2024 Environmental Excellence Awards
APPLICATIONS FOR 2024 WEDA ENVIRONMENTAL EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Awards will be presented during the 2024 WEDA Dredging Summit and Expo in Tampa, FL.
IMPORTANT: 2024 Changes
Applications should be submitted online by April 12, 2024. Click here to submit an application.
The WEDA Environmental Excellence Award is presented to one project in each of two categories:
- Infrastructure-based Project Utilizing Dredging
- Environmental-based Project Utilizing Dredging
Objective: The WEDA Environmental Excellence Awards recognize projects for their outstanding contributions to the goals of WEDA, which include: To promote communication and understanding of environmental issues and stimulate new solutions associated with dredging and placement of dredged materials such that the projects, including navigation, environmental, and adaptation to climate change, are accomplished in an efficient manner that meet internationally recognized environmental goals.
Application Process:
- Identify the award category (Infrastructure-based for those projects that are primarily driven by the use of dredging to build, repair, or enhance water-focused structures, or Environmental-based for those projects whose dredging needs are primarily driven by remediation, restoration, or habitat enhancement in and around the aquatic environment).
- Include a project overview document, in English, in accordance with the attached requirements.
The Environmental Awards Committee will review each application and discuss the overall project with emphasis on innovation, outreach/education, environmental benefits, economic benefits, sustainability, and transferability.
Other:
- Application must be submitted by a WEDA member.
- A representative of each award application is expected to attend the WEDA Dredging Summit and Expo, with presentation of a technical paper about the project or program strongly encouraged.
- Submission of an application grants permission to WEDA for posting on the WEDA website, after the Dredging Summit and Expo.
- The project must have been completed no more than 3 years from the date of the award application.
- The winner awards will include a plaque, a special highlight during the WEDA Dredging Summit and Expo and on the WEDA website, and the opportunity to present the project/program via a WEDA-hosted webinar. WEDA will also issue a press release highlighting the project.
- All applicants will have a short presentation summary of their project displayed on a monitor in the Exhibition Hall during the Dredging Summit.
APPLICATION ELEMENTS FOR THE 2024 WEDA ENVIRONMENTAL EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Note: All applications must be submitted on-line through the link above
- Applicant (WEDA Member applicant’s name, employer, location, email address)
- Project Title
- Project Type Category (Infrastructure-based or Environmental-based)
- Project Description (500 words maximum)- describe your project and the environmental benefits that resulted from it. Benefits should include direct, quantitative measures of environmental, economic, and sustainability achievements. Qualitative measures are also acceptable when directly quantifiable data are not available.
- Transferability and Communication (500 words maximum)- describe the ways your project engaged stakeholders, worked with regulatory agencies, and developed approaches that will benefit the entire dredging community.
- Why Your Project? (1,000 words maximum)- describe the unique ways your project went “above and beyond” normal operations to achieve the environmental, economic, and sustainability achievements described in items 4 and 5. Explain the innovative aspects of the project and the lessons learned. Why does your project deserve recognition?
- You may provide up to 4 illustrative graphics or project photographs to support the narrative information of items 4, 5, and 6.
- Presentation guidelines- provide a PowerPoint format presentation of up to 3 individual slides that highlight your project. Slides from all applicants will be played on a rotating show on a monitor in the Exhibition Hall at the Dredging Summit.
Questions about the 2024 WEDA Environmental Excellence Awards should be directed to
Steve Garbaciak, Environmental Commission Chair, steve.garbaciak@foth.com or 708-793-2354
2023 Environmental Excellence Award Winners
For Partnerships and Outreach/Education | |||
Winner | was presented to the Spirit Lake Sediment Remediation Project, which is in the St. Louis River in Duluth, Minnesota. The project was executed by a team comprising EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, Inc., PBC. (EA), BARR Engineering and AECOM, and J.F. Brennan, in cooperation with the Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO) within the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and their project partner, the United States Steel Corporation {USS). | Read Press Release | |
For Innovation | |||
Winner | was presented to the Howards Bay Navigation and Cleanup Dredging Project, which is located within the St. Louis River Area of Concern (SLRAOC) in Superior, Wisconsin, and is an important part of the Port of Duluth-Superior and the home of the Fraser Shipyards (Fraser) and drydocks. J.F. Brennan Company, Inc. (Brennan), partnered with Arcadis and the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), to work on the Howards Bay Remediation project using innovative methods to secure a positive outcome. A partnership of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR), Fraser, and the City of Superior (City) was organized through the Great Lakes Legacy Act (GLLA) to co-fund and achieve this project. | Read Press Release |
2022 Environmental Excellence Award Winners
For Environmental Dredging | |||
Winner | The project teams for the Lightning Point Shoreline Restoration Project | View Citation | |
For Navigational Dredging | |||
Winner | The project team for the U. S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard Project at Ballast Point, San Diego, CA | View Citation | |
For Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change | |||
Winner | The project team for Cedar Bayou and Vinson Slough Reopening Project | View Citation |
2021 Virtual Dredging Summit Awards
2021 Safety Excellence Award for a Dredging Project WEDA is pleased to present WEDA’s 2021 Annual Safety Excellence Award for a Dredging Project to Ballard Marine Construction’s Ignacio-Mare Island Dutchman Slough Dredging. | View Citation | |
2021 Safety Excellence Award for a Dredging Contractor WEDA is pleased to present WEDA’s 2021 Annual Safety Excellence Award for a Dredging Contractor to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock. | View Citation |
Click to read the WODA Statement on Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change
2019 Environmental Excellence Awards
Press Release: Winners Announced for the 2019 Environmental Excellence Awards
In 2019, two awards were made: one for an environmental dredging project and one for Adaptation or Mitigation to Climate Change. These Awards were presented at the Dredging Summit & Expo '19 in Chicago, IL for projects and their team members that best meet the goals of WEDA's Environmental Commission:
For Environmental Dredging | ||||||
Winner | Restoration of the Former Zephyr Refinery: Fire Suppression Ditch project | Project | | | Photo | ||
Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change: | ||||||
Winner | La Quinta Aquatic Habitat Mitigation Project in the Corpus Christi Ship Channel | Project | | | Photo | ||
Other notable nomination: | ||||||
Ashland Phase 2 Wet Dredge Full Scale | Project | |||||
Project | ||||||
2018 Environmental Excellence Awards
Press Release: Winners Announced for the 2018 Environmental Excellence Awards
In 2018, three awards were made: one for a navigation dredging project, one for an environmental dredging project and one for Adaptation or Mitigation to Climate Change. These Awards were presented at the Dredging Summit & Expo '18 in Norfolk, VA for projects and their team members that best meet the goals of WEDA's Environmental Commission:
For Environmental Dredging | ||||||
Winner | Wagner Creek and Seybold Canal Restoration Project - City of Miami, Florida | Project | | | Photo | ||
For Navigational Dredging | ||||||
Winner | Florida Inland Navigation District Intracoastal Waterway Deepening - Fort Lauderdale, Broward County, Florida | Project | | | Photo | ||
Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change: | ||||||
Winner | Ninigret Marsh Restoration Project - Rhode Island | Project | | | Photo | ||
Other notable nominations: | ||||||
Innovative and Sustainable Dredging Solutions to Help Build a Better World (Cat Marine Advanced Variable DriveTM - Innovative Vessel Design) | Project | |||||
Beach Stabilization and Dune Restoration in Progreso, Yucatan, Mexico MARCOST de México SA de CV, Mérida, Yucatán, México | Project | |||||
La Quinta Aquatic Habitat Mitigation Project - Texas | Project | |||||
Mississippi River Ship Channel Dredging and Wetlands Creation – An Environmental Success Story | Project | |||||
Former Gloucester Gas Light Company Manufactured Gas Plant Facility Remedy Implementation Gloucester, Massachusetts | Project | |||||
Cedar Creek Environmental Remediation Project Cedarburg, Wisconsin, USA | Project | |||||
Port of Bellingham Whatcom Waterway Phase 1 Cleanup Project | Project | |||||
2017 Environmental Excellence Awards
Press Release: Winners Announced for the 2017 Environmental Excellence Awards
In 2017, three awards were made: one for a navigation dredging project, one for an environmental dredging project and one for Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change. These Awards were presented at the Dredging Summit & Expo '17 in Vancouver for projects and their team members that best meet the goals of WEDA's Environmental Commission:
For Environmental Dredging | ||||||
Winner | Onondaga Lake Restoration in Syracuse, New York, USA | Project | | | Photo | ||
For Navigational Dredging | ||||||
Winner | Barbours Cut Expansion/San Jacinto Restoration Houston Ship Channel and San Jacinto River, La Porte, Texas, USA | Project | | | Photo | ||
Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change: | ||||||
Winner | Strategically Placing Dredged Material Enhancing Horseshoe Bend Island, Horseshoe Bend Island Project in the Atchafalaya River, Louisiana, USA | Project | | | Photo | ||
Other notable nominations: | ||||||
Lower Duwamish Waterway Enhanced Natural Recovery/Activated Carbon Pilot Study Project | Project | |||||
West Basin Navigational Dredging Port of Long Beach | Project | |||||
Bayport Ship Channel (BSC) and Barbours Cut Channel (BCC) Improvement Project | Project | |||||
Dredging and Beachfill, Delaware River Main Channel Deepening | Project | |||||
Caminada Headland Beach and Dune Restoration Project | Project | |||||
2016 WODA Environmental Excellence Awards
Press Release: Winners Announced for the 2016 Environmental Excellence Awards
This year, The World Organization of Dredging Associations (WODA), during the gala dinner of its triennial international conference in Miami, proudly presented four Environmental Excellence Awards in two categories, Environmental Dredging and Dredging for Coastal Reinforcement.
2016 Environmental Excellence Awards | ||||||
For Environmental Dredging | ||||||
Winner | Boeing’s Plant 2 Sediment Remediation and Urban Waterway Restoration at the Duwamish Waterway in Seattle, Washington | Project | ||||
Silver | Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge Marsh Habitat Restoration, Milton, Delaware, USA. | Project | ||||
For Dredging for Coastal Reinforcement | ||||||
Winner | Medmerry Managed Realignment, Medmerry, England, United Kingdom. | Project | ||||
Silver | Hondsbossche and Pettemer Sea Defence, the Netherlands. | Project | ||||
Other notable nominations: | ||||||
Wisconsin River and Park Pond Remediation | Project | |||||
Bayou D’Inde (Area B)/Lower Canal Sediment Remediation Project Lake Charles, LA | Project | |||||
Pershing Park Boat Basin Dredging Racine County, Wisconsin | Project | |||||
2015 Environmental Excellence Awards
Press Release: Winners Announced for the 2015 Environmental Excellence Awards | View Criteria
In 2015, two awards were made: one for a navigation dredging project and one for an environmental dredging project. These Awards were presented at the Dredging Summit & Expo in Houston for projects and their team members that best meet the goals of WEDA's Environmental Commission:
2015 Environmental Excellence Awards | ||||||
For Navigational Dredging | ||||||
Winner | Strategically Placing Dredged Material Enhancing Horseshoe Bend Island | Project | | | Photo | ||
Silver | Detroit Harbor Navigation Channel Dredging and Expansion Project | Project | | | Photo | ||
For Environmental Dredging | ||||||
Winner | East Branch Grand Calumet River Remediation East Chicago/Hammond, Indiana | Project | | | Photo | ||
Silver | Esquimalt Graving Dock Waterfront Remediation Project, Vancouver Island, BC | Project | | | Photo | ||
Other notable nominations: | ||||||
Port of Ridgefield Dredging | Project | |||||
Riverine Sand Mining / Scofield Island Restoration | Project | |||||
San Diego Bay | Project | |||||
2014 Environmental Excellence Awards | ||||||
For Navigational Dredging | ||||||
Winner | Port of Kalama TEMCO Berth | Project | | | Award | ||
Silver | Port of Stockton | Project | | | Award | ||
For Environmental Dredging | ||||||
Winner | Sheboygan River, WI | Project | | | Award | ||
Silver | Hudson River PCBs Superfund | Project | | | Award | ||
Other notable nominations: | ||||||
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard - Bremerton | Project | |||||
Mississippi River Dredging - St. Louis District | Project | |||||
Nanticoke River Maintenance Dredging | Project | |||||
Susquehanna River - Battery Island | Project | |||||
Contaminated Sediment Menominee River, WI | Project | |||||
Innovative Reuse of Dredged Material - Baltimore, MD | Project | |||||
2013 Environmental Excellence Awards | ||||||
For Navigational Dredging | ||||||
Winner | Deer Island Restoration Project near Mobile, Alabama | Project | | | Award | ||
Silver | Port of Long Beach, California, Middle Harbor Redevelopment Project | Project | | | Award | ||
Silver | Integration of Traditional Navigation Projects with Shore Protection for Beneficial Uses | Project | | | Award | ||
For Environmental Dredging | ||||||
Winner | Environmental Dredging and Aquatic Enhancement of Lake Beauclair, FL | Project | | | Award | ||
Silver | River Raisin Area of Concern Restoration Project in Monroe, MI | Project | | | Award | ||
Other notable nominations: | ||||||
West Branch Grand Calumet River Remediation | Project | |||||
Schnabel Innovative use of Dredged Material Project | Project | |||||
Embraport Container and Bulk Terminal Santos, Brazil | Project | |||||
Long Island Sound Region - US Army Corps of Engineers | Project | |||||
US Army Corps of Engineers Dredge Murden Water Hydraulics System | Project | |||||
Previous Environmental Excellence Awards
- Download the Press Releases, Award Citations & Winning Nominations