Vermont Environmental Engineering Advisory Council
STATE OF VERMONT EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT EXECUTIVE ORDER
WHEREAS, in the last 30 years, industrialized nations have begun to identify a broad range of environmental problems within and outside their borders, many of which require responses employing new complex processes and technologies to cleanup or mitigate past environmental impacts as well as to reduce or prevent future environmental degradation; and
WHEREAS, the key discipline required to successfully clean up or mitigate past environmental problems and to reduce or eliminate future environmental impacts is the field of environmental engineering; and
WHEREAS, the field of environmental engineering is an established discipline dating back to the middle 1800’s that has its roots in civil, chemical, and mechanical engineering as well as the supporting disciplines of mathematics, the sciences, public health, environmental law and the humanities; and
WHEREAS, environmental engineering is playing an ever-increasing international role in working to identify and implement solutions to problems associated with ground and surface water contamination, air pollution, hazardous waste, toxic materials, contaminated sites, water supply, public health and safety, wastewater management, stormwater management and a variety of other challenges; and
WHEREAS, the development of public policy and environmental law has been a critical factor in helping countries recognize and address their environmental challenges, but it has been the work of the environmental engineer to adapt scientific discovery to real world problems and deploy mechanisms to remediate environmental impacts; and
WHEREAS, Vermont is exceptionally well-poised to serve as the link between problem solvers educated and working here in professional firms and decision makers in countries seeking to resolve environmental challenges, as we are known worldwide both for our environmental responsibility as well as our environmental innovation; and
WHEREAS, the State of Vermont’s economic development efforts have focused on supporting the vast array of firms located within or having offices in Vermont that provide environmental related products and services to the global market; and
WHEREAS, a significant group of environmental engineering firms in Vermont form the basis for an industry cluster that, if supported in appropriate ways, will grow and add good paying, skilled jobs to our economy; and
WHEREAS, a concerted effort to support the field of environmental engineering in Vermont will advance the State of Vermont’s much broader effort aimed at improving issues of affordability through increasing the number of good-paying skilled jobs, as well as strengthening education at all levels, with emphasis on the disciplines often leading to quality employment -- math, science and technology.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT I, James H. Douglas, by virtue of the authority vested in me as Governor of the State of Vermont, do hereby establish a Vermont Environmental Engineering Advisory Council (the Council), whose composition and duties shall be as follows:
1. The Council shall be comprised of thirteen members, including:
A. Seven members, ex-officio, as follows:
i. the Chair of the Vermont Technology Council;
ii. the Dean of Engineering of the University of Vermont;
iii. the Dean of Engineering of Norwich University;
iv. the President of Vermont Technical College;
v. the State’s Chief Marketing Officer;
vi. the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Vermont Environmental Consortium;
vii. the Secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development;
B. Four members appointed by the Governor;
C. One member appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; and
D. One member appointed by the Committee on Committees of the Senate.
2. Appointed members shall be chosen from the fields of engineering or marketing or from engineering, science, mathematics or technology academia.
3. The Chair of the Council shall be appointed by the Governor from among the Council’s members. The Council shall meet at the call of the Chair. Administrative support to the Council shall be provided by the Agency of Commerce and Community Development.
4. The Council is charged with the following responsibilities:
A. The Council shall serve as an advisory group to the Governor and the Secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development as well as to any consultants working for the State on recruitment, retention, and expansion of employment in Vermont;
B. The Council’s objective will be to establish the State as a global center of excellence for the study and application of environmental engineering and related disciplines necessary to solve environmental problems worldwide; and
C. The Council shall support and enhance the efforts of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development to identify and recruit engineering firms to Vermont.
D. The Council shall work with identified stakeholders to establish the infrastructure needed to support the environmental engineering industry in Vermont, such as making Vermont an education leader in math, science and technology, supporting universal high-speed internet access for all of Vermont, mitigating affordability challenges due to the lack of housing, a heavy tax burden, rising health care costs and other related costs of living that erode the renowned quality of life in Vermont.
This Executive Order shall take effect upon execution and shall expire on June 30, 2010.
Witness my name hereunto subscribed and the Great Seal of the State of Vermont hereunto affixed at Montpelier this 30th day of April, A.D. 2007.
James H. Douglas, Governor
By the Governor: Kiersten Bourgeois, Secretary of Civil and Military Affairs
EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 03-07
03-07