Performance Track Awardees, 2006

Performance Track’s 2006 Environmental Performance Awards recognize members that have demonstrated exemplary environmental performance during their participation in the program, particularly during the 2004 calendar year. Through an analysis of the annual performance reports of the more than 250 facilities that have been in the program for at least two years, Performance Track staff selected award winners for the categories of Large Facility, Small Facility, and Public Facility.

The principal evaluation criteria for this award are progress made toward performance goals and the breadth and challenge level of the member’s performance goals. This evaluation is supplemented with consideration of the member’s annual performance report quality, compliance history, and community outreach efforts. This year, there are three recipients of the Performance Track Environmental Performance Award.

Large Facility Category

Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials
Marlborough, Massachusetts
Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials, LLC, of Marlborough, Massachusetts, supplies specialty chemicals to the electronics industry. During its charter membership and again in its second term, this facility demonstrated its dedication to reducing pollution at the source. In 2004, the facility made major reductions in the use of hazardous materials. Through process mapping and other pollution prevention approaches, Rohm and Haas improved its per-batch use of acetone by a third, and improved its per-batch ethyl lactate use by 16 percent through more efficient cleaning schedules and internally recycling the material. The facility also reduced greenhouse gas releases by nine percent on a normalized basis by retrofitting lighting fixtures and installing more efficient cooling units. In its first three years of membership, the facility achieved impressive improvements in water use, energy use, hazardous materials use, and hazardous waste generation.

Small Facility Category

Norco Cleaners
Dolton, Illinois
Norco Cleaners is a drycleaning, wetcleaning, and laundering operation in Dolton, Illinois. As a small business, Norco Cleaners needed only to commit to two environmental performance improvements. However, this facility elected to make four challenging goals on key environmental issues, including hazardous materials use, VOC emissions, and energy use during charter and renewal membership periods in Performance Track. Between 2001 and 2003, the facility used a pre-filtering system to reduce hazardous waste by 25 percent in normalized terms and to stretch the use of a cleaning solvent by 47 percent. In that same period, Norco improved energy efficiency by nearly 50 percent—and then, in its renewal application, committed to further reducing energy use by another four percent. In 2004, the first year of Norco’s second term of membership, the facility used a wetcleaning process to clean a higher percentage of textiles. This led to a 41-percent drop in the use of napthol spirits and a similar reduction in VOC emissions in terms of pounds of textiles cleaned. The annual performance reports that Norco Cleaners prepared for Performance Track provided many details about the activities that it conducted to achieve improvements, thus aiding other facilities in their environmental benchmarking efforts.

Public Facility Category

Naval Air Engineering Station
Lakehurst, New Jersey
The Naval Air Engineering Station of Lakehurst, New Jersey, provides program management, logistical, engineering, prototyping and testing services for the air launch, air recovery, and aviation support systems used by naval aviators, sailors, and marines. This facility was accepted to Performance Track in 2001 and is now in its second term of membership. Its current commitments are notable for aggressive goals to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions and water use. In 2004 alone, the facility reduced NOx emissions by 21 tons (a 43-percent reduction) and water use by 7.4 million gallons (an eight-percent reduction). In its first three years of membership, the Naval Air Engineering Station reduced water use by nearly 53 million gallons, solid waste generation by 20 tons, and NOx emissions by 14.6 tons. It also created 123 acres of grassland bird habitat.

Performance Track Outreach Awards recognize current members of Performance Track who, in addition to being exemplary environmental stewards, make special efforts both internally and externally to inform employees and other organizational groups about the benefits of membership and participation in EPA’s most comprehensive partnership program. This year, there are four recipients of the Performance Track Outreach Award.

Colonial Acres Golf Course
Glenmont, New York
Colonial Acres is a nine-hole, semi-private golf course situated on 33.5 acres. Colonial Acres has an environmental information board in its pro shop, where members, employees, and guests can learn about the facility’s membership in Performance Track. It also publishes an annual newsletter with updates of environmental improvements related to the facility’s goals under Performance Track. In 2005, Colonial Acres gave a presentation about the program to the New York Turfgrass Association, and hosted an awards ceremony in the fall of 2004 with EPA Regions 1 and 2 at the Area Superintendents’ Tournament to encourage participants to join Performance Track. Following Colonial Acres’ lead, another golf course has started the Performance Track application process. Colonial Acres’ membership has also led to partnerships with Audubon International and New York Environmental Leaders.

