Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) will receive the Sixth Annual Waterways Council, Inc. Leadership Service Award on February 28 at the
Willard Hotel, Washington, DC. Senator Byrd will be honored for his steadfast commitment to the improvement of the Nation’s ports and commercial inland waterways system over his many years in Congress. Past recipients of the award include Representative David Hobson (2006); Representative Jerry Costello and Representative John Duncan, Jr. (2005); Senator Kit Bond (2004); Senator John Breaux (2003), and Representative Sonny Callahan (2002).
Senator Byrd is Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, appointed to the Committee by then-Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson in 1959, the year Senator Byrd began his Senate service. Senator Byrd also serves on the Armed Services Committee, the Rules and Administration Committee, and the Budget Committee.
“Waterways Council Inc.’s Leadership Service Award recognizes great commitment to our Nation’s waterways and port system, and we are so honored to recognize publicly the outstanding leadership of Senator Byrd," said Barry Palmer, President/CEO of Waterways Council, Inc. "His legacy will be his more than 50 years of service to Congress, to the state of West Virginia, and to the entire Nation for his enduring allegiance to our critically important waterways system. His leadership role in the enactment of the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 has led to improvements at 17 lock and dam sites along the Ohio River Navigation System. The naming of the Robert C. Byrd Lock and Dam, which replaced the old Gallipolis Locks, recognizes his great national leadership with respect to waterways infrastructure improvements," he continued.