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AQMD to Honor Clean Air Heroes at 22nd Annual Clean Air Awards
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October 1, 2010
LOS ANGELES—The South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) on
Friday, Oct. 1 will host its annual Clean Air Awards, honoring individuals
and businesses for making significant contributions to cleaner air in the
Southland over the past year. More than 400 people are expected to attend
the award ceremony.
At a luncheon in downtown Los Angeles to be emceed by CBS 2 and KCAL 9 News
meteorologist Henry DiCarlo, AQMD will honor a local mayor, two university
professors and a noted actor and activist.
“These honorees represent the best and brightest air quality stewards we
have in the region,” said Dennis Yates, mayor of Chino and vice chair of the
AQMD Governing Board. “From a local mayor dedicated to improving air
quality, to a beloved public television personality who showcases the best
our state has to offer, to two local professors on the leading edge of
environmental health, we benefit greatly from the work of these individuals
and are pleased to honor them.”
AQMD’s 2010 Clean Air Award winners are:
S. Roy Wilson Memorial Award for Leadership in
Government
Robert “Bob” Foster, mayor of the City of Long Beach: A
prior award winner for his leadership in cleaning up port-related emissions,
Mayor Foster is honored this year with the newly inaugurated S. Roy Wilson
Memorial Award for Leadership in Government. The award recognizes Mayor
Foster for his expanded contributions in the spirit of the award’s namesake,
Riverside County Supervisor and AQMD Governing Board Vice Chairman S. Roy
Wilson, Ed.D., who passed away in August 2009.
Foster has served as mayor of Long Beach since June 2006, after retiring as
president of Southern California Edison (SCE) where he served for more than
20 years. During his tenure, SCE developed the largest renewable portfolio
(solar, geothermal, biomass and wind) in the United States. By appointment
of Gov. Schwarzenegger, Mayor Foster currently serves on the Board of
Governors of the California Independent System Operator, which looks at the
kinds of policies and resources necessary to reduce barriers to energy
conservation and strengthen the green portion of California’s energy mix.
Mayor Foster has served two terms as chair of the Environmental Committee of
the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and was elected to its Advisory Board in
2009, helping to positively influence environmental policies across the
country.
Robert M. Zweig, M.D., Memorial Award
Frank D. Gilliland, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Keck School of Medicine at USC:
Frank Gilliland is a Professor of Preventive Medicine and Director of the
Division of Environmental Health, Department of Preventive Medicine at the
Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC).
Gilliland directs the Southern California Environmental Health Sciences
Center, a NIEHS-supported center based at USC and including faculty members
from both UCLA and USC, and the NIEHS/EPA-supported Children's Environmental
Health Center. He is a leading investigator in air pollution research,
respiratory health, cancer epidemiology and gene-environment interactions.
His primary research contributions at USC have helped identify associations
between ambient air pollution and adverse health impacts such as low birth
weight, onset and/or exacerbation of childhood asthma, and potential
acceleration of adult atherosclerosis. In addition, his collaborations with
fellow researchers have led to key insights on the array of factors in
children’s lives that can be important determiners to their adult health. By
enhancing understanding of preventable public health impacts from polluted
air, Dr. Gilliland’s work has helped provide a clearer assessment of the
significant public health benefits that can be achieved in the greater South
Coast region through cleaner goods movement operations, reduced vehicle
miles traveled, and low-emission transportation investments.
Award for the Advancement of Air Pollution
Control Technology
Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD): The EMWD is
honored for its renewable-fuel based cogeneration system. This Riverside
County water district has successfully operated a digester gas-driven fuel
cell system since January 2009 to help power wastewater treatment at its
Moreno Valley Regional Water Reclamation Facility. Adopting fuel cell
technology allows the facility to self-generate 40 percent of the peak
electricity needed to run the facility while also shrinking its carbon
footprint by 35 percent, as well as reducing nitrogen oxide and carbon
monoxide emissions at the facility. The ‘cogeneration’ process at the EMWD
facility is the simultaneous generation of electricity by and recovery of
usable heat from fuel cells. Anaerobic digesters used for biosolids
treatment generate methane gas, which the fuel cells convert to energy, in a
non-combustive, electrochemical reaction that generates electricity
efficiently and cleanly. Heat recovered from the fuel cells enhances the
production of digester gas as a renewable fuel source. Benefits of
renewable-fuel based cogeneration include reduced energy costs, beneficial
use of digester gas, and reduced fossil fuel consumption. EMWD operates four
regional wastewater reclamation facilities in its 542 square mile service
area in Riverside County, extending from Moreno Valley to Temecula,
encompassing Perris, San Jacinto, Hemet and parts of Murrieta.
Award for Innovative Transportation Projects
The UCR IntelliShare Shared-Use Vehicle Project: UCR
IntelliShare is a campus-based shared vehicle demonstration that started in
April 1999 and concluded in July 2010, in a partnership between the College
of Engineering-Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT) of
UC Riverside and Honda Motor Company. In general, shared-use vehicle systems
consist of a fleet used by several different individuals throughout the day,
in this case with an automated reservation system, smartcard technology, and
low-emission alternative-fuel vehicles. Shared-use systems offer the
potential to reduce users’ costs, decrease need for parking spaces, improve
overall air quality and link with other efficient transportation modes such
as rail transit. The UCR IntelliShare project was included as a potential
local air quality strategy in the Air Quality Element of the City of
Riverside’s General Plan 2025 update, and offers a tool to optimize land use
in major congested areas such as business centers, university campuses and
tourist destinations. In addition to Honda Motor Company as the project’s
primary sponsor and major research partner, other sponsors have included the
University of California Digital Media Initiative Program, the City of
Riverside, the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement
Program (CMAQ), CalTrans, and AQMD.
