EPA Honors Puerto Rico Environmental Leaders (PR)
(New York, N.Y.) The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) today announced that it has honored four
individuals or businesses from Puerto Rico with Environmental
Quality Awards for their achievements protecting public health and
the environment. EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck was joined
by Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez to present the awards to
this year’s recipients at a ceremony at EPA’s offices
in Manhattan.
“These honorees work tirelessly to protect
the environment and to ensure that all of us can look forward to a
cleaner, healthier world,” said Regional Administrator Judith
Enck. “We can all be proud of what they have accomplished and
the example they have set.”
EPA presents Environmental Quality Awards
annually in conjunction with Earth Day to individuals, businesses
and organizations in EPA Region 2, which covers New Jersey, New
York, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and eight
federally-recognized Indian Nations. The awards recognize
significant contributions to improving the environment and public
health in the previous calendar year. For information about the
Environmental Quality Awards in EPA Region 2, visit http://www.epa.gov/region02/eqa/.
Attached is a list of the award
winners.
2011 ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AWARD
WINNERS
Individual Citizen
Father Efraín
Rodriguez
Father Efraín became interested in
environmental issues while studying to become a priest in Boynton
Beach, Fla. He noticed that a pesticides-dispensing plane flew over
the crops, and that animals were dying from ingesting pesticides.
Father Efraín became concerned for the safety and health of
the workers. Between 1971 and 1975, he traveled across the United
States defending migrant workers and educating them about the
dangers of pesticide exposure. In 1998, he started his own radio
show called “Hablando Claro,” a program that serves as
an open forum for environmental issues and health and safety themes
in Puerto Rico.
Lyvia Rodriguez Del Valle
Lyvia Rodriguez Del Valle is an urban and
regional planner who currently serves as the executive director of
the Corporación Del Proyecto ENLACE del Caño
Martín Peña, a redevelopment authority that brings
together the organized communities, the private sector and
government around an agenda for an inclusive city. Over the last 10
years, she has worked together with an interdisciplinary team to
create innovative and highly participatory mechanisms to overcome
poverty and address environmental degradation.
Ana Margarita Pérez Mejías and
Carmen Febres
Under the leadership of Ana Margarita
Pérez Mejías and Carmen Febres, their organization,
Martín Peña Recicla, has become a model for community
involvement and education through teaching residents of Barrio
Obrero Marina about recycling, solid waste reuse, and other
environmental issues. The project recovers approximately four tons
of recyclable newsprint, paper and cardboard each month, reducing
the community’s daily waste load. The work is performed
entirely by community volunteers, who have no specialized equipment
or tools. The materials are separated and stored temporarily before
being sold to a major recycling corporation on the island. Any
proceeds are reinvested in community projects such as youth
programs.
Business and Industry
Amgen Manufacturing, Limited
Amgen Manufacturing, Limited (AML) established
an environmental sustainability program in 2010 to further its
commitment to improve the environment. As part of the program, AML
launched a number of efforts to protect and save natural resources,
including reducing waste, sustaining a best-in-class recycling
program, establishing energy and water conservation programs, and
promoting practices to reduce emissions into the
atmosphere.
For more details, visit: http://www.epa.gov/region02/eqa
11-047