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1999
Governor's Award
Recipients |
The applicants and nominees
listed below were recognized by the Governor in 1999 for their
efforts to protect and enhance the environmental quality of Vermont
by conserving natural resources and preventing pollution before it
is generated: (Where there are multiple award recipients in a single
category, the panel of judges did not make a distinction between
first, second, and third place winners. Thus, the award recipients
are listed alphabetically)
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| Business/Industry/Trade/Professional
Organizations: |
 Blodgett Oven Co. (Burlington, VT)
Henry Ford once told customers
that they could have a model -T in any color they liked -- so long as it was black! He probably
never saw himself as a pioneer of pollution prevention, but probably
the same could be said for the Blodgett Oven Company. Blodgett,
headquartered in Burlington, employs 300 Vermonters and is an
industry leader in the manufacture of high quality convection, deck,
pizza and conveyor-style commercial ovens and steamers. Blodgett
customers, like Ford customers, could also have an oven in any color
they liked -- so long as it was black -- until recently. The company
began operations in 1848 and today operates three manufacturing
plants in the greater Burlington area. Efforts to reduce waste have
been a way of life and a way of doing business at Blodgett for many
years. Company policy states that Blodgett "is committed to
being an industry leader in the area of environmental protection.
The Company will meet or exceed all applicable environmental laws
and regulations in all its business activities." Air emissions
associated with the painting of ovens caused Blodgett to be ranked
ninth of all Vermont manufacturing facilities in 1995 for
environmental releases as reported on the annual Toxics Release
Inventory submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In
1992, Blodgett generated more than 30,000 pounds of paint-related
hazardous waste. By implementing various pollution prevention
strategies, they were able to more than halve this amount in 1998.
Also that year, the company decided to eliminate the painting of
deck ovens entirely -- and to use unpainted stainless steel panels
instead. This decision, upped the ante on Henry Ford’s decision to
produce only black cars. Blodgett eliminates paint and paint waste
entirely. With one decision, Blodgett scores a win for business, a
win for the customer -- and a big win for the state’s
environment.
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 International Business Machines
(IBM Chemical/ Environmental Programs) (Essex Jct., VT)
IBM, with 7,500 employees in Essex Junction, manufactures
semiconductor memory and logic components for computers. A
seventh-time award recipient, this year it is members of the energy
conservation and pollution prevention team at IBM that are
recognized for their efforts. At IBM, aggressively pursuing
opportunities to conserve energy has netted both cost savings and
pollution prevented. Over the years, however, it has become
increasingly difficult and expensive to achieve additional savings
-- that is until a business and production evaluation process was
applied to the energy conservation program. The process allowed the
IBM Energy Team to identify and adopt dozens more, easily overlooked
energy saving measures that, when taken together significantly
reduced energy use and prevented many energy production and
consumption related pollutants. The Team converted exit signs to
electroluminescent lamps, 95% more energy efficient than standard
fluorescent bulbs and 92% more efficient than even newer LED
lighting. Exit signs located throughout the facility are illuminated
8,760 hours per year. This alone illustrates how a seemingly trivial
improvement can result in very real and significant energy savings
and pollution prevention due to the number of units and the hours of
operation. As a result of this and other energy conservation
initiatives, during the project period 1996 to 1998, IBM reduced its
need for electric by 88,289 Megawatt hours resulting in pollution
prevention savings of 11,875 tons of Carbon Dioxide
(CO2) and a reduction in
fuel consumption of 83,938 Million BTUs resulting in pollution
prevention of 9,601 pounds of Oxides of Nitrogen
(NOx). 911 pounds of Oxides
of Sulfur (Sox) and 6,636
pounds of Carbon Monoxide (CO). Total energy consumption at IBM has
reduced 6% each year since 1996.
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 USGen
New England (A PG&E Company) Toxics use reduction
always makes sense where the goal is to reduce risks to ecosystems
and communities. USGen New England operates five hydroelectric
facilities in Vermont; providing clean, competitively priced power
for the region. The five hydroelectric stations have recently
completed a multi-year plant modernization, capital improvement and
toxics use reduction project that resulted in the replacement of
petroleum-based lubricating oil with vegetable-based oil in
equipment directly exposed to waterways. USGen New England developed
and now trains employees to implement "Green Systems Procedures" for
tasks which have significant potential environmental, health or
safety impact. Nearly a half-dozen additional initiatives now
provide environmental safeguards that serve to prevent or minimize
the release of contaminated oils into the waters of Vermont.
