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| The Oakland County Local Emergency Planning Committee presented OU distinguished professor and professor emeritus Paul Tomboulian with the Frank Wilke LEPC Excellence Award. (Photo courtesy of the OCLEPC) |
By Laura Angus, media relations assistant
Oakland University Distinguished Professor and Professor Emeritus of chemistry Paul Tomboulian was recognized on Friday, May 9 for his contributions to Oakland County’s Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC).
He received the Frank Wilke LEPC Excellence Award, which was created in memory of Wilke, an original member of LEPC who died in 2006. Last year, the award was given to General Motors Corporation.
“It’s an honor to be recognized, but it’s a joint effort,” Tomboulian said. “It’s not anything one person can do alone.”
Tomboulian said he joined the committee as the education representative in 1987. He takes his expertise from science and research and applies it to the needs of the committee, he said.
“Paul was selected because of all of the support he has given to Oakland County’s LEPC over the years,” said Gail Novak, chief of Oakland County Emergency Response and Preparedness.
She said he has been instrumental in helping bring interns to the program and with chemical aspects concerning the hazardous substances the committee oversees.
“He provides valuable support,” she said.
Congress passed the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act in 1986, which mandated that each state government appoint Local Emergency Planning Committees after an industrial accident in India killed thousands of people. Oakland County’s LEPC works with local businesses and farmers to prepare emergency response plans, establish rules, file public notices of activities and establish procedures for handling public information requests relating to hazardous substances.
Tomboulian retired from OU in 2004, and said he intends to continue his work with the LEPC.
For more information about Oakland County’s LEPC, visit the LEPC Web site.
Oakland University Distinguished Professor and Professor Emeritus of chemistry Paul Tomboulian was recognized on Friday, May 9 for his contributions to Oakland County’s Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC). He received the Frank Wilke LEPC Excellence Award, which was created in memory of Wilke, an original member of LEPC who died in 2006. Last year, the award was given to General Motors Corporation.