Delaware Native Wins Prestigious EPA Award for Protecting Wetlands (DE, DC, MD, PA, VA, WV)
PHILADELPHIA (July 25, 2011) --
Stefania Shamet, a resident of
Marlton,
N.J. and attorney for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
received the Edward T. “Red” Heinen Wetlands Award,
EPA’s most prestigious national award recognizing superior
work to protect wetlands.
Shamet, the daughter of John and Stefania
Daliani of Dover, Del., is a 1982 graduate of Holy Cross High
School in Dover.
The award is named after a highly respected
leader from the formative years of EPA’s wetlands program. It
is presented annually to the person from EPA’s nationwide
wetlands program who best exemplifies the high standards and
personal dedication to wetlands protection that characterized
Red’s years with EPA's wetlands program. It acknowledges
those special people who are a source of inspiration to others in
the program, and whose work and attitude best contributes to our
environmental and public service goals.
“Stef is not only a leading voice on the
legal issues involving wetlands here in the mid-Atlantic region,
but her expertise is also sought out in the development of national
wetlands regulations,” said EPA Regional Administrator Shawn
M. Garvin. “She’s advised and represented the agency in
some of the most environmentally significant, legally complex, and
politically sensitive water and wetlands matters, and her counsel
on all these has been invaluable.”
“Wetlands play an important part in the
aquatic ecosystem and in ensuring that the water that people rely
on for drinking, fishing and swimming remains clean and safe. I
feel privileged to play a role in their protection,” said
Shamet, one of the attorneys in EPA’s mid-Atlantic regional
office in Philadelphia.
During her 14-year tenure at EPA, she has
provided counseling and enforcement representation for the region's
water pollution control program, including the Clean Water Act, the
Safe Drinking Water Act, and the National Environmental Policy
Act.
A graduate of Georgetown University College
(B.A., 1986) and the University of Virginia School of Law (J.D.,
1989), Shamet came to EPA after four years as an associate at
Steptoe & Johnson, LLP in Washington, D.C., and two years as a
staff attorney at the U.S. Court of Appeals in the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She also spent two
years as a law clerk to the Hon. Murray M. Schwartz (Senior Judge)
and the Hon. Joseph J. Farnan in the U.S. District Court for the
District of Delaware.
EPA’s mid-Atlantic region includes
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and the
District of Columbia.