Governor Rick Perry and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Recognize State's Environmental Achievers

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Business Editors/Environment Writers

Governor Rick Perry and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Recognize State's Environmental Achievers

Water, Recycling Efforts To Receive State's Highest Environmental

AUSTIN, TEXAS, Apr. 27 -/E-Wire/Business Wire/-- An 8-year-old recycling champion, an environmental truck stop system that reduces diesel emissions and an automated irrigation control system are among 10 Texas projects selected as winners of state's highest environmental honor by Governor Rick Perry and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).

The 2005 Texas Environmental Excellence Awards will be presented on May 3 as part of the TCEQ Environmental Trade Fair and Conference. The awards are given annually to the environmental projects across the state that demonstrate the highest achievements in resource conservation, waste reduction and pollution prevention. Individuals, companies and organizations are eligible to receive the awards in 10 categories.

"In Texas, we understand that the air we breathe, the water we drink and the land we inhabit are not only essential to our quality of life but to the quality of life that will be enjoyed by our children and grandchildren," Perry said. "These awards honor a diverse group of individuals and organizations that have gone far beyond the call of duty in protecting Texas' environment."

The winners, their locations, and brief descriptions of their projects are listed below. For more information on the winning projects and a complete list of finalists, visit www.teea.org.

2005 Texas Environmental Excellence Award Winners

Individual - Hannah Greer, Van Alstyne

When Hannah Greer learned that her small town north of Dallas did not have a recycling program, she decided to start one herself. During the summer of 2004, Hannah and her mother searched for sponsors. A local paper company agreed to supply recycling boxes and dumpsters, and Mother Nature's Recycling volunteered to transport the paper free of charge to a recycling facility 50 miles away. Today, all four schools and the administrative offices of the Van Alstyne Independent School District (VAISD) are recycling paper due to Hannah's effort.

Innovative Technology - IdleAire Technologies, Dallas

IdleAire Technologies is working to reduce diesel emissions from the long-haul trucking industry with an environmental truck-stop system in Dallas, El Paso, San Antonio and Baytown. Through a simple window adapter, the Advanced Travel Center Electrification (ATE) system provides truck cabs with electricity, central heat and air, broadband Internet access, satellite TV and long-distance phone service -- all without idling the trucks' engines. IdleAire estimates its six Texas installations have reduced extended idling of long-haul trucks by 950,000 hours, saving 1 million gallons of fuel and significantly reducing diesel emissions.

Agriculture - Tom Green County Water Control & Improvement District No. 1, San Angelo

When drought conditions in the Concho Valley severely lowered reservoir levels in the mid-1990s, district officials devised a new plan for crop irrigation. Instead of draining water from the Twin Buttes Reservoir, farmers use effluent from the City of San Angelo's wastewater system. For the past seven years, farmers irrigated their crops without depleting the reservoir's water supply. Technology upgrades over the past three years have further improved water monitoring and delivery efficiency. The Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system remotely controls and manages water flow through four automated gates along a 65-mile canal, delivering effluent more efficiently to 120 farms across 15,000 acres.

Civic/Nonprofit - Clear Creek Environmental Foundation, League City

The Clear Creek Environmental Foundation (CCEF) is being honored for its efforts to clean up and restore Clear Creek, a tributary that travels through several Houston areas of mixed-use development before emptying into Clear Lake and ultimately Galveston Bay. Founded by two League City residents, the CCEF galvanizes hundreds of volunteers for annual cleanup events, collecting 60 tons of trash and 3,000 tires from Clear Creek as well as underwater debris hazardous to boats. With a dual focus on cleanup and restoration, the CCEF has begun a vital habitat restoration project, planting cord grass along five miles of shoreline to improve fishery habitat and control erosion.

Education - City of Laredo Environmental Services Department, Laredo

In water-strapped South Texas, Toby Globy, planet-saving mascot of the City of Laredo Environmental Services Department, is teaching elementary students across the region how to care for their environment and protect their only source of drinking water, the Rio Grande. Through interactive presentations, dramatic play, bilingual songs and activity-laden educational materials, the program taps into a child's most critical learning skill: imagination. To date, 13,000 kindergarten through second-grade students in 60 schools across Laredo have received Toby's message about the importance of litter control, recycling, water protection and conservation.

Government - University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston

The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) is being recognized for a multi-faceted resource conservation and recycling program that touches every aspect of university operations. UTMB initiated an energy conservation program that reduced usage of water, electricity, gas and other utilities by 15 percent. Further reductions are anticipated with the installation of a 200-kW fuel cell. The university recycles more than 800 tons of paper and cardboard annually, along with hundreds of tons of metals, chemical solvents, printer cartridges, kitchen grease, X-ray film, motor oil, tires and paint.

Large Business/Technical - Cargill Meat Solutions, Friona

At Cargill Meat Solutions, engineers designed and installed an automated biogas recovery system to recover methane gas from the facility's anaerobic wastewater treatment lagoons. The system, one of the first of its kind in Texas, successfully alleviates toxic and greenhouse emissions and controls odors, while producing 20 percent of the facility's boiler fuel needs. Operating on a continuous basis, the system recovers an average of 800,000 cubic feet of biogas per day, with a monthly gas value of approximately $75,000.

Large Business/Nontechnical - H-E-B, San Antonio

H-E-B is being recognized for its ongoing efforts to conserve resources and reduce waste through environmental programs supported by 60,000 employees in 300 stores across Texas and Northern Mexico. H-E-B has converted more than 60 heavy-duty trucks to run on cleaner burning liquefied natural gas (LNG), saving fuel and reducing noxious emissions by 40 percent annually. The company recycles everything from plastic shopping bags and cardboard to aluminum, steel, plastic and oil, diverting an average of 200,000 tons of materials from landfills every year. And through educational programs such as "Trees for Texas," H-E-B is cultivating a whole new generation of environmental stewards.

Small Business - EnviroGLAS, Plano

EnviroGLAS is being recognized for its efforts to recycle glass into a new flooring concept that's as striking as it is innovative. EnviroGLAS Terrazzo, made from an overabundance of crushed glass aggregate, is now being used in several public and private buildings across North Texas, including the DFW Airport, a local Starbucks, and Bukhair Elementary School in the Richardson Independent School District. Revisiting the centuries-old Italian concept of using marble scrap to create terrazzo tile, EnviroGLAS has received a U.S. patent for its product.

Youth - Highland Lakes Elementary School, Granite Shoals

For students at Highland Lakes Elementary School, learning about the environment is all in a day's work. Through Project LIFE (Leading Investigators For the Environment), students of all ages worked together to transform a parched patch of earth into an eight-acre nature trail and outdoor classroom. The only outdoor environmental classroom in Marble Falls Independent School District, Project LIFE has grown over the years into a cross-curricular learning program that emphasizes critical thinking skills, bringing to life through hands-on experience principles learned in the classroom.

CONTACT: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Austin Adria Dawidczik, [REDACTED-PHONE] or [REDACTED-PHONE] Pager or Rational Marketing Nancy Edwards, [REDACTED-PHONE] or [REDACTED-PHONE] Mobile

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Austin

Adria Dawidczik [REDACTED-PHONE]

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