WEDA Announces Award Winners

At the annual meeting of the Western Dredging Association (WEDA) held June 5 to 7, in Chicago, Illinois. president and chair of WEDA Marcel Hermans presented the organization’s 2019 Annual Lifetime Achievement Award to Craig Daniel Vogt and its 2019 Dredger of the Year Award to Matthew Roger Binsfeld.

Vogt received the award for his contributions to the dredging industry as a whole and to WEDA 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. 

Vogt began his career at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1971, overseeing coastal protection programs, and development and implementation of dredged material disposal regulations. For 12 years, he also led the U.S. government delegation to the annual Scientific Group Meetings of the International Maritime Organization London Convention and Protocol negotiating ocean dumping treaty implementation with a primary focus on dredged material management.

Vogt 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 its Environmental Awards Program. In 2000, Craig was recognized as WEDA’s Dredger of the Year.

Binsfeld received WEDA’s “2019 Annual Dredger of the Year Award” in recognition of his commitment to the dredging community, to the health and safety of the workers in the dredging industry, to the importance of information sharing and for always being available to help others.

Binsfeld is president and chief executive officer at J. F. Brennan Company Inc., headquartered in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and a long-standing member of WEDA.