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The Bethlehem Human Resources and Environmental Committee elected Arthur Kney, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, to serve as a member of the Environmental Advisory Council (EAC).
Comprised of seven committee volunteers, the EAC will be empowered to review some development plans, identify environmental problems, research solutions, and launch ecological education programs.
Recent need for an EAC in Bethlehem comes as the result of the receipt of the casino license. The casino will bring plans for significant change in South Side Bethlehem and the city wants to approach the construction in a way that will not hurt the environment.
It is most likely that Bethlehem’s EAC will work on projects that are both assigned to them by the city council and that they will identify themselves. Kney’s role as an EAC member will not be defined until the organization holds their first meeting. He and the other volunteers will serve three-year terms.
“Certainly my participation on the EAC will broaden my understanding of environmental issues that need attention not only in Bethlehem but throughout the Lehigh Valley and beyond,” says Kney. “Many of the concerns are issues that Lafayette College and Easton are currently working to incorporate into policy as well as community. It may be that my participation will help stem collaborative efforts between Easton and Bethlehem and Allentown in addressing similar environmental issues that many communities throughout Pennsylvania face today.”
Bethlehem is only the third city in the state to have such an advisory council, along with Harrisburg and Meadville. Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources helps to fund the EAC program. Because of the addition of EACs by several townships, Northampton and Lehigh counties now have enough EACs to warrant regional meetings, the next of which will take place on Sept. 20 in Bethlehem.
Kney is looking forward to the experience. “I am hoping to learn more about how government and communities can work together to secure and preserve our environmental heritage by improving the way we all deal with our daily lives, build our communities and work together. This is an opportunity I could not pass up.”
Kney also hopes to see continued progress with environmental programs in Easton and at Lafayette through communication within communities. “Currently Lafayette College’s LEAP (Lafayette Environmental Awareness and Protection) members are looking at composting, but maybe there are ways area colleges, universities, and high schools can work together and share ideas�maybe there are ways that communities could do a better job of sharing information.”
A member of the faculty since 1999, Kney earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from Saint Francis College and a Bachelor of Science magna cum laude in civil engineering from the University of Massachusetts, as well as a master’s degree in civil engineering and Ph.D. in environmental engineering from Lehigh University. He served as a site investigator with Merritt/Osborn Environmental Consulting Inc. in Newtown, Pa., from 1990-1999.