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PENNTAP wins Governor's Award By Barbara Hale
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge (third from left) presents the Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence to the Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PENNTAP). Award ceremony participants included, from left, Stacy Richards, deputy secretary, Office of Pollution Prevention and Compliance Assistance, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection; Uttam Trivedi, PENNTAP technical specialist, Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center, Philadelphia; Gov. Ridge; Warren Weaver, PENNTAP technical specialist, Manufacturers’ Technology Center, York; Sharath Anmangandla, PENNTAP technical specialist, Manufacturers Resource Center, Bethlehem; and James Seif, secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.	The Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PENNTAP) was among 43 organizations honored with a Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence.   Warren Weaver, Uttam Trivedi and Sharath Anmangandla, PENNTAP environmental technical specialists, accepted the award, a commemorative self-standing plaque, from Gov. Tom Ridge at special ceremonies in Harrisburg in September. Rep. Lynn B. Herman also presented Jack Gido, PENNTAP director, with a citation on behalf of Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives, in honor of PENNTAP’s leadership in environmental activities.   The Governor’s Awards for Environmental Excellence were presented in nine categories this year. PENNTAP was honored in the technical assistance provider category along with two other organizations.   PENNTAP serves the entire Commonwealth with a network of technical specialists who help Pennsylvania business and industry improve competitiveness by providing free scientific and technological assistance and information to help resolve specific technical questions or problems.   The three PENNTAP staff environmental specialists help Pennsylvania companies adopt strategies to reduce wastes, emissions and environmental impacts. These strategies, known collectively as “Leaner and Cleaner Production,” include source reduction, waste minimization, pollution prevention, materials productivity and lean manufacturing.   Of the more than 800 requests for assistance PENNTAP received in 1997, 25 percent were related to environmental improvements, up from 20 percent in 1996 and 13 percent in 1995. The total economic benefit of PENNTAP’s environmental assistance program to the participating companies was $2.3 million in 1997, up from $1.2 million in 1996.   PENNTAP is a partnership among Penn State, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and the U.S. Economic Development Administration. It also serves as a third-party resource for businesses using the Pennsylvania Environmental Assistance Network, a statewide network of technical assistance providers established by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in 1997. Serving Pennsylvania business and industry statewide since 1965, PENNTAP is one of the nation’s first technical assistance programs and has been a model for such programs in many other states and countries.