EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson Is the Winner of the 2010 Peter A. A. Berle Environmental Integrity Award

Dec 7, 2010

Authors: TCF

Publisher(s): The Century Foundation

December 7, 2010, NYC—The Century Foundation is pleased to announce that Lisa P. Jackson, administrator of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is the winner of the 2010 Peter A. A. Berle Environmental Integrity Award. The award was established last year to recognize demonstrated courage and integrity in defense of the environment by public officials and private citizens in the United States.

Lisa Jackson will receive the award at a ceremony at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, December 16, at 12:00 p.m. (award presentation is at 1:00 p.m.). William K. Reilly, former EPA administrator and currently co-chair of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, will present the award.

The Peter A. A. Berle Environmental Integrity Award is given annually to up to two U.S. citizens who, through action or scholarship, provide innovative leadership in helping the United States and the world confront the challenges of climate change, renewable energy, depletion of the oceans, species extinction, air, water and soil contamination, and the urban environment. Jackson will receive the award at the second annual presentation ceremony. The award was established last year to honor the life and work of environmental leader Peter Berle.

In announcing Jackson as the award winner, Richard C. Leone, president of The Century Foundation, said “Peter Berle’s life demonstrated a level of courage and integrity in defense of the environment that is all too unusual in public life in the United States today. Lisa Jackson exemplifies the values by which Peter Berle lived.”

Jackson leads EPA’s efforts to protect the environment and the health of all Americans. She and a staff of more than 17,000 professionals are working across the nation to usher in a green economy, address health threats from toxins and pollution, and renew public trust in EPA’s work. As administrator, Jackson has pledged to focus on core issues of protecting air and water quality, preventing exposure to toxic contamination in our communities, and reducing greenhouse gases.

Jackson began her tenure at EPA by declaring six gases thought to cause global warming to be threats to public health. She made that finding official at the start of the United Nations Copenhagen conference in December 2009, opening the door for the EPA to regulate auto emissions and stationary sources, a major shift in the federal government's approach to global warming. Jackson also has led EPA to seek stricter standards for reducing smog throughout the country. She has promised that all of EPA’s efforts will follow the best science, adhere to the rule of law, and be implemented with unparalleled transparency. She has made it a priority to focus on vulnerable groups including children, the elderly, and low-income communities that are particularly susceptible to environmental and health threats.

Jackson is the first African-American to serve as EPA administrator. She previously served as chief of staff to New Jersey governor Jon S. Corzine and commissioner of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), where she was widely praised for her work ethic, approachability and for spearheading groundbreaking emissions regulations in the state. Prior to joining DEP, she worked for sixteen years as an employee of the EPA.

“Forty years after its inception, the EPA’s noble endeavor of protecting the health of our communities continues stronger than ever—thanks to Lisa Jackson,” said Peter Lehner, executive director of the National Resources Defense Council. “The hallmark of Jackson’s leadership is her ability to rise above partisan politics and special interests in order to put the American people first. Protecting her fellow citizens is Jackson’s top priority and she’s done a stellar job achieving her goal.”

“Lisa reaches high and raises others with her,” added David Yarnold, Audubon President and CEO. “She’s plainspoken and trustworthy—two attributes Lisa’s friends at Audubon truly treasure.”

James Tripp, general counsel of the Environmental Defense Fund, stated, “Administrator Lisa Jackson’s extraordinary record as protector of the nation’s environment is reflected in the multitude of actions that EPA has taken since 2009 under federal clean air, clean water, and waste regulation laws. Her commitment to environmental restoration and environmental justice in coastal Louisiana with its collapsing delta and oil spill impacts as chair of President Obama’s Gulf Restoration Task Force is one noted example of her amazing environmental integrity.”

Louis Alexander of the New York State Bar Association noted, “Throughout her years of public service, Administrator Jackson has been a steadfast guardian of the environment, and has set the highest professional standards in addressing environmental issues at the state, national and global level. Her leadership, as EPA administrator, in ensuring that agency environmental decisions are based on science and law and in promoting a more inclusive environmental movement that addresses concerns of people of color has been significant to restoring and advancing progressive environmental policy.”

The Century Foundation presents this award in cooperation with the National Audubon Society, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Environmental Law Section of the New York State Bar Association, and former colleagues of Peter A. A. Berle. Representatives of these organizations served on the selection committee.

The group also selected Alexander B. “Pete” Grannis, former commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), to receive a special award, which was presented at a ceremony last month at The Century Foundation headquarters in New York City.

Peter A. A. Berle was a member of the Board of Trustees of The Century Foundation from 1971 to 2007, serving as its chairman and treasurer during his tenure; was president of the National Audubon Society from 1984 to 1994; and worked closely throughout his career with both the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Defense Fund. He served in the New York Legislature and as New York State’s commissioner of environmental conservation, as president of the City Parks Council, as chairman of the Joint Public Advisory Committee to the North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation, as vice-chairman of the New York Independent System Operator (which manages New York’s electric power grid), and as president of the Stockbridge Land Trust and on numerous other civic bodies. He helped establish the Adirondack Park Agency, wrote a guide on how citizens could influence public policy, was a leading environmental lawyer from the inception of modern environmental law, and provided trenchant environmental commentaries on National Public Radio for more than ten years after he retired from Audubon.

“Peter Berle lived by his principles both as a private citizen and as a public servant,” said Leone. “He believed the environmental challenges facing our nation require creative thinking, straight talk, and principled action and that environmental progress also requires the rule of law and social justice. These are the qualities that our country needs today, and that the Berle Environmental Integrity Award is intended to foster.”

To register to attend the awards ceremony on December 16 in Washington, D.C, contact Laurie Ahlrich at ahlrich@tcf.org or (212) 452-7722. For media inquiries contact Christy Hicks (TCF) at hicks@tcf.org or (212) 452-7723, Jenny Powers (NRDC) at jpowers@nrdc.org or (212) 727-4566, Delta Willis (National Audubon Society) at dwillis@audubon.org or (212) 979-3197, James Tripp (EDF) at jtripp@environmentaldefense.org or (212) 616-1247, Lou Alexander (former Chair, Environmental Law Section, NYSBA) at laalexan@gw.dec.state.ny.us or (518) 402-8537.

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The Century Foundation conducts public policy research and analyses of economic, social, and foreign policy issues, including inequality, retirement security, election reform, media studies, homeland security, and international affairs. The foundation produces books, reports, and other publications, convenes task forces and working groups, and operates seven informational Web sites. With offices in New York City and Washington, D.C., The Century Foundation is nonprofit and nonpartisan and was founded in 1919 by Edward A. Filene.