All News Releases By Date

TWO FROM VERMONT WIN EPA'S ENVIRONMENTAL MERIT AWARD

Release Date: 04/19/2000
Contact Information: Amy Miller, EPA Press Office (617-918-1042)

BOSTON - Two organizations from Vermont were honored today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for their contributions to the environment. The Rhode Island winners were among 37 recipients from around New England that received Environmental Merit Awards at an Earth Day ceremony at Faneuil Hall.

The awards, given out since 1970, are awarded to individuals and groups who have shown particular ingenuity and commitment in their efforts to preserve the environment. This year's competition drew nearly 100 applications.

"These organizations from Vermont have played a significant role in protecting and cleaning the air, water and land that is so important to our health and well-being," said Mindy S. Lubber, EPA's New England Administrator. "All of us have the ability to serve the environment. It just takes will. The men and women being honored today serve as examples people who had the will and found a way to help make sure we all have a cleaner, safer environment."

The two winners from Vermont were:

• Lake Champlain Citizen Advisory Committees - Vermont, New York, Quebec: The Citizen Advisory Committees for Lake Champlain, established in 1988, have had a strong and effective voices for improving environmental management of the lake. The advisory committees are critical to the ongoing protection and management of challenges facing the lake. The Vermont group, led by Buzz Hoerr, has worked aggressively to ensure progress is being made on phosphorus reduction efforts. The New York committee, with Ron Ofner as chair, has worked to focus attention in Albany on Lake Champlain, a difficult task in a state that includes the Great Lakes, Long Island Sound and New York City watershed. The Quebec group, spearheaded by Kenny Miller, worked to create a corporation with the responsibility of improving the local infrastructure to reduce phosphorus loadings. The groups also helped launch a public-private partnership called Champlain 2000, in which Channel 5 aired weekly segments on lake issues for 18 months.
• Lake Parker Association, West Glover: The Lake Parker Association, through the leadership of president Bob Johnson and watershed committee chair Madeline Ducham, has assessed conditions in the lake's watershed and building community support to correct numerous nonpoint sources in the watershed and avoid problems in the future. Last year the association completed a three-year watershed survey, a process that involved scores of volunteers walking sections of the shoreline and watershed to document pollution problems. Those results will pave the way for future restoration work. Some of that work is already underway, including the stabilization of a major road erosion problem in Glover that was handled by the town road crew and a group of volunteers. The Lake Parker Association's work is a model of the kind of local participation that the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources is looking for all across the state.