USDA Sustainable Operations Council 
Meeting Minutes
January 17, 2008, 9:30 – 11:00 a.m.
Assistant Secretary for Administration (ASA) Boyd Rutherford chaired the third USDA Sustainable Operations Council (SOC) quarterly meeting on January 17, 2008, at the USDA Whitten Building Room 221-A.  The minutes below follow the meeting agenda. All SOC meetings have minimal handouts and all power point presentations and minutes are sent out electronically to keep paper usage to a minimum. 
1.	Opening remarks / recent accomplishments (ASA Rutherford)
ASA Rutherford opened the meeting by welcoming JoAnn Milliken, Department of Energy, (DOE) guest speaker, Dana Arnold, Chief of Staff, Office of the Federal Environmental Executive (OFEE) and Cindy Vallina, from The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as well as all other attendees. He informed all attendees that Adela Backiel, Office of the Chief Economists (OCE) had retired and Glenn Haggstrom, Director of the Office of Procurement and Property Management (OPPM) was joining as an official Council Member. 
ASA Rutherford outlined accomplishments since the last SOC meeting:
a)	“USDA Unplugged”- This event in October kicked off USDA’s energy savings challenge for employees.  Employees turned off computers and all electrical devices for one full weekend. USDA saved 24, 000 kilowatt hours, an estimated $3,000 for one weekday and one weekend. 
b)	Copier Centers- As of December 19th, all copier and duplicating centers are utilizing duplex copying unless instructed otherwise. This will conserve energy and save money. 
c)	Sustainable Landscape Partnership Conference- On November 30th, USDA hosted a Whitten Landscape Design Charrette with 75 participants from many agencies including EPA and DOI.
These and other USDA accomplishments can be found at http://www.greening.usda.gov

2.	hydrogen fuel cell program (joann milliken, doe)
The Hydrogen Fuel Cell Program power point presentation of Ms. Milliken is attached.  The next meeting of the Hydrogen Fuel Cell working group is April 15th.  USDA is considering hydrogen cells as back up power for the Carver Center.  This may also be a resource for Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) animal labs -- around 40 out of 100 labs could benefit. Hydrogen vehicles (by GM) take 20 gallons to go about 400 miles. There is a hydrogen fueling station on Benning Drive, which is a Shell Station in DC and also there is a fueling station in Ft. Belvoir. Currently DOE has training for operating these Hydrogen vehicles and everything is going well. 

3.	Greening the new year (ron Buckhalt, ARS on assignment to BioPreferred Program, ASA office)
The USDA Headquarters Green Team, the BioPreferred Program and the Sustainable Operations Council will be hosting an exhibition on “Greening the New Year” in the South Building Cafeteria on Thursday, January 31.  The event seeks to educate USDA personnel in steps they can take to live and work in a more environmentally sustainable way and will highlight steps the agency is taking to make USDA green.  USDA continues to work to remove all petroleum-based cups, plates, trays, and other hospitality items to make the cafeteria waste completely biodegradable.  Additional displays on HQ energy savings and green cleaning will be included.
In addition, Shana Love and Ron are working with General Services Administration (GSA) on a planning for USDA to have a major BioPreferred presence at GSA’s Expo Conference in April to educate attendees on biopreferred products. More information will be forthcoming.

4.	working group updates
•	EMS Working Group: ( Jeff Goodman, OPPM, Chair)
	In Jeff’s absence, Sharon Holcombe updated the Council. The Environmental Management work group meets monthly, most recently on January 15th.   Their main focus currently is reviewing the USDA chemical use reduction plan. The work group has approved second draft and this will be submitted to the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive by January 31st to meet the deadline (Note: Dana Arnold stated that the date had just been changed from 24th to the 31st as of January 17th AM).
The work group expects to submit chemical use reduction plan, draft departmental regulation and draft DM-5600 chapter on compliance to Hazardous Materials Policy Council for review and approval next month. 
 	Had the largest improvement in facilities moving to Green (49) since the program began. 
•	Facilities Working Group: ( Ed Murtagh, OO, Chair)
	Currently updating the USDA Strategic Plan, Departmental Regulations, Baseline Water Use, renewable energy, and advanced metering. Future meetings will address Environmental Management Systems (EMS) and the impact of the new Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. 
•	Transportation Working Group: (James Michael, OPPM, New Chair)
Sharon Holcombe introduced James Michael, OPPM, Energy & Environmental Division, to the SOC as the New Transportation Working group chairman. (Former chair, Elaine Plotkin, has retired)
 The Transportation group held their last meeting on November 28th. Action items: Development of driver awareness training and exploring different ways on sending monthly reminders to fleet managers with updated E85 refueling information in their areas for all AFV’s to refuel at E85 fueling stations.  Actions for six month plan: Distinguish USDA E85 vehicles from other alternative fuel or gas vehicles. Suggestions thus far: Drop down logo on mirror, decal on dash or license plate. 
All E85 Fueling Stations and B20 stations are on http://www.greening.usda.gov/
•	Green Purchasing Work Group: (Robert Niedzwiecki, OPPM, Chair)
Developed policy recommendations for implementing Green Purchasing of which Biobased is a component. Determined Energy Star compliance on USDA computers: the monitors are compliant but the computers themselves are being left on at night due to security and software patches. Currently work group is working with Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) to implement more energy-saving features on computers. Reviewed and commented on the Green Purchasing Affirmative Procurement Plan (GPAPP), which establishes department wide guidance on an effective green purchasing program.  Upcoming major topic is green purchasing training.  Next meeting is February 19th in the Reporters Building at 10:00 am, Room: 341		
5. omb scorecards and 2008 plans  (ASA Rutherford)
USDA has just submitted its 2007 scorecard accomplishments to OMB for scoring under their Green/Yellow/Red performance system.  ASA Rutherford’s power point presentation (attached) outlines various performance metrics and planned actions for each OMB scorecard. The three scorecards, Energy, Transportation and Environmental Stewardship are used to measure executive agencies progress in achieving the goals of Executive Order 13423.  ASA Rutherford went over the OMB scorecards, USDA successes and additional steps being taken over the next six months to meet departmental goals.  
6.  Discussion (all)
•	Recycling computers at prisons: we need to understand more about exactly what gets recycled and what gets thrown out.
•	Industry stand on desktop computers: should there be a requirement that all desktop sellers take back the computer after five years and be in charge of recycling all materials and electronics in a sustainable way? Doing this, would manufacturers go out of business? How would this work?
•	All working groups should make their own internal scorecards with their important issues by priority with a timeline. Sending this information out to all agencies can spark more attendance and input to the Council. Keeping everyone aware will allow all members of the council to know what priorities need to be completed just in case someone retires or leaves the working group or Council. 
•	ASA Rutherford mentioned sending out an Energy Star Memo to USDA so everyone can be aware of Energy Star and its importance. (pending).
•	Whitten Landscaping project continues to move forward. 
•	Looking into light harvesting for USDA buildings. 
•	ASA Rutherford will have his monthly meeting with all working group chairs on January 23 at Reporters Building to discuss action plans for the groups.
•	Sustainable Operations Council is always looking for new agencies to attend working group meetings. Please let everyone know there opinion and ideas matter! 

7.	Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at 11:00 a.m. Next meeting date has not been set.

ATTACHMENT 1: Attendee List
Attendees:
Present	Last Name	First Name	Office/
Agency	E-mail Address	Phone No.	
	Arnold	Dan	OFEE	Arnold.Dana@OFEE.gov		
	Buckhalt	Ron	DA	Ron.Buckhalt@usda.gov	(301)504-4881	
	Crew	John	OO	John.Crew@usda.gov	(202)720-3937	
	Devlin	Pete	DOE			
	Faulkner	Doug	RD	Doug.Faulkner@usda.gov	(202)720-4581	
	Goodman	Jeff	OPPM	Jeffrey.Goodman@usda.gov	(202)401-4747	
	Haggstrom	Glenn	OPPM	Glenn.Haggstrom@usda.gov	(202)720-9448	
	Hohenstein	William	GCPO	Whohenst@oce.usda.gov	(202)720-6698	
	Holcombe	Sharon	OPPM	Sharon.Holcombe@usda.gov	(202)720-3820	
	Hudnall	William	MRP/APHIS	William.Hudnall@usda.gov	(202)720-5213	
	Kashdan	Hank	NRE/FS	Hank.Kashdan@usda.gov	(202)205-1709	
	Kelly	Jackie	Contractor	JacquelineE.Kelly@usda.gov	(202)720-1141	
	Lee	Ava	OCFO	Ava.Lee@usda.gov	(202)720-1179	
	Mast	Gary	NRE	Gary.Mast@usda.gov	(202)720-7173	
	Michael	James	OPPM	James.Michael@usda.gov	(202)720-8616	
	Milliken	JoAnn	DOE	JoAnn.Milliken@ee.doe.gov	(202)586-2480	
	Murtagh	Ed	OO/DA	Ed.Murtagh@usda.gov	(202)720-5961	
	Myers	Jacqueline	NRE/FS	Jacqueline.Myers@usda.gov		
	Niedzwiecki	Robert	OPPM	Robert.Niedziecki@usda.gov	(202)720-3211	
	Pierson	Merle	REE	Merle.pierson@usda.gov	(202)720-8885	
	Rutherford	Boyd	ASA	Boyd.rutherford@usda.gov	(202)720-3291	
	Self	Heather	OGC	Heather.Self@ogc.usda.gov	(202)720-5840	
	Smith	Mark	OBPA	Mark.Smith6@usda.gov	(202)720-4509	
	Vallina	Cynthia	OMB	Vallina@OMB.eop.gov		
	Wheat	Marie	DA	Marie.Wheat@usda.gov	(202)690-5991