by Roy C. Hengerson
Two active members of the St. Louis environmental community, Ginger Harris and Yvonne Homeyer, and the Washington University Environmental Law Clinic received awards from the Ozark Chapter of the Sierra Club at the annual Awards Dinner. This year the event was held November 9, 2002, as part of the Ozark Chapter’s bimonthly meeting weekend.
Ginger Harris – Sierran-of-the-Year
Ginger received the Sierran-of-the-Year award for her steady and tireless efforts supporting the Ozark Chapter of the Sierra Club and its groups. She became a member in 1992 and has served on the Ozark Chapter’s Executive Committee. She is currently serving on its Conservation Committee, Legislative Committee, and Political Committee. She has participated in the work of the Missouri Energy Coalition.
Ginger has served for many years as Chair of the Eastern Missouri Group’s Transportation and Smart Growth Committee. She led the effort to develop a citizen’s transportation policy and worked to get St. Louis regional officials and planners to adopt elements of that policy. She has served and continues to serve on the Metropolitan Sewer District’s rate commission, representing the Sierra Club.
Ginger has actively worked for pro-environmental candidates during elections. She is strongly involved in many conservation issues, including transportation, energy, international trade, environmental justice, and campaign finance reform.
Yvonne Homeyer – Citizen Conservationist
Yvonne received the Citizen Conservationist award, which is given for significant contributions to the improvement of Missouri’s environment by an individual or an organization. A lawyer with her own practice, she has been an active member of the St. Louis and Missouri environmental community since 1998. She is a member of many environmental groups and served on the Board of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment.
Yvonne is currently President of the Webster Groves Nature Study Society and President of the St. Louis Chapter of the North American Butterfly Association. She is also serving on the Board of the Missouri Parks Association. She has been and continues to be a leader in many environmental campaigns and battles. This past year she has been particularly involved in the fight to stop a proposed cement kiln and quarry in Ste. Genevieve County along the Mississippi River. The Holcim plant would cause major negative environmental impacts locally and to the St. Louis region’s airshed.
Washington University Environmental Law Clinic – Special Recognition
The Washington University Environmental Law Clinic began with a kickoff symposium and reception in November, 1999. The main force in starting the Clinic was Maxine Lipeles, who is Director of the Law Clinic. She attended the award presentation along with Beth Martin, the Clinic’s Engineering and Science Director. The Clinic provides critical legal, engineering, and technical services for their clients, who usually have limited resources to work on environmental problems and issues.
The Law Clinic has provided important legal and other services for the Ozark Chapter of the Sierra Club on a number of legal actions and initiatives in the three years they have been in operation. These include the Premium Standard Farms CAFO lawsuit and the effort to add impaired waters of the state to Missouri’s list of impaired waters (the Section 303d of the Clean Water Act list) that were left off – this as a first step to cleaning them up. The Clinic has had major involvement with the efforts to clean up lead contamination from the Doe Run Company smelter in Herculaneum.
The Ozark Chapter of the Sierra Club is indeed fortunate to have and work with people and organizations like those recognized this year as we work to explore, enjoy and protect the wild and natural places, ecosystems, and human environments of the Earth.