Long Island, NY – Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, congratulated Maureen Dolan Murphy, Executive Programs Manager of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment (CCE) for winning the 2014 Environmental Quality Award. The Farmingdale-based organization – which Senator Gillibrand nominated this past February – will receive the Environmental Protection Agency’s prestigious honor for their commitment and significant contributions to greening Long Island.
“I congratulate Ms. Murphy from the Citizens Campaign for the Environment for her dedication to creating a cleaner New York,” said Senator Gillibrand. “From improving Long Island’s quality of life to advancing renewable energy, this environmental champion will help lead the way towards a greener Long Island.”
“I am grateful to work for such a wonderful organization and honored to be recognized for such a prestigious award,” said Maureen Dolan Murphy, Executive Programs Manager, Citizens Campaign for the Environment.
For more than two decades, CCE has helped citizens increase their influence and participation in important environmental campaigns. Through such activism, the public has a stronger voice in the development of public policies and legislative agendas. CCE has been successful in advancing programs that benefit the environment and public health. The group’s successes through public involvement have resulted in greater awareness and protection of drinking water quality, preservation of open spaces, protection of beaches, bays, rivers and Great Lakes waters, advancing renewable energy and a reduction in pollutants that impair our air and water resources.
Ms. Murphy is a member of the Long Island Sound Study Citizens Advisory Committee, the Western Bays Alliance, and Chairs the South Shore Estuary Reserve Citizens Advisory Committee. She works locally to expand safe disposal options for unused pharmaceutical medications, advocates for clean renewable energy, and encourages members of the public to BYOB—Bring Your Own Bag and ditch flimsy throw-a-way disposable bags. She has co-authored Long Island’s first Recycling Report Card and Long Island’s first Sewage Report Card, both resulting in enactment of pro-environmental policies. The sewage report card was the impetus for NYS’s Sewage Right to Know law, enacted in 2012.
The Environmental Quality Award, which recognizes individuals and organizations that have improved the environment and public health in EPA Region 2 (New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and seven federally-recognized Indian Nations), will be formally presented to New York organizations in a ceremony on Wednesday, April 23rd at the EPA Regional Headquarters in Lower Manhattan.
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