SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/60100
have done, and continue to do, with the Utility Arborist Association, International Society of Arboriculture, and the Edison Electric Institute, I think my biggest contribution to the industry is what I would call UVM industry advocacy work," said Cieslewicz. "Since my work as one of the principal UVM investigators for the Fed- eral Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on the US/Canadian 2003 Blackout Task Force investigation, a good portion of my time has in- volved UVM laws and regulations. In addition to serving on each of the subsequent NERC FAC-003 drafting teams (developing the regu- lation that mandates the transmission UVM work of all North American utilities), over the last decade I have made routine trips to Wash- ington, D.C., participated in numerous state regulatory hearings, and provided written and direct testimony concerning the importance and urgency of UVM work to lawmakers and federal and state agencies." Tom Delaney As Director of Government Affairs for the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET), Tom Delaney reviews any bill that might im- pact the landscape industry and works with state groups to deal with it. "While we can't always be out there, we can alert people and train them to be out there, and then connect them with other groups that can help," he said. Originally from New York, Delaney ma- jored in Agriculture at the University of Geor- gia. He then worked for the Georgia Department of Agriculture for 15 years in the entomology and pesticide division, where he was in charge of pesticide enforcement, certifi- cation, and training. In 1989, Delaney took a job with the Professional Lawn Care Associa- tion of America (PLCAA), handling state gov- ernment affairs. Delaney served as executive of PLCAA for almost five years, but returned to the government affairs role the year before PLCAA merged with the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA) to form PLANET. Delaney was instrumental in negotiations regarding the H-2B worker program — he sug- gested that returning immigrant workers not count against the H-2B cap. It was a way of not increasing the cap, but still increasing the num- ber of workers landscape companies were al- lowed. Another issue Delaney recently tackled was the WaterSense 40-percent managed turf limit. Delaney and PLANET gathered people to in- vest in hiring a specialist to evaluate what EPA was doing and put on a formal program for EPA about the WaterSense proposal as to why it wouldn't work and was not a good idea. In November 2011, PLANET and other green in- dustry groups celebrated a victory in this area when the EPA issued a Notice of Intent to re- move the 40-percent turfgrass restriction from the WaterSense program's landscape specifica- tions. ■ If you would like to nominate a Green In- dustry professional for consideration for the 2012 list of "Most Influential People in the Green Industry," you may e-mail that person's name, contact information, and why he or she has been influential to the Green Industry, to mostinfluential @m2media360.com. www.stma.org SportsTurf 21