News Release
FOR RELEASE - August 27, 2008
Contact: Aaron Ellis, aellis@aapa-ports.org
703-706-4714

American Association of Port Authorities
Phone: (202) 792-4033
www.aapa-ports.org

25 Seaports To Receive 74 Honors In AAPA’s 2008 Awards Program

The American Association of Port Authorities, a trade group representing leading port authorities throughout the Western Hemisphere, has selected 25 seaports to be recognized for exemplary projects, programs and initiatives at its annual awards program event. The awards, for achievements in environmental improvement, facilities engineering and communications, will be presented to winning ports at a Sept. 24 luncheon in conjunction with AAPA's 97^th Annual Convention in Anchorage, Alaska (http://www.aapa2008.com/), which runs Sept. 21-25.

AAPA Chairman of the Board Ken O'Hollaren (who is also executive director of the Port of Longview, in Longview, Wash.) and AAPA President Kurt Nagle will present recognition awards to representatives of:

• the Port of Portland (Ore.), winner of this year's Environmental Enhancement award for the port's "Natural Resources Management Program," which features innovative environmental projects for creating streaked horned lark habitat, managing invasive species and managing for the coexistence of wildlife and marine operations;
  
• the combined ports of Seattle, Tacoma and Port Metro Vancouver (Canada), sharing this year's Comprehensive Environmental Management award for their cooperative "Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy," which is a regional plan to reduce maritime and port-related diesel and green­house gas emissions in the Georgia Basin-Puget Sound air shed;
  
• the Port of Anacortes (Wash.), winner of AAPA's 2008 Environmental Mitigation award for its "Fidalgo Bay Eelgrass Mitigation Project," which is successfully relocating eelgrass beds and critical aquatic habitat from areas to be dredged for redeveloping marine facilities at the port;
• Port Freeport (Texas), winner of this year's Stakeholder Awareness, Education and Involvement award, for its "Zeus Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit Project," which involved a local school in a program to decontaminate and remove a defunct mobile offshore drilling unit known as Zeus from the Port Freeport navigation channel;
  
• the Jacksonville Port Authority, winner of the 6^th Annual Facilities Engineering Awards competition for its project to rehabilitate the port's storm-damaged Talleyrand Marine Terminal Berth 3 without unduly disrupting busy automobile import operations; and,
  
• the Port of Los Angeles, winner of the 2008 Dan Maynard Communications Award for Overall Excellence, which is bestowed annually on the port earning the most award points in AAPA's communications competition. The traveling trophy is a large etched glass globe with the winning port's name engraved at the base.

In addition to the above honors, 22 ports will receive recognition for a total of 68 winning entries in AAPA's 42^nd annual Communications Awards Program.  Sixteen Awards of Excellence, 38 Awards of Merit and 14 Honorable Mention certificates will be available for pick-up by the winning ports during the convention.

For a complete list of winners in AAPA's 2008 Annual Awards Program, click on /Programs/content.cfm?ItemNumber=691&navItemNumber=517