Residents of Chester County who have recently worked on successful environmental projects are encouraged to apply for the 2020 Governor's Awards for Environmental Excellence, the state's top environmental honor. Last year, the Valley Creek Restoration Partnership won this award for its work in Valley Forge National Historic Park.
The Governor's Awards for Environmental Excellence are open to all individuals, whether they led or participated in a project, and to all schools, nonprofit organizations, businesses, farms, and government agencies. People may also nominate individuals or organizations by applying on their behalf.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) oversees the award selection process, evaluating projects on seven criteria: degree of environmental protection, climate change, sustainability, partnership, economic impact, innovation, and environmental education and outreach. Projects do not have to meet all criteria to merit an award and may be nonprofit or for-profit.
Projects must have been completed before Oct. 15 to be eligible. Past winners may submit applications for new projects, but projects that have previously received an Environmental Excellence Award are not eligible.
The deadline for application submission is Tuesday, Dec. 17, at 5 p.m. For applications and guidelines, readers may visit http://www.dep.pa.gov and select Awards under About DEP and then Governor's Awards for Environmental Excellence.
In 2019, one individual and 17 organizations, businesses, and local governments received awards. Their projects produced environmental workforce training, mobile renewable energy workshops, energy-saving LED light installation, natural gas fueling stations, cleaned-up coastlines, storm water retrofitting videos, conservation farming, creek restorations, and other positive outcomes for Pennsylvania.
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