Wednesday, December 9, 2020

We won!! We won!! Let's all take a deep breath, center ourselves, and find out what we did to win....(and we also win in the category of the longest title for an article)!

First, a little housekeeping issue:  I will continue to provide a link to my blog posts on the various community FB pages.....!  

           Earlier this week, I was informed that the Township had won The Governor's Environmental Excellence Award in the category of Climate Change & Clean Air.   The award recognizes individuals, businesses, institutions, communities, organizations, educators, youth, and others who have made significant environmental protection contributions in New Jersey.  Apparently, we are THAT good!

            The Governor's Environmental Excellence Awards Program is New Jersey's premier awards program for recognizing outstanding environmental performance, programs, and projects throughout the state.   It is sponsored by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the New Jersey Infrastructure Bank, and the New Jersey Corporation for Advanced Technology, in partnership with the New Jersey State League of Municipalities.

            To those residents that want to know a little more about our efforts, I offer the following link to our submission to the NJ DEP for consideration in this award category:

https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:dd29d0ef-3735-4e7e-bf5f-4554bda47063

            I hope the residents of this community take pride and ownership in this award.  It is validation for the years of hard work and commitment to pursuing and completing meaningful projects (mostly funded by various grants) to reduce our carbon footprint and be a community that leads in sustainability.   For many years, our elected officials have embraced the idea of being environmentally responsible in our municipal operations.  This policy directive empowered Township employees to do what they do to turn policy into actual change.  It requires teamwork and sustained commitment from many, that do the work behind the scenes and out of view of the residents they serve. 

            Special acknowledgment goes to Mayor James Kownacki, Council Members Michael Powers, Cathleen Lewis, Christopher Bobbitt, and John Ryan for their continued commitment to making sustainable action a policy of their administration.  Also, our Municipal Engineer James Parvesse and Engineer/Grant Specialist Brenda Kraemer, Public Works Director Greg Whitehead, and our CFO Peter Kiriakatis, have primary roles for the projects that we make happen.  Stay tuned for more projects as this is a never-ending process!

            Double Special Acknowledgment (is that a thing?) to Council Member Christopher Bobbitt, who in 2018 was our Mayor and made sustainability the focus for his 2-year term….and was the motivating force for our amped-up efforts that resulted in this prestigious award!

            NOTE:  "In January 2020, a new "Green Committee" was formed, comprised of a representative mix of residents, businesses, and schools that met to identify community-wide priorities.  Climate change was one of four actions discussed, and a subcommittee was formed to investigate ten actions in that category further.  The Green Committee and other stakeholders will be valuable participants in the development of the Community Energy Plan, which is viewed as one of the next steps to showcase the Township's emissions reductions while planning to implement these strategies for further reductions on a community-wide level."[1]   

Here is the link to the Green Committee page on our Township website:  http://www.lawrencetwp.com/com-erc.html

Here is the link to more information about the Community Energy Plan from the NJ BPU's Clean Energy Program: https://njcleanenergy.com/commercial-industrial/programs/community-energy-plans






[1] From our application to the NJ DEP under Section 5 “Education and Outreach.”

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