On September 11, 2012, Gerald McCarthy announced that he will retire in 2013 as the executive director of the Virginia Environmental Endowment (VEE). The VEE was started in 1977 with $8 million of the $13.2 million assessed on Allied Chemical Corporation for pollution of the James River with the pesticide Kepone from the company’s Hopewell, Va., plant. Since then, the VEE has awarded about $27 million in over 1200 grants for environmental education, scientific research, organization or growth of environmental groups, and other activities to “…encourage all sectors to work together to prevent pollution, conserve natural resources, and promote environmental literacy,” according to the organization’s mission statement. Mr. McCarthy has been the only executive director in VEE’s history. More information about the VEE, which is located in Richmond, is available online at http://www.vee.org/.
Source: Virginia environmental leader to retire, Richmond Times-Dispatch, 9/12/12