Equipment modernization resulted in a 15,000 gallon reduction in the
need for petroleum oil and mineral oil dielectric fluid. Taken
together, these and other eco-efficiency initiatives cost several
million dollars to implement but have reduced hazardous waste costs
by 50%. Most importantly, this pollution prevention project has
provided a significant level of added environmental protection for
the Connecticut and Deerfield rivers, two of the region’s most
valuable natural resources.
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| Residuum
(Barre, VT) Residuum exemplifies the
wartime adage that reminds us to "use it up, wear it out, make it do
or do without". Residuum is an important source for used, scrap and
new building materials that haven’t been fully "used up or worn out"
and would otherwise be wasted. These materials; doors, roofing,
lumber, plumbing fixtures, bricks, tile, countertops and much more,
are stored at a central warehouse and offered for sale to those
needing building and other materials for remodeling, home repair,
arts and crafts, and school projects. By actively soliciting,
warehousing and offering for resale waste construction and
demolition materials for reuse Residuum extends the useful lifespan
of building supplies, conserves landfill space, and prevents the
need to both manufacture and purchase new items. Residuum helps us
to better understand and do what is necessary if we are to take the
material wealth we enjoy today and...use it up, wear it out, make it
do or do without.
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| Environmental, Community, and Non-Profit
Organizations: |
 National
Wildlife Federation/
Vermont State Dental
Association
(The dental mercury
project) In his 1865 book,
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll introduced a
character he called the Mad Hatter. Although Carroll’s Mad Hatter
was fictional, the strange and unpredictable behavior he displayed
was not uncommon among people in the hat industry exposed to mercury
in the 1800s. Mercury and other materials critical to society can
become poisons to people and to wildlife if they are not managed or
disposed of properly. Recognizing this risk, the National Wildlife
Federation and the Vermont State Dental Society created a
partnership with intent to design and implement an educational
pollution prevention project designed to inform the Vermont dental
community about alternatives to mercury-containing dental amalgam
and how to properly manage mercury and other dental office wastes.
The result of their efforts is a guide, The Environmentally
Responsible Dental Office: A Guide to Proper Waste Management in
Dental Offices. The guide was distributed to 342 Vermont
dentists in June of 1999. In a follow-up survey to Vermont dentists,
80% of respondents indicated that they either had already, or were
now planning to, make changes in their waste management practices as
a result of reading the guide and that 63% of offices without a
pollution prevention program planned to develop one. Increased
awareness and a mercury collection effort has already netted nearly
40 pounds of elemental mercury collected from the shelves of dental
offices in Vermont. With partnerships like this, it becomes possible
to realize more environmentally sustainable business practices that
serve to protect people and wildlife.
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| Public/Private
Consortium |
EVermont: Richard Watts & Harold
Garabedian (Electric vehicles program) EVermont
was established by my office in 1993 as a non-profit public/private
partnership of state agencies, businesses, educational institutions,
and non-profit organizations committed to testing electric vehicle
technology in a cold climate and rural environment. EVermont works
with engineering firms and electric vehicle and battery
manufacturers to design, develop and evaluate new technologies and
to integrate these and existing technologies into electric vehicles.
From a one car pilot project, EVermont has grown to a multifaceted
research and development program with more than 15 electric
vehicles, an electric vehicle leasing program, and several trophies
from the Tour de Sol -- a road race for electric vehicles.
Evermont’s field testing of cold weather technologies has
demonstrated that electric vehicles can and do work in Vermont’s
winters. Both Richard Watts, Project Director, and Harold Garabedian
have given of themselves tirelessly to realize the day when electric
vehicles will make up a significant portion of the on-road vehicle
population in Vermont and the nation.
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Rocco J.
