Sierra Club Honors Two
for Pueblo Chemical Weapons Work
Sangre de Cristo Group
P.O. Box 8328
Pueblo CO 81008-8328
Protecting Health
and the Environment in
Southeastern Colorado--for Our Families, for Our Future
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT: Ross Vincent 719-561-3117
Michael A. Parker 410-436-3398
Susan LeFever 303-861-8819
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, September 14, 2004
Sierra Club Honors Two for Pueblo Chemical Weapons
Work
A Sierra Club
volunteer leader from Pueblo and and an Army official from Maryland are the
recipients of national awards from the Sierra Club for their work related
to destruction of chemical weapons at the Pueblo Chemical Depot. The
awards were presented by Sierra Club President Larry Fahn at the Club's annual
Awards Banquet in San Francisco last Saturday night.
Ross Vincent of Pueblo received the Club's Environmental Alliance Award,
presented to Sierra Club leaders who have helped further environmental goals
through collaboration or coalitions with other, non-Sierra Club constituencies.
Vincent was recognized for putting his training as a chemical engineer
to work forging partnerships to address the chemical weapons disposal problem.
He brought local leaders from labor unions, community and church groups
and the agriculture community to form Better Pueblo. Those efforts
contributed substantially to the development of a local consensus about the
method preferred by the Pueblo community for destroying the 2600 tons of
mustard agent in munitions stored at the Pueblo Chemical Depot, and helped
to persuade the Army to use a safer neutralization-biotreatment method, rather
than incineration.
Vincent chairs the local Sangre de Cristo Group of the Sierra Club and the
Board of Directors of Better Pueblo, the continuing diverse coalition of
community leaders in Pueblo that he helped found, and he serves on the Colorado
Chemical Demilitarization Citizens Advisory Commission.
Also honored Saturday night was Michael A. Parker of Bel Air, Maryland, the
Defense Department's Program Manager for Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives.
Parker received the Sierra Club's Distinguished Achievement Award which
honors persons in public service for an act of particular environmental importance.
Since 1976, Parker has led the program that identified and demonstrated,
and is now deploying safe, effective and more environmentally benign technologies
for destroying chemical weapons. His program developed the treatment
system that will be used at the Pueblo Chemical Depot.
Parker was recognized for his skill and commitment to public service in overcoming
the considerable technical and political challenges involved in demonstrating
three viable alternatives to incineration for destroying the full range of
chemical weapons agents in the U.S. stockpile.
Three other Coloradans were also recipients of Sierra Club national awards.
Creg Casini of Denver received the William E. Colby Award for leadership,
dedication and service to the Sierra Club, particularly in the area of administration.
Casini chairs the Club's statewide Rocky Mountain Chapter and was recently
named to the Club's national Board of Directors.
In addition, Charles Oriez of Littleton and Mark Collier of Boulder received
the Susan B. Miller Award for exceptional contributions to Sierra Club chapters.
Both are members of the Club's national Information Technology Committee
and have made major contributions to improving internal communication within
the club and among its chapters and local groups.
