Port Everglades wins prestigious recognitions for environmental program

Broward County’s Port Everglades recently won three prestigious national awards of excellence for leading the way in port sustainability practices.

The National Association of Environmental Professionals’ (NAEP) 2020 Environmental Excellence Award, the North American Marine Environment Protection Association’s (NAMEPA) 2020 Marine Environment Protection Award for Ports, and the American Association of Port Authorities’ (AAPA) 2020 Award of Excellence for the Port Everglades Comprehensive Environmental Management Program are all welcome national recognitions. For decades, Port Everglades has proactively invested millions of dollars in building and maintaining our infrastructure to ensure we protect and improve the surrounding environment, while facilitating business activities in world commerce and travel for South Florida.

“Port Everglades consistently integrates the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability into our core business strategy,” said Jonathan Daniels, Port Everglades Chief Executive and Port Director. “We are leading the way in port sustainability practices and putting the Port on the environmental map by giving our attention to a diverse set of air, land, sea, and wildlife concerns simultaneously.”

The goals and objectives of the Port Everglades Comprehensive Environmental Management Program were not only to successfully meet compliance requirements, but to voluntarily implement stewardship initiatives that benefit the environment. Port Everglades initiatives include:
The AAPA Award was presented at the 2020 AAPA Annual Convention, AAPA Anywhere: Together Apart, September 21-23. The NAEP Award was presented recently. The NAMEPA award will be presented on November 4, 2020.

• Establishing a formal internship program to provide relevant on-the-job training and work experience for local university environmental students. Nine interns have completed the program over the past three years.
• Voluntarily joining the Green Marine in 2013, an environmental certification program that offers a detailed framework for maritime companies and port authorities to first establish and then reduce their environmental footprint and by demonstrating year-over-year improvements in measurable ways to maintain their status. Port Everglades earned perfect scores in four of six environmental categories and near perfect scores in the other two for 2019.
• All new buildings constructed at Port Everglades are designed to be U.S. Green Building Council (www.usgbc.org) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified.
• Retrofitting diesel service trucks, forklifts, and boat engines with energy-efficient clean technology engines and maintaining a fleet of hybrid and electric pool vehicles.
• Collaborating with Florida Atlantic University and the University of Illinois Critical Infrastructure Institute to independently conduct resiliency studies of port operations, funded through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and installing an integrated system of sensors that provide commercial vessel operators with accurate and reliable real-time information about port environmental conditions.
• Committing to optimizing habitat value for the many species of wildlife in the Port’s green spaces in its 2018-2022 five-year business plan.