Graziano (Mobile home park program) As Lake Champlain Housing
Development Corporation’s Technical Assistance Director since August
1998, Rocco Graziano has assisted the Department of Housing and
Community Affairs, mobile home park residents, and non-profit
housing organizations to both correct and prevent health and safety
concerns in mobile home parks. Residents of mobile home parks
chronically must contend with environmental health problems related
to inadequate separation between drinking water sources and
contaminants from wastewater disposal systems and harmful activities
taking place too near the well. Rocco’s expertise in water and sewer
systems as a certified water system operator have made him
invaluable in both correcting and preventing environmental health
problems for Vermonters living in mobile home parks. As a volunteer
health officer in both North Hero and in Colchester, Rocco organized
the first free rabies vaccination clinic in Vermont; negotiated
directly with the now closed medical waste incinerator, Safety
Medical Systems, to address community and neighbors’ health
concerns; and initiated an aggressive water testing program in
Mallett’s Bay in Colchester to identify and monitor water pollution
sources. Rocco Graziano is described by those he works with as
thoughtful, savvy, results-oriented and driven to advocate for
win-win solutions for both the environment and for low-income
Vermonters. Vermont and Vermonters can only benefit from such
drive and diligence to achieve environmental excellence in pollution
prevention.
 Alyssa Borowske
and
Brittany Moffett (Dangers of lead sinkers
project) Nearly one in eleven
children in America have high levels of lead in their blood,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Thousands of Vermonters unknowingly have lead in their homes.
Because it’s often impossible to see, taste, or smell it and because
it doesn’t break down naturally, lead remains a potential health
risk until it’s either removed or managed properly. Before we knew
how harmful it could be, lead was used in paint, gasoline, water
pipes, and many other products. Preventing the release of lead into
the environment began as early as the 1970s when gasoline was
reformulated to eliminate lead. In 1978, lead-based house paints
were banned, and lead solder was banned in 1988. Lead is still a
threat to species in the wild, however. The Department of Fish and
Wildlife has begun a campaign to warn anglers about how loons and
other bottom-feeding waterfowl can die of lead poisoning after
swallowing lead fishing sinkers and jigs lost by anglers. Eight of
15 (53 percent) adult loons in Vermont that were evaluated for cause
of death between 1989 and 1998 died of lead poisoning from fishing
sinkers. Individual Vermonters are also working to eliminate the
risk of lead exposure. Alyssa Borowske and Brittany Moffett
are both Cadette Girl Scouts from Barre. These two young ladies
completed their Silver Award service project with a hometown effort
to encourage the use of non-lead sinkers. Alyssa and Brittany
started a "get the lead out" campaign at their school, sponsored a
poster contest with lead sinker awareness as the theme, and worked
with the Barre Fish and Game Club to make its annual Gunner Brook
Fishing Derby the state’s first lead-free fishing event. On that one
day alone, they collected eight pounds of lead sinkers and swapped
more than 200 sample packets of non-lead sinkers. The girl scout
motto is to be prepared. Alyssa and Brittany prepared themselves to
think big and to confront a real world problem in their own
community. In a day and age where we look hard for reasons to
embrace and believe in environmental optimism, Alyssa and Brittany
make it easier for us all to envision a more environmentally
sustainable future.
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| Institutions (Schools, Hospitals,
Municipalities): |
 Vermont Law
School/Truex Cullins & Partners Architects (Oakes Hall
project) Mahatma Ghandi exemplified a
life philosophy based on the notion that we must each become the
change we want to see in the world. His was a much more poetic way
of saying that we must walk the talk or practice what we preach. The
Vermont Law School, in South Royalton, and Truex Cullins &
Partners Architects designed Oakes Hall as a model of what it means
to live a life consistent in both word and deed. The school, reknown
for its environmental law program, worked with its architects to
design and have constructed a building with as small an ecological
footprint as possible. This was accomplished by incorporating stress
skin insulation panels and by using exceptionally durable fiber
cement siding, composite wood trim, composting toilets, non-toxic
flooring materials, super energy-efficient windows, photoelectric
controlled energy-efficient lighting, and a seven-foot diameter
enthalpic energy recovery wheel. The wheel, located within the
ventilation air ductwork, is coated with a substance which absorbs
and re-releases moisture thereby controlling humidity and recycling
exhaust heat. The wheel recovers 80% of the heat in exhaust air,
transferring it to incoming fresh air. Oakes Hall has reduced demand
for fuel oil by 57% and the demand for electricity by 25%.
