Posted on June 14, 2019
At the annual meeting of the Western Dredging Association (WEDA) held June 5-7, in Chicago, Illinois. President and Chair of WEDA Marcel Hermans presented the organization’s 2019 Annual Lifetime Achievement Award to Craig Daniel Vogt for his contributions to the dredging industry as a whole and to the Western Dredging Association in particular. The award recognizes his life’s work promoting environmentally sound dredging and dredged material management practices, both at home and abroad, and his help in making WEDA become a forward-looking, environmentally conscious organization.
In a long career at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that started in 1971, Craig was responsible for EPA’s coastal protection programs, and development and implementation of dredged material disposal regulations, including testing, disposal site designation, management and monitoring. In 1991 the EPA, sent Craig to his first WEDA meeting to present a paper.
As Craig recounted in his acceptance speech, “I did the presentation, and Bill Murden, Chief Dredger at the Corps of Engineers HQ, sucked me in. Asked me to come back, be on the Board of Directors and to establish a WEDA Environmental Commission.” The rest is history. Craig co-chaired the National Dredging Team with US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), from 1995-2008, bridging the gap between EPA and USACE interests.
Internationally, Craig went on to represent the EPA at the annual Scientific Group Meetings of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) London Convention and Protocol. Better known as LC’72, it is one of the first global conventions to protect the marine environment from human activities. Currently, 89 nations are Parties to this Convention. For 12 years, he led the US government delegation to these annual Scientific Group Meetings negotiating ocean dumping treaty implementation with a primary focus on dredged material management. He was elected Chair of the Scientific Group of the London Convention for 4 years, facilitating negotiations among some 30 countries to enact the London Convention Treaty to control dumping of wastes in the oceans. EPA’s dredged material disposal regulations are a direct result of Craig’s cooperative approach and ability to build collaborative relationships with the USACE, the dredging industry, and the States.
Craig’s influence on WEDA and WODA are equally impressive. He has been a WEDA Board member since 1992, making him the longest serving Director in WEDA history. He established WEDA’s Environmental Commission in 1994 and continues as its Chair. The Environmental Commission has coalesced many WEDA members working in environmental aspects of dredging, and Craig has helped WEDA reach out to and liaise with WEDA’s sister organizations, CEDA and EADA, under the umbrella of the World Dredging Association (WODA). Craig helped prepare the first ever WODA Environmental Policy, adopted in 1998. He was an integral actor in the development of WODA’s Sustainable Dredging Policy and WODA’s Policy on Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change. Craig also established the WEDA Environmental Awards Program and had a primary role in the development of WEDA’s Dredging 101 course. In 2000 Craig was recognized as WEDA’s Dredger of the Year.
It is fitting that this year, “25 years after he attended his first WEDA meeting” as he pointed out, Craig Vogt was honored with WEDA’s 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding support and service to the dredging industry and to the Western Dredging Association.
For further information please contact: Thomas P. Cappellino, WEDA Executive Director (tcappellino@westerndredging.org)
