Robins earns DoD Environmental Management System award Published July 21, 2006 By Holly L. Birchfield 78th Air Base Wing Public Affairs ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- Robins recently took top honors for making environmental management a top priority. The 78th Civil Engineer Group's Environmental Management Division was presented the 2006 White House Closing the Circle Award in the military category at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., recently for its Environmental Management System, which includes all of its environmental management initiatives. The award, which is given by the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive at the White House, recognizes outstanding achievements of federal employees and their facilities for making significant contributions to and a positive impact on the environment. Les Smith, base EMS coordinator in the 78th Civil Engineer Group's Environmental Management Division, said the award is a reflection of all the great things Robins is doing for the environment. "EMS essentially unifies all of the environmental programs and provides metrics and information about how we're controlling and sustaining the environment in our operations here," he said. "The purpose of having an EMS is to make information available on how we control the environment and make environmental management information common across all federal agencies." Casey Spinks, EMS administrator here, agreed. "It helps us unify all of our environmental programs," she said. "That's essential because we all need to be on the same page in helping better control and manage the environment." Fred Kuhn, who oversees Installation Policy and Programs at the Secretary of the Air Force Installation and Logistics Office, represented the SECAF to accept the award along with Robins' representatives at the ceremony. EMS started here as a pilot program in 1996, and has since developed into a fully-implemented system. "This is our way of including the whole base and bringing programs like energy conservation, waste and pollution prevention and waste reduction together under one umbrella to serve the environmental needs of the whole base," said Terri Thirlaway, a human resource manager and communications coordinator in 78th CEG. EMS is a proactive approach to meeting environmental needs, by pushing information out to units and letting them know their responsibilities and see their impact on environmental management, said Mr. Smith. "We're caretakers of the system," he said. "But, it requires input from a lot of different people and activity from a lot of different people. That's what makes it unique." "It has taken a lot of effort from the entire base to get the whole system in place and ready to prepare the award package," said Ms. Spinks. "So, it's exciting to be able to show all the good work we've been working on for so long." Steve Coyle, Environmental Management Division chief and acting deputy of Civil Engineering here, said the award is a testament to years of commitment to meeting the environmental piece of the mission. "Robins was honored again for its excellence. Two years ago, we won Closing the Circle in Pollution Prevention and honorable mention in EMS. Through recent support from Environmental Protection Committee leadership and Unit Environmental Coordinator teammates, we were able to achieve this 2006 award for leadership in EMS."