2008 Awards Recipients

MARC FERRIES - ENVIRONMENTAL PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR FOR 2008

Nominees for Environmental Professional of the Year should have made significant contributions to the environmental profession in 2008 through their completed or ongoing activities including professional work, community service, and other acts of volunteerism that benefited the Houston Gulf Coast area in 2008. Nominees from industry, service companies, the legal profession, and academia will be considered.

I would like to nominate Marc Ferries, P.E., for the TAEP Environmental Professional of the Year Award.  Marc is the Director of Remediation for the El Paso Corporation, where he manages a large portfolio of environmental remediation liabilities in the US.  Marc has been instrumental in development environmental management tools to improve remediation accountability and is a leading force in the emergence of several important areas affecting environmental liabilities including his publication of articles dealing w/ the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation concerning disclosure of environmental liabilities and more recently the potential impacts of Fair Market Valuation (FMV) on financial reserve setting for environmental liabilities.  Marc has presented lectures at scores of national forums on managing remediation projects as a business w/ a focus on improving the transparency of financial reporting, including the 2007 TAEP annual conference.

Marc and his staff recently received notable awards including the Bureau of Land Management's "Environmental Hard Rock Award" and the Nevada Mining Association's "Reclamation Award" for the closure of the Comstock Gold Mine.  Marc also received the El Paso CEO's ACE Award for his outstanding contribution toward environmental excellence.

At home Marc is an active participant in his family and his community.  For example he is the chairman of the Senior Parent Organization for Tomball High School and volunteers frequently on behalf children's advocacy including among other organizations the Boys and Girls Country, which helps troubled children from families of crisis to prepare for a successful life. - Nominated by Ken Tyrrell, URS Corporation

FRED ANTHAMATTEN - REGULATOR OF THE YEAR FOR 2008

Nominees for Regulator of the Year must be employed at a regulatory or government agency and should have made significant contributions to the environmental profession, the TAEP, or the communities within the Houston Gulf Coast area in 2008.

Fred Anthamatten, a biologist (Lamar University) and Chief of the Regulatory Branch of the US Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District, has been with the Corps for 32 years.  Fred has received numerous awards for his service, including the Coastal America Partnership Award in 1999 and letters of commendation for the US and Texas Attorney’s Offices. He is co-author of Successful Restoration of Filled Wetlands At Four Locations Along The Texas Coast (1981) and Wetland Delineating by Means of Tide Gauge, South Padre Island, Texas (1998).  Under Fred’s purview, the Regulatory Branch of the Galveston District is responsible for authorizing work in jurisdictional waters and wetlands under the Clean Water Act and the Rivers and Harbors Act for a large region that stretches along the Texas Coast from Louisiana southward to Brownsville.   Fred was selected for this award based on his and his staff’s difficult work overseeing and protecting our coastal region’s valuable aquatic resources in an ever-changing regulatory climate complicated by numerous Supreme Court cases since 2000.  This work requires great patience and a balanced vision of the ecologic and economic needs represented along the Texas coast.  In addition to this, the agency and its staff are responsible for emergency response during hurricanes (IKE) and other disasters above and beyond their regular responsibilities.  For these reasons, we are proud to award the Texas Association of Environmental Professional’s Regulator of the Year Award to Mr. Fred Anthamatten, US Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District. - Nominated by Cathy Wahren, Terracon Consultants

SCOTT DAVIS - TAEP MEMBER OF THE YEAR FOR 2008

Nominees for TAEP Member of the Year should have made signficant contributions to the Texas Association of Environmental Professionals in 2008 through their completed or ongoing volunteerism. All current TAEP members are eligible for this award.

Even though Scott Davis lives and works in Austin, he has maintained a membership in TAEP and participated in events such as luncheons and our conferences for several years.  In 2008, Scott became significantly more involved in TAEP.  He helped provide counsel to the ECIC08 planning committee.  Following the conference, Scott began a tireless effort to start up a subchapter of TAEP in Austin.  He has actually had this idea for some time, but he made it all happen during this past year. He spent countless hours to:

• learn what it would take to run the organization
• determine how to integrate the Austin group with the Houston group
• initiate advertisement to recruit others in the Austin area to help plan
• research venues
• research speakers
• advertise to prospective luncheon attendees and members
• coordinate with the Houston Board of Directors
• establish an Austin Board of Directors
• provide leadership to the Austin Board and subchapter

The best part of all this is that Scott’s vision has become a reality.  Certainly there was some help from others along the way. But Scott was the constant presence behind establishing the Austin subchapter. His persistence and dedication are what has made the Austin subchapter a success.  How do we know it has been a success?

• Over 30 members have joined
• Attendance at meetings has been consistent
• Luncheon speakers have been lined up well in advance and already through early spring 2009

Scott’s contributions to TAEP are not stopping there. Scott still communicates regularly with the TAEP Board here in Houston by bringing forth ideas to help both organizations become even more valuable to their members.  Many of his ideas are being discussed and integrated into the administration of both organizations.  With great pleasure we would like to present the TAEP Member of the Year Award to Scott Davis. Nominated by Shannon Tyrell, ALS Laboratory Group, and Chris McCarthy, CH2M HILL