Pedro A. Gelabert, a 1956 graduate of Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, served as Secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources from 1993 to 1996 during the governorship of Pedro Rosselló[1] and as Chairman of the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board from 1977 to 1984 during the governorship of Carlos Romero Barceló.[2]
A geologist, Gelabert also served as Director of the Caribbean Office for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 1985 to 1992. At the federal level he has been a part of the United States delegation to the Summit of the Americas, as well as the meetings to develop the Action Plan of the Wider Caribbean Region of the United Nations Environmental Program, or UNEP. On behalf of the United States of America, he was a signatory at the 1983 Cartagena Convention of the Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment for the Wider Caribbean Region. He is currently a member of the State Committee of Epscor-Puerto Rico.[3]
During a 50-year-plus career helping protect the environment, Mr. Gelabert has received:
-the Environmental Citizen of the Millennium Award by the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board (1999)
-the Environmental Award for Outstanding Service by the Institute of Engineers, Architects and Surveyors of the Dominican Republic (2002)
-the Dixy Lee Ray Award by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (2004)
-the Gold Medal for Exceptional Service from the [[Environmental Protection Agency (2000)