[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 18326-18327]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     ENVIRONMENTAL EPA MERIT AWARDS

  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the 11 
individuals and organizations from Connecticut

[[Page 18327]]

that have been awarded 2012 Environmental Merit Awards by the 
Environmental Protection Agency, EPA. Every year, the EPA recognizes 
stand-out efforts in different regions of the country, including 
Connecticut's New England Region. Although not official EPA 
initiatives, these accomplishments are integral to national 
environmental stewardship and conservation efforts.
  This year, a 2012 Lifetime Achievement Environmental Merit Award was 
given to Alan Buzzetti, for his career-long efforts fighting against 
lead poisoning, and Northeast Recycling Council, Inc., for its 
innovative recycling campaign. Mr. Buzzetti has been instrumental in 
the creation of a statewide program to eliminate lead poisoning. He 
also founded the Connecticut Department of Public Health's Childhood 
Lead Poisoning Prevention and Control Program, making Connecticut a 
clear choice for the regional headquarters of the New England Lead 
Coordinating Committee. For the past 25 years, the Northeast Recycling 
Council has worked with Connecticut and 9 other member States to 
support and promote recycling and sustainability models at both the 
State and local level and for both public and private efforts.
  The EPA also awarded Individual Environmental Merit Awards to three 
trailblazing activists, who care deeply about our environmental future. 
Dr. Anthony Leiserowitz is currently a professor at the Yale School of 
Forestry and Environmental Studies where he founded and directs the 
Yale Center for Environmental Communication. Through these and 
additional platforms like the Yale Forum on Climate Change and the 
Media, Dr. Leiserowitz works with journalists and broadcast media to 
make climate change data relevant to the public.
  Kevin Taylor of Waterbury and Betsey Wingfield of Hartford have also 
received Individual Environmental Merit Awards from the EPA. Mr. 
Taylor, the Senior Project Manager of Waterbury Development 
Corporation, has led the redevelopment of more than 20 brownfields into 
valuable, beloved community properties. Ms. Wingfield--outside of her 
position at the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental 
Protection--has led a community group to successfully lobby for stream 
flow standards and regulations in Connecticut. These measures ensure 
protections for decades and future generations.
  To recognize innovative partnerships that cross sectors, the EPA 
awarded three Environmental, Community, Academia and Nonprofit 
Environmental Merit Awards. This year's Connecticut winners are Goodwin 
College, the Long Island Sound Study's Citizens Advisory Committee, and 
the University of Connecticut's Nonpoint Education for Municipal 
Officials Program's New England Rain Garden Training Team. These three 
organizations are models of environmental stewardship--linking economic 
development, equal opportunity, and community participation with 
responsible conservation. Since 2005, Goodwin College's campus along 
the Connecticut River in East Hartford has inspired environmental 
participation from a diverse group of residents. It offers a college 
degree in environmental studies and has developed Connecticut River 
Academy, a magnet high school. These two academic institutions have 
become a hub for local businesses and have created countless jobs.
  Similarly, the Long Island Sound Study and New England Rain Garden 
Training Team have been successful in bringing diverse people together 
to protect the environment. Curt Johnson and Nancy Seligson, co-chairs 
of the Long Island Sound Study's Citizens Advisory Committee, have led 
a large group of citizens, concerned about the future of the cherished 
Long Island Sound, in developing what the EPA has aptly called a 
``community blueprint'' or ``citizens' action plan.'' The New England 
Rain Garden Training Team has similarly been on the ground, working 
with all levels of government and community groups to build rain 
gardens in New England. By raising awareness of the importance of rain 
gardens in reducing pollution from stormwater runoff, members of the 
Rutgers University Cooperative Extension Water Resources program and 
University of Connecticut's Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials 
Program have collaborated on easily translatable training programs for 
residents and neighborhoods, including underserved communities.
  To highlight the important work of State and local governments in 
environmental regulation, the EPA awarded a 2012 Governmental 
Environmental Merit Award to Connecticut's Department of Public 
Health's Drinking Water Section, charged with regulating and 
administering Connecticut's water system. These hardworking public 
employees are heroes in times of crisis. In the aftermath of Tropical 
Storm Irene in 2011, this team offered assistance to nearly 770,000 
constituents who had lost power and issued boil water guidance for 
16,000 residents.
  Lastly, Ethan Allen Operations, Inc., headquartered in Danbury, CT, 
and the Greenwich Hospital were awarded in the Business, Industry, 
Trade, or Professional category in recognition of their industry 
leadership. Ethan Allen has been on the forefront of reducing air 
pollutant emissions, eco-friendly chemicals, and reduction in waste 
output. Greenwich Hospital has used innovative, healing rain gardens to 
promote health as well as manage the area's stormwater runoff, and has 
assisted other New England area hospitals in instituting this type of 
sustainable landscaping for their communities.
  Congratulations to these remarkable Connecticut ecological 
vanguards--environmentalists, scientists, and local leaders who have 
collaborated with others to confront important global issues with 
tenacity, creativity, and courage. As we have seen, especially recently 
in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, our Nation's environmentalists are true 
altruists. I invite my Senate colleagues to applaud these commendable 
Connecticut companies and individuals, and thank them for their 
dedication to preserving our landscapes, seascapes, and climate for 
future generations.

                          ____________________