Maintenance costs are 15% of what they would be had the decision
been made to construct a more traditional building. Through its
energy- and material-efficient design, the building eliminates much
of the expense and prevents pollution typically associated with the
building, operation and maintenance of traditional
structures.
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Community
Planning Project of Lake Region Union High School (Barton
River integrated enhancements)
The Barton River Integrated Enhancements project brings together
schools, businesses and communities together to restore and prevent
erosion damage within the riparian zone along the Barton River.
Students at Lake Region Union High School work together with other
community members to address existing and to prevent future erosion
and siltation problems along the Barton River by constructing tree
revetments. Such revetments typically consist of bushy cedar or
spruce trees cabled to the river bank. The first riparian zone
conservation plan was implemented in 1997 along 1,000 feet of the
Barton River. Since then, over 2,000 feet of stream bank has been
protected with tree revetments and nearly 20,000 linear feet of
riparian zone has been set aside for conservation. In addition to
the riverbank work, students constructed a bluebird trail with over
100 nesting boxes from Irasburg to Derby. Last year, AP Biology
students checked 83 of the boxes and discovered that 23 were homes
for Eastern Bluebirds. Of these 23 nesting boxes, there were 13 with
eggs or young birds. On average there were four (4) eggs per
box.
The Community Planning Project of Lake Region
Union High School makes it readily apparent that where schools,
businesses and communities come together purposely to improve the
quality of damaged ecosystems and to prevent pollution, much can be
accomplished.
Peoples Academy
(Environmental quality monitoring of Morrisville’s
watershed) For the past five
years, continuing to this day, students in Sheila Angelillo’s
environmental science class have conducted physiobiochemical
analyses twice each year on the Lamoille River to determine a water
quality index, and to assess the impact of land use within the
watershed, on the river, and on Lake Champlain. Data are collected
on nine water quality parameters and the benthic macroinvertebrate
community are sampled to determine a pollution tolerance index. The
nine data parameters of water quality are those developed by the
National Sanitation and include; dissolved oxygen, fecal coliform,
pH, biological oxygen demand, change in temperature, phosphates,
nitrates, turbidity, total solids, and discharge which, taken
together, provide a water quality index. Qualitative and
quantitative assessments of the benthic macroinvertebrate community
determine a pollution tolerance index. Field trips to a
hydroelectric power plant, the town’s wellhead, a farm, the
wastewater treatment plant, and riparian enhancement projects also
are part of the curriculum designed to help students understand
their watershed. This strong commitment to monitoring water quality
over the long-term has itself presented a dilemma, however. Using
wet chemistry techniques, chemical testing generated hazardous waste
in the form of spent chemicals that required expensive disposal
methods. Preventing the wastes generated during water quality
testing would mean purchasing Calculator-Based Laboratory Systems
with chemical sensor probes. These chemical sensor probes would
prevent or eliminate much, if not all, of the hazardous waste
generated. Sheila has worked hard, and continues her efforts, to
find the necessary funding to complete a transition to these newer
and cleaner technologies and to source reduce waste generated as a
result of conducting the People’s Academy Watershed Monitoring
Project. Sheila exemplifies the type of thinking and commitment to
environmental excellence and problem solving that make pollution
prevention and science come alive for students in ways that are
meaningful to them and hold long-term benefits for everyone and
everything living within the community and the watershed.
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 United States Post
Office (White River Junction, VT) The United States
Postal Service operates at over 200 locations in the state of
Vermont. Facilities include post offices, stations, and branches, as
well as mail processing facilities. The White River Junction Mail
Processing and Distribution Center is the second largest Postal
facility in Vermont, with over 400 employees and 89,000 square feet
under one roof. Beginning as early as 1993, employees at the White
River Junction Mail Processing and Distribution Center implemented a
Comprehensive Pollution Prevention Initiative that included five
separate activities. The activities focused on energy conservation;
eliminating the use of EPA’s targeted chemicals; repair rather than
replacement of damaged equipment; equipment reuse and recycling; and
eco-purchasing that gave preference to products with recycled
content. Energy conservation measures helped save 115 megawatt hours
per year -- the amount of electricity needed to meet the annual
electrical needs of 16 Vermont homes! Employees practiced toