RALEIGH -- National honors will be given Nov. 19 in New Bern to North Carolina and Carolina Power & Light Company for their partnership to remove the Quaker Neck Dam near Goldsboro last year to improve the migration of several fish species.
Coastal America is presenting its 1998 Partnership Award to a team that involved state and federal agencies and staff of CP&L who worked to remove the dam. Ambassador James Pipkin of the U.S. Department of the Interior and Mike McGhee, director of Water Management for EPA, Region IV will speak and Pipkin will present the awards in a 9 a.m. ceremony to be held in the Sheraton Grand Hotel.
Removal of the 260-foot wide cement dam on the Neuse River near Goldsboro began last Dec. 17 and was completed recently. The utility voluntarily agreed to the dam’s removal, the first such major state-private agreement of its kind in the country for strictly environmental purposes.
Removal of the dam opened 75 additional miles of the Neuse River and 925 miles of its tributaries to fish that spawn inland and return to the ocean. Some American shad, hickory shad, short nosed sturgeon and striped bass already are being caught between Goldsboro and Raleigh.
Wayne McDevitt, secretary of the state’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), will welcome the delegation expected and accept the award for the state.
Bill Cavanaugh, Chief Executive Officer and President of CP&L, will accept a special award from Coastal America recognizing non-governmental work to improve the environment.
Coastal America is a partnership of national, regional, and local teams that deal with critical coastal environmental problems nationwide. The partnership includes 10 federal departments, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Executive Office of the President.
In addition to plaques, award winners also will receive a letter of congratulations from Vice President Al Gore.
Quaker Neck Dam Team members being honored include: Mike Wicker, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service; Buzz Bryson, CP&L; John Morris and John Sutherland, N.C. Division of Water Resources; Guy Stefanski, Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Program; Chuck Wilson, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Larry Hardy, National Marine Fisheries Service; “Bo” Crum, EPA; Todd Miller, N.C. Coastal Federation; Joe Hightower, N.C. State University; Ben Taylor, Public Affairs Office, DENR; and Frank Urben, CP&L.
The ceremony will be followed by the 1998 Albemarle-Pamlico Sounds Conference, expected to draw 200 water and fishery officials for a two-day conference on issues facing the sounds of North Carolina.
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Contact Person: Don Reuter, 919/715-4112
Date Posted: 11/3/98
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