Fort Bragg distinguished itself as a frontrunner in Army sustainability by receiving a 2008 White House Closing the Circle Award during a ceremony at the White House recently.
The installation won the Sustainable Design/Green Buildings category for integrating nationally-accepted Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards in the design, construction, maintenance and operation of its infrastructure.
Joseph Cascio, Federal Environmental Executive, and Mr. Tad Davis, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Environment, Safety, and Occupational Health presented the award to the Team Members representing Sustainable Fort Bragg.
"Fort Bragg is leading the entire Department of Defense and much of the Federal Government in the march to Sustainability by Building Green, Buying Green...Going Green," Mr. Davis said. These distinguished Army Soldiers and civilians demonstrate the breadth and intensity of our commitment to building a better America for future Soldiers and the Americans they protect."
With a $2 billion 2008-2010 construction budget and performance targets affecting more than 20 million square feet of proposed and existing infrastructure, Fort Bragg's LEED program surpasses baseline Army requirements. Installation officials have registered more than 40 buildings totaling 5.2 million square feet in the LEED Portfolio Program. The accomplishment makes the installation the second largest contributor of square footage to the LEED-EB program in the entire U.S. Green Building Council inventory. Installation officials also have approval to register and certify an additional 27 projects totaling 2.8 million square feet.
Fort Bragg's facilities objective focuses on transforming the installation into "the model sustainable military community of the world by using sustainable principles throughout the life cycle of all facilities and supporting infrastructure." The objective outlines performance targets such as meeting LEED Silver standards by fiscal 2012, LEED Gold standards by fiscal 2017 and Platinum standards by fiscal 2020 for 100 percent of all new military construction projects.
The objective also focuses on existing facilities, calling for at least 25 percent of the total square footage - about 6.5 million square feet - to be a minimum of LEED Certified by fiscal 2020.
"Our Sustainable Design/Facilities Team is the cornerstone program of our Garrison strategic planning efforts to become a sustainable community. The cross-functional team is setting the standard for Army sustainability with their innovative projects for both our new construction and existing buildings," said Paul Wirt, Chief of the Environmental Management Branch and the Sustainable Communities Team Leader.
Using the White House Closing the Circle Awards, the Office of the Federal Environment Executive recognizes the outstanding achievements of Federal employees and facilities demonstrating environmental stewardship in the areas of waste prevention, recycling and green purchasing activities, environmental management, green/sustainable building, electronics stewardship, and alternate fuel usage.
The following award recipients represent the key groups responsible for the success of Ft. Bragg's LEED program and the installation's receipt of the award: Hector Cruz (Civil Engineer, Project Design Branch), Dennis Abell (Acting Chief, Project Management Branch), Tom Blue (Facilities Team Planner), Paul Wirt (Environmental Management Branch Chief), Glen Prillaman (Master Planning Branch Chief), Erin McDermott (Community Resource Coordinator), Ted Kientz (DPW Installation Support Manager), Rob Harris (Engineering Division Chief), Mike Lynch (Director of Plans, Training & Mobilization), David Heins (Environmental Division Chief), Lance Locklear (Master Planner, Real Property & Planning Branch), COL David Fox (Garrison Commander), Greg Bean (Director of Public Works), Camille Cole (Modular Force Program Manager), John Frinak (Mechanical Engineer, Project Design Branch), Lynda Pfau (Sustainability Team Coordinator) and John Rose (Senior Architect, Real Property & Planning Branch).
Fort Bragg is the only Army installation to receive the White House Closing the Circle Award this year.
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