Award for Model Community Achievement
The Clean Trucks Program of the San Pedro Bay Ports of Long Beach and Los
Angeles: While portside residents and workers benefit
greatly from shipping as an economic engine, they also want safeguards that
allow ports to operate without harming the health of neighboring communities
and adversely impacting air quality region-wide. The Ports of Long Beach
and Los Angeles Clean Trucks Program (CTP) is the largest, most aggressive
emission cleanup program at any port complex in the world. First appearing
as a component of the 2006 San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan, the
CTP was launched in 2008, instituting a progressive ban on dirty diesel
trucks operating in the ports, with the goal of barring all trucks that do
not meet 2007 emissions standards by 2012. Leadership by clean air partners
in the public and private sectors, innovative funding mechanisms and
sustained outreach efforts have led to an 80 percent reduction in harmful
pollutant emissions in local communities by 2010, two years ahead of
schedule. The CTP has made history with its active collaboration among
competitive enterprises and its creation of the Clean Air Action Plan
Stakeholders Group to advise both ports on air quality issues. To date, the
program has helped fund nearly 3,000 clean diesel trucks and more than 1,000
natural-gas fueled trucks.
Award for Promotion of Good Environmental
Stewardship
John R. Froines, Ph.D., Professor, Environmental Health Sciences, UCLA
School of Public Health: John Froines has a long and
distinguished history in teaching and conducting pioneering research on air
pollution-related health effects. At UCLA he has served as the director of
the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, and has directed the
Southern California Particle Center and Supersite. He is associate director
of the Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center. He is on
the faculty of UCLA’s Institute of the Environment, a multidisciplinary
center that employs cross-disciplinary approaches to address critical
environmental challenges and to educate the next generation of professional
leadership in this field. In addition to his teaching and research, Froines
is active in translating scientific information into formats that can inform
policymaking. From May 1999 to July 2010, he chaired the state’s Scientific
Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants, the central review panel at the
state level for identifying toxic air contaminants. During his term as
chair, he was instrumental in fostering the use of the best available
scientific information as a basis of setting policies to protect health. He
enthusiastically participates in community forums and has participated in
numerous legislative hearings on improving public health related to
exposures to toxic substances, including diesel exhaust and ultrafine
particulates.
Award for Public Education on Air Quality
Issues
Huell Howser, Independent Producer and Host of ‘California’s Green’ series
featured on PBS: Huell Howser has been a friendly and
informative fixture on Southern California public television for more than
two decades, from his long-running signature travel series ‘California’s
Gold’ to several spin-offs, including ‘Visiting With…,’ and the
environmental-themed ‘California’s Green’ series which began airing on local
PBS stations in 2004. ‘California’s Green’ features Mr. Howser’s celebrated
unscripted interview style and showcases Californians pursuing a wide range
of innovative and creative approaches to solving environmental challenges.
“Our programs are about what people can do,” he says. “California has
always been a place for new ideas and new ways of approaching problems. And
we still are.” Green topics have included California-based individuals
involved with solar and wind power, fuel cells, classic historic electric
cars, and professional ‘wet’ cleaning. His self-produced, independent
programs are offered at no charge to Public Broadcasting Service affiliates
and are viewable on iTunes; available at many local libraries; and available
for purchase by phone or online. ‘California’s Green’ episodes air locally
on KCET/Los Angeles and KVCR/San Bernardino-Riverside, and are underwritten
by Edison International. Mr. Howser’s programs have been endorsed by
educational organizations including: the California Teachers Association;
the California Federation of Teachers; the California State Library
Foundation; the California Library Association; and the California School
Boards Association.
Award for Public Education on Air Quality
Issues
Edward James Olmos: Award-winning actor, producer,
director, and community activist Edward James Olmos was born and raised in
East Los Angeles, and is a graduate of California State University, Los
Angeles. His career includes feature roles in the movies Blade Runner, The
Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, Selena, Mi Familia/My Family, and American Me,
which he also directed. In 1988, he received an Academy Award nomination
for his portrayal of real-life math teacher Jaime Escalante in Stand and
Deliver, which he also produced. Olmos also starred in the PBS series
American Family. He co-founded and serves as chairman of the board of
directors of Latino Public Broadcasting, which supports programming from
diverse perspectives including voices and issues of particular interest to
Latino Americans. He is also co-founder of the non-profit organization
Latino Literacy Now, which has produced Latino Book & Family Festivals
across the country. He has worked to raise awareness of the burdens of
America’s continued dependence on fossil fuels, and has advocated strongly
for accelerating our transition to clean and sustainable energy. He
recently recorded public service announcements for AQMD in English and
Spanish on the health impacts of air pollution and how the public can become
involved in clean air solutions.
AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major
portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
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This page updated:
October 05, 2010
URL: http://www.aqmd.gov/news1/2010/2010CleanAirAwardPR.htm
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