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Hillis Receives Primeau Award
Posted on Feb 27th, 2023
Photo Linda Wright
Justin Hillis, 2023 Primeau Award winner, received the award at the Feb 25th "State of the River" meeting from 2012 FOR President Marie Breakiron.
“Thank you very much for the award. I have been blessed with the opportunity to fish all over the United States, Canada, Australia, Belize and spent a lot of time in Costa Rica, but I'm always happy to come back home to the San Bernard. We are very blessed to have this River, and there are not many places in the world that offer the diversity of activities that San Bernard River provides. My work has been easy because of the folks before me that established Friends of the River San Bernard and built the organization into what it has become today. I look forward to helping keep that mission going with all the great support we get from the river community. Thanks so much for this award.” –Justin Hillis
As the FOR Environmental Committee Chair for four years, Justin has participated in river clean-ups, road clean-ups, water testing, public educational sessions as well as other environmental concerns such as the Phillips 66 and CPChem quarterly Citizens Advisory Panel meetings.
In late 2021, Justin received a concern that the City of Brazoria sewer plant was discharging an off-colored pungent liquid into the river. Through the FOR Environmental Committee, he assembled a team of FOR members, river neighbors and engineering resources to approach the city regarding the issue. He engaged others to research and identify that the sewer plant was basically non-functional. He researched and completed TCEQ's time-consuming convoluted compliance history of all 23 permitted discharge points on the river.
Ultimately the team assisted the City of Brazoria in subsequent meetings, brainstorming issues, solutions and resources to bring the plant back into proper operation. After the plant was making great progress, the Committee executed water and soil testing around the plant discharge. This was all done in a remarkable four-month period of time.
Congratulations Justin!
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