This year’s Western PA Environmental Lifetime Achievement Awards will be presented to R. John Dawes, Executive Director of the Foundation for Pennsylvania’s Watersheds; and John W. Schombert, former Executive Director of 3 Rivers Wet Weather.

The awardees will be honored at the 2017 Western PA Environmental Awards Dinner and Awards Ceremony on May 24 at the Westin Hotel and Convention Center in Pittsburgh.

The Western PA Environmental Awards are sponsored by Dominion and the PA Environmental Council.

R. John Dawes

As Executive Director of the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds since 1994, John Dawes has supervised the distribution of over $110 million in small grants to over 150 environmental and watershed associations throughout the state, mostly in the area of abandoned mine reclamation.

He is a longtime leader in the region’s watershed repair and conservation efforts, was instrumental in securing more than $1 billion in federal funding to address Pennsylvania’s critical acid mine drainage problem and is a powerful voice in environmental protection and conservation throughout the Commonwealth.

Dawes has also be the recipient of the federal Office of Surface Mining ECHO Award,  the Susquehanna River Basin Commission Watershed Protection Award, the PA Association of Environmental Professionals Karl Mason Award, the PA Land Trust Association Lifetime Conservation Leadership Award and the Dawes’ Farm was named a Regional Environmental Stewardship Winner.

John W. Schombert

John Schombert has dedicated his long and distinguished career to addressing one of the most daunting environmental challenges facing the Pittsburgh region – the control and management of stormwater.

He has been the Executive Director of 3 Rivers Wet Weather since its founding in 1998 and worked for nearly three decades in the Allegheny County Health Department’s water pollution, public drinking water and waste management programs.

He is the chairman of the Coraopolis Water and Sewer Authority, a member of the Riverview Sanitary Authority and the Pennsylvania State Board for the Certification of Sewage Treatment Plant and Waterworks Operators and the Pennsylvania Water Resource Advisory Board.

Past winners of the Lifetime Achievement Award have included John Oliver, Linda McKenna Boxx, Josh & Farley Whetzel, and the Honorable Tom Ridge.

For more information on programs, initiatives and special events, visit the PA Environmental Council website, visit the PEC Blog, follow PEC on Twitter or Like PEC on Facebook.  Visit PEC’s Audio Room for the latest podcasts.  Click Here to receive regular updates from PEC.

Related Story:

Nominations Now Being Accepted For Western PA Environmental Awards

[Posted Jan. 5, 2017]

1/9/2017