NADEP North Island is No. 1 with the White House

By Bill Bartkus

The White House has taken particular note of the accomplishments of the environmental program at Naval Air Depot North Island and recently awarded the Depot its Closing the Circle Award in the category of Environmental Management Systems. The award is coordinated through the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive (www.ofee.gov), a White House appointee. This office oversees all federal agencies and monitors progress against the environmental goals of Executive Orders.
This year, the award competition received 245 nominations from federal agencies in seven categories. Many of these nominations had been screened by their own agencies prior to submittal. Sixteen judges representing academia, industry and government organizations, made the final selection of winners this year.
“The award is a result of the effort of everyone in the plant and the members of the Environmental Improvement Team (EIT),” said Ray Paulson, Code 8.7.3. “The focus of the award submittal is the outstanding pollutant reductions for significant cost savings demonstrating the Environmental Management System (EMS) continual improvement process.” He said that the Environmental Program Office submitted the award for the team. “We were completely taken by surprise that we won,” he said.
Paulson said that the prestigious White House award brings national visibility to the Depot’s effort to protect the environment.
“The goal of the Environmental Improvement Team is to identify solutions for the plant in all areas, and we relate that to environmental benefits. It has been a huge success,” said Paulson. “We have accomplished significant reductions in the last two years with this EMS approach.”
The Environmental Management System, administered by Mel Barrera, Code 8.7.3, has streamlined the management process to identify and implement solutions that benefit the environment, Paulson stated.
Paulson said that four teammates, to be selected by Depot management, have been invited to the nation’s capital to accept the award at a formal ceremony on June 4 in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
When notified of the Depot’s achievement, NADEP Commanding Officer Capt. Pete Laszcz passed his personal kudos to Byron Doung, Code 8.0, head of the Depot’s Shore Station Management Group, of which environmental planning is a subdivision, and the EIT saying, “Congratulations for continued outstanding performance in the environmental area.” And Plant Manager Bill Reschke said, “Outstanding accomplishment! Congratulations to the entire team.”
Along with Paulson, the EIT includes Larry Lausin, John Reyes, Marc Glassoff, Mike Tong and Kim Lee, all from Code 6.3.3; Thomas Mitch with Code 8.4.4; Ernest Shiwanov, Code 4.3.3.2; and Mike Hammond, Code 7.5.
In addition, a number of identified alternates for each EIT member have played critical roles at various stages for the success of the pollution prevention program. These subject matter experts provide the EMS process that critical link to the shops and support staff.