2003 Feinstone Environmental Awards

Honoring Conservation Education Centers

Primary Award Recipient

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
Bristol‑Myers Squibb Company has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to protecting the environment and serving as a role model for other companies to emulate.

The company, which operates one of the world's largest bulk penicillin manufacturing facilities in Syracuse, has amassed a long list of accomplishments in its effort to make its business practices more environmentally friendly. These are some of the highlights:

• Since 1988, the Syracuse facility has reduced by more than 93 percent the amount of emissions covered by the federal Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Release Inventory. The amount of such emissions dropped from 7.3 million pounds annually to approximately .5 million pounds. 
• In 1996, the facility received the New York State Governor's Award for Pollution Prevention.
• The company has a Community Advisory Council in Syracuse, the first of its type in the state and the first in the Bristol-Myers Squibb network, which serves as a conduit of information between neighbors and company employees.
• The United Nations Environmental Programme and Sustain Ability Ltd. ranked Bristol-Myers Squibb the highest of any U.S.-based company, and eighth among the top 50 companies in the world, in "Trust Us: The Global Reporters 2002 Survey of Corporate Sustainability Reporting."

Invest Strategic Value Advisors, Inc., an international investment advisory firm, ranked Bristol as the top company in its June 2002 report on the relative corporate environmental performance among 29 pharmaceutical companies in the United States, Europe and Japan. Several premier socially responsible investment funds feature Bristol-Myers Squibb in their portfolios.

In 2001, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company voluntarily adopted one of the most comprehensive sets of sustainability goals of any multinational corporation, known as the Sustainability 2010 Goals. Highlights include reducing water use by 10 percent, reducing total greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent, reducing off-site hazardous waste disposal by 50 percent, reducing energy use by 10 percent, reducing packaging, and encouraging businesses to adopt environmental management systems.

Honorary Feinstone Award Recipient

James T. Walsh—U.S. Congress Representing the 25th District of New York
Congressman James T. Walsh has demonstrated extraordinary leadership in efforts to improve the environment of Central New York and the quality of life for the people who live and work here.

He has assumed the responsibility for securing federal funds to help facilitate the cleanup of Onondaga Lake, helping to earmark $10 million to $15 million a year for the project. He also helped with the establishment of the New York Center for Indoor Environmental Quality by providing funding for the asthma health effects study being conducted among Syracuse's inner-city residents.

In 2003, Congressman Walsh helped obtain a significant federal appropriation for biosensor technology and the Central New York Biotechnology Research Center sponsored by SUNY-ESF, Upstate Medical University and the Metropolitan Development Authority of Syracuse and Central New York.

Congressman Walsh has helped support the emerging Center of Excellence in Environmental Systems in Central New York, and continues every year to support environmental sustainability and technology initiatives at SUNY-ESF.

His commitment to the environment has benefited numerous other projects, including soil and water conservation district work in Onondaga, Cortland, and Cayuga Counties; farm management plans in the Skaneateles, Otisco and Owasco Lake watersheds; Oneida Lake watershed management; water quality improvements at Jamesville Reservoir; sewage and wastewater system construction and improvements; the cleanup of Long Island Sound; and protection of the New York City water supply watershed in the Catskill Mountains.

Congressman Walsh has been an advocate of Department of Agriculture's Conservation Reserve Program, Wetland Reserve Program, Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, and Grasslands Reserve Program; authored and sponsored legislation creating the Erie Canal National Heritage Corridor; secured funding for water infrastructure improvement projects along Onondaga Creek. He is a founder of the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus, which promotes conservation investment, wildlife restoration initiatives, and the interests of America's sportsmen and women. 

Congressman Walsh's Congressional district includes all of Onondaga and Cortland Counties, the northernmost half of Cayuga County and several towns in Tioga and Broome Counties. He was elected to Congress in 1988.

Questions may be directed to feinstone@esf.edu.