CHARLESTON - Delegate Barbara Evans Fleischauer of Monongalia County was recently presented with the Chuck Chambers Public Service Award from the West Virginia Environmental Council (WVEC) at a dinner in Charleston.
The award is named for former West Virginia Speaker of the House and current Federal District Court Judge, Chuck Chambers. It is given annually to an individual for outstanding environmental advocacy.
Delegate Barbara Evans Fleischauer is one of those rare political leaders that actually leads, said Monongalia County resident and long-time Sierra Club activist Jim Kotcon, as he presented Fleischauer with the award, an engraved Blenko vase. She identified key environmental problems, examined policies from other states, produced innovative solutions, and actually drafted the legislative bills to solve those problems, on issues that many were afraid to touch.
For Barbara, added Kotcon, protecting our natural resources like clean air and water, is just the right thing to do. Through her leadership, many of the bills she introduced became key legislative priorities for WVEC.
Don Garvin, Legislative Director of the WV Environmental Council, noting Fleischauer's legislative efforts to prevent the re-occurrence of the massive Dunkard Creek fish kill agreed: Barbara fights hard for her constituents in Monongalia County. She is a natural for this award and she's long past due receiving it.
During his tenure as Speaker, Chuck Chambers presided over the passage of ground-breaking legislation, including hazardous waste siting, Class A landfill referendum and sewage sludge laws. It was at his urging that a coalition of environmental groups was formed. Today WVEC is comprised of fifty diverse groups, including the Sierra Club, the West Virginia Council of Churches, numerous watershed associations and Trout Unlimited.