Governor, Flint Water crisis researcher to speak at Environment Virginia

Registration is open for Virginia Military Institute’s 27th annual Environment Virginia Symposium, which will feature talks by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Dr. Marc Edwards, the Virginia Tech professor whose team of researchers exposed the Flint, Mich., water crisis.  The conference, themed “Virginia’s Environment:  Change, Challenge and Opportunity,” will take place April 5-7.

An enduring strength of the symposium is broad engagement. Hundreds of participants exchange information with leaders from Virginia’s environmental agencies, industries, and non-profit organizations, sharing changes, challenges, and opportunities in the Commonwealth over the next two to five years.

Pre-conference workshops will focus on storm water and karst, and nearly 50 sessions will address topics including air quality regulation and policy, the Chesapeake Bay, climate change impacts in Virginia, energy, environmental literacy, environmental management, Virginia groundwater and water resources, and conservation and recreation.

Other features will include more than 40 exhibits from industry, government, non-profits and academia; a session on upcoming procurement projects with state agencies and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; a presentation on doing business with the state; sessions on environmental careers and speed networking, and an exhibitor scavenger hunt, chair massages, photo ops with VMI kangaroo mascot Moe, and a 5K/1 mile run-walk event benefitting VMI’s Keydets without Borders club.

The symposium will close with the annual awards ceremony in which the VMI Erchul Environmental Award and the Governor’s Environmental Awards for Excellence will be presented.

Full conference registration is $35 for undergraduates, $175 for citizens/NGOs/academics; $285 for government employees; and $350 for businesses. The awards ceremony luncheon is $20 per participant, or an additional $15 with a full conference registration.  The karst pre-conference workshop is $79, or $49 with full conference registration.  The storm water pre-conference workshop is $49, or $20 additional with full conference registration.

The VMI Center for Leadership and Ethics is host to the conference, whose programming is developed by an advisory committee of VMI faculty, Center staff, and public and private sector representatives, including the Virginia departments of Environmental Quality and Conservation and Recreation and the Virginia Environmental Endowment.

To register or for information on the program or on how to participate as an exhibitor, sponsor, or host, visit www.vmi.edu/environmentva.