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2023 S. Smith Griswold Outstanding Air Pollution Control Official Award

S. Smith Griswold (1909–1971) served as chief air pollution control officer for the Los Angeles Air Pollution Control District between 1954 and 1965. In 1965, he became chief of the Abatement Branch of the Division of Air Pollution Control in the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and later served as associate director for abatement and control before leaving in 1967 to work as a consultant. As President of the Association in 1962, he focused international attention on air pollution control officials’ activities, problems, and achievements. The S. Smith Griswold Outstanding Air Pollution Control Official Award is presented by the Association for outstanding accomplishments in the prevention and control of air pollution. The recipient must be or have been a government agency staff member whose contributions to the prevention and control of air pollution have been widely recognized.
 
A&WMA presents the 2023 S. Smith Griswold Outstanding Air Pollution Control Official Award to Merlyn L. Hough.
 
Merlyn Hough is currently Adjunct Faculty in environmental engineering and science at the University of Portland, teaching Air Pollution: Engineering, Science & Policy. He retired from the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency (LRAPA) in Springfield-Eugene, Oregon, in April 2021 after serving 15 years as Executive Director. Before LRAPA, he worked 31 years as environmental engineer, manager, and scientist for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ). Merlyn is especially proud of his work coordinating airshed control strategies to meet national air quality health standards for particulate matter, ozone, carbon monoxide and lead in many communities throughout Oregon. 
 
Merlyn is a professional environmental and civil engineer, with degrees from Oregon State University and the University of Portland. He is a 1998 Fellow of the Air & Waste Management Association and served as A&WMA President in 2012. Merlyn has been an active leader in the National Association of Clean Air Agencies and served as NACAA Co-President in 2015 and 2016. He has been a Board-Certified Environmental Engineer of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers & Scientists since 1984 and represented A&WMA on the AAEES Board of Trustees during 2013-2020. 
 
LRAPA is a small local air agency but it has received national awards from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in recent years: the Environmental Excellence Award from the EPA SmartWay Transport Partnership in 2006, and the Clean Air Excellence Award from EPA in 2007.  On a more personal note, Merlyn received the EPA 2008 Air Toxics Summit Award for Commitment and Excellence in Air Quality, and the 2011 Robert Stockman Distinguished Achievement Award from the Air & Waste Management Association, Pacific Northwest International Section, in recognition of outstanding contribution to air and waste management in the Pacific Northwest. In 2017, the American Academy of Environmental Engineers & Scientists presented Merlyn with the Stanley E. Kappe Award for extraordinary service to the advancement of public awareness, the betterment of the total environment, and other objectives of the Academy.
 
Before LRAPA, Merlyn worked as environmental program manager (1994-2005) for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ). He was responsible for management of the western region environmental and hazardous materials programs related to underground storage tanks (UST). Results included the development of risk-based corrective action and other alternative approaches that significantly increased the number of cleanups completed (from 40% in 1994 to 78% in 2004); improved operation and maintenance of UST facilities and compliance with permit requirements; and increased service level to the public and regulated community.
 
During 1981-1994, Merlyn was the ODEQ senior environmental engineer and nonattainment area coordinator responsible for the development of air pollution control strategies to attain and maintain compliance with ambient air quality standards in nonattainment areas of Oregon. Results included the adoption of control strategies for carbon monoxide, ozone, particulate matter, and lead; compliance with new emission discharge limits and permits; and attainment of air quality standards in all the several former problem airsheds of Oregon by the deadlines in the federal Clean Air Act.
 
As part of these air quality strategies, Merlyn had the opportunity to work with the Oregon Legislature and others at ODEQ to shape the Oregon woodstove certification program in 1983-1985, which became the model for the national program adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency a few years later. He also played a key role in the implementation of more effective emission controls on wood products industries (plywood plants, particleboard and fiberboard plants, charcoal manufacturing plants, and wood-fired boilers), and daily green-yellow-red woodstove curtailment programs during air stagnation episodes in southern Oregon. Merlyn has served on Oregon advisory committees for agricultural field burning, forest smoke management, gasoline facilities vapor recovery, and low-carbon fuels.
Merlyn Hough Headshot

Merlyn L. Hough

S. Smith Griswold Outstanding Air Pollution Control Official Award