Johnson & Johnson World Headquarters
New Brunswick, New Jersey
Johnson & Johnson is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly based manufacturer of health care products for the consumer, pharmaceutical, and professional markets. A Performance Track Corporate Leader, Johnson & Johnson regularly distributes news about Performance Track electronically to keep member facilities (and other Johnson & Johnson facilities that are interested in joining) engaged and reminded of the value of Performance Track membership. The Performance Track flag and membership materials were displayed at Johnson & Johnson’s Global Environmental Health and Safety Summit Conference held in 2005. Presentations were made and information about Performance Track was provided to a number of other businesses, both directly and through recruitment workshops. Business cards that promote Performance Track are also provided to Johnson & Johnson member facilities.

Rockwell Collins—C Avenue Operations
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Rockwell Collins’ C Avenue facility, which is also the company’s headquarters, manufactures advanced communication and aviation electronics for military markets and for aircraft manufacturers and airlines. Rockwell Collins, a Performance Track Corporate Leader, has developed a strategic plan to encourage other facilities to join Performance Track and provided guidance to internal facilities that are certified by the International Organization for Standardization. The corporate office provides additional guidance during the Performance Track application and annual performance reporting processes. Performance Track facilities receive special recognition during the company’s annual Environmental Safety and Health conference, and press releases are issued each time a Rockwell Collins facility joins Performance Track. Rockwell Collins, represented on the Performance Track Participants’ Association’s board of directors, works closely with EPA and states to address Performance Track policy and program issues. The facility also is formally represented on the Multi-State Working Group Policy Academy board of directors and informally through the National Environment, Safety, and Health Training Association. Several facility managers have volunteered to serve as mentors for other facility managers who are interested in joining Performance Track. The Performance Track logo is prominently displayed on both the Rockwell Collins external and internal websites, and Performance Track flags have been presented to each Rockwell Collins Performance Track facility.

U.S. Department of Energy & DynMcDermott Petroleum Operations Strategic Petroleum Reserve
New Orleans, Louisiana
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is a U.S. Department of Energy complex of four sites created in deep underground salt caverns along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast that hold emergency supplies of crude oil. The reserve, headquartered in New Orleans and managed by DynMcDermott Petroleum Operations Company, is a charter member of Performance Track. DynMcDermott has given presentations about Performance Track to the Energy Facility Contractors’ Organization, promoted Performance Track at important industry events, and participated in regional outreach events to promote the program to prospective members. DynMcDermott is largely responsible for helping at least one other facility join Performance Track. Each of its sites proudly flies the Performance Track flag, and hard hat stickers bearing the Performance Track logo were issued to all employees in 2005 to remind them of their commitment to the program. DynMcDermott displays the Performance Track logo on its website, and in 2005, its Performance Track membership was highlighted when the company won the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award. DynMcDermott Petroleum Operations Company continues to be a champion of Performance Track and has committed to 100 percent participation in Performance Track for all its facilities.

The 2006 Performance Track Appreciation Awards recognize state media programs that have been outstanding in their support of EPA and Performance Track, particularly in the testing of innovative approaches to achieve better environmental performance and greater public transparency while also striving to become more efficient. This year, there are two recipients of the Performance Track Appreciation Award:

Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, Air Permits Branch
The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) Air Permits Branch is receiving this award for being innovative in its approach to accommodate business operational needs while ensuring environmental protection and encouraging pollution prevention through the use of flexible air permitting techniques.

State of Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Division of Environmental Quality, Air Pollution Control Program
The state of Missouri’s Department of Natural Resources (DRN), Division of Environmental Quality, Air Pollution Control Program is also receiving this award for being innovative in its approach to accommodate business manufacturing flexibility needs while ensuring environmental protection and encouraging pollution prevention through the use of flexible air permitting techniques.

Missouri DNR’s Air Pollution Control Program helped a Performance Track member, the 3M Company’s Nevada, Missouri facility, to obtain a new flexible air permit. The permit is designed to enable 3M to make rapid operational changes to respond to shifting market demands in the graphics industry without the need to reopen the permit for modifications, while ensuring that all applicable regulatory requirements are addressed. Missouri DNR was particularly helpful, responsive, creative, and willing to explore innovative permitting approaches as part of this pilot project. 3M aims to use the permit to continuously improve the facility’s operational efficiency and to facilitate additional activity as part of the company’s Pollution Prevention Pays program.