DAQ Names Employee, Team of the Year for 2007

The Division of Air Quality today held its ninth Employee Recognition Awards ceremony, with Joette Steger of the Raleigh Central Office named as the 2007 DAQ Employee of the Year. The Regional Haze State Implementation Plan Team was named the 2007 DAQ Team of the Year. DENR Deputy Secretary Bill Laxton presented the awards.

Steger was nominated by the Ambient Air Monitoring Section for her efforts in overseeing quality assurance activities for the statewide air quality monitoring network. Steger, an environmental program supervisor, manages the Projects and Procedures Branch for the Ambient Monitoring Section. Among her accomplishments, she coordinated the section's preparation, public review and submittal of the DAQ Annual Ambient Monitoring Network Plan for 2008. The plan demonstrates that the Division of Air Quality complies with federal regulations with regard to the design, implementation and modification of the state's air quality monitoring network. The EPA, in its approval letter for the plan, commended the DAQ for "providing a document that facilitated the review process, through a well thought-out design and for the thoroughness of the information provided."

The Regional Haze State Implementation Plan Team was recognized for developing a plan for improving visibility in North Carolina's Class I Areas such as national parks and wilderness areas. Through the team's efforts, North Carolina was the first state to submit a Regional Haze SIP to the Federal Land Managers for review. The team performed its task so well that the North Carolina plan has become a model for other states, while receiving compliments from the EPA, federal land managers and other states as the best regional haze submittal. In preparing the haze plan, the group drew upon the results of the VISTAS effort - in which North Carolina was a leading member - transforming large amounts of technical and modeling data into the SIP format that met EPA requirements. Team members included Mike Abraczinskas, Laura Boothe, George Bridgers, Joelle Burleson, Bebhinn Do, Janice Godfrey, Sheila Holman, Kathy Kaufman, Matt Mahler, Wallace Pitts, Nick Witcraft, Bob Wooten and Ming Xie.

Other nominees for DAQ Employee of the Year included George Bridgers, Paul Chappin, Charles O. Davis, Kimberly Garnett, Denise Hayes, Bonnie Jordan, Doug Love, Margaret Love, Jim Southerland, Pam Vivian and Mark Yirka. Other nominees for the DAQ Team of the Year included the N.C. Climate Action Plan Advisory Group Team, the Cliffside Permit Team, the Exceptional Events Data Documentation Team, the Change A Light NC Team, and the Asheville Regional Office Air Awareness Education and Outreach Team.

Also at the awards ceremony, DAQ presented service awards to employees with 10 years or more with the state. One staff member, Wayne Cook, supervisor of the Wilmington Regional Office, reached the 35-year milestone.

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