution that contributes to climate change - more than the total amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the United States in 2012. This is the first and most significant federal action ever taken to control greenhouse gas pollution from vehicles, and is a critical step in helping to protect the health and welfare of current and future generations of Americans from the risks of climate change.

Doug Norton is nominated for leading projects to protect the nation’s rivers, streams and lakes; working with states to improve water quality; and, finding ways to make information available to educate and engage citizens about the condition of their local waterways. Most recently, Norton led the creation and implementation of a website and downloadable application called “How’s My Waterway?” that provides the public with access to data on thousands of waterways and the health of watersheds across the country. Norton also developed the Watershed Academy, an online EPA website that provides training and live webcasts conducted by expert instructors on a range of watershed topics.

The Partnership for Public Service will announce the winners of the Sammies in September 2014.

Information on Partnership for Public Service and Service to America Medals: http://www.ourpublicservice.org/OPS/