On June 17 the PA Environmental Council hosted the 2015 Environmental Partnership Dinner, celebrating PEC’s work to protect and restore Pennsylvania’s natural and built environment and to enhance and preserve natural resources.
Held at Philadelphia’s Crystal Tea Room atop the Wanamaker Building, the event honored Anthony Bartolomeo, PE, President and CEO of Pennoni Associates, Inc. with the PEC Achievement Award for outstanding vision and commitment to environmental conservation in Pennsylvania.
(Photo: Carol McCabe, PEC Board Chair, Davitt Woodwell, PEC President/CEO, Nicholas DeBenedictis, AQUA CEO, John Quigley, DEP Secretary, Cindy Dunn, DCNR Secretary, Anthony Bartolomeo, Awardee, and Patrick Starr, PEC Executive Vice President.)
The Honorable John Quigley, Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, was the evening’s keynote speaker. The event marked one of Quigley’s first public speaking engagements since being confirmed by the Pennsylvania Senate last week.
AQUA served as the evening’s title sponsor and honorary dinner chair and AQUA Chairman and CEO Nicholas DeBenedictis introduced both of the evening’s featured guests.
DeBenedictis lauded Bartolomeo’s work in environmental conservation.
He applauded the University of Pennsylvania graduate for dedicating more than 30 years of his career to environmental engineering, including developing a comprehensive knowledge of industrial facilities reuse issues. Additionally, Bartolomeo served as PEC Board Chair for a decade.
“The Pennsylvania Environmental Council recognizes, and always has, that the environment, community, and economy are inextricably linked,” DeBenedictis said. “So it’s an honor to be here tonight to recognize someone who shares those attributes.”
PEC chose Bartolomeo as the PEC Achievement Awardee for exemplifying PEC’s motto – conservation through cooperation – in all his work to protect the environment on the local, state, and national levels. In his comments, Bartolomeo was quick to praise PEC’s statewide policy work.
“PEC is very involved in forming and shaping public policy and I like the way they do it,” Bartolomeo stated. “It’s by educating, informing, and motivating the citizens … I think that’s a terrific attribute of this organization.
“I’m very proud to have been associated with PEC for all the years that I have been,” he added.
In his keynote speech, Quigley outlined DEP’s mission to focus on collaboration along with the Department’s commitment to science and showing the work, its version of integrity and transparency, two aspects of importance to himself and Gov. Tom Wolf.
“In managing the Commonwealth’s natural resources, it demands all of us as stakeholders, the ability to listen, to communicate, to negotiate, and to collaborate,” Quigley said.
The 45th annual event was made possible through a group of generous sponsors, premier benefactors, benefactors, and contributors. Along with AQUA, the evening’s lead sponsors were FMC (Welcome Reception), RT Environmental Services, AKRF, Brandywine Realty Trust, and Greenberg Traurig.
PEC serves the entire state with programs and staff spanning the Commonwealth.
For more information, visit the PA Environmental Council website.NewsClip: DEP Plans New Fracking Chemical Disclosure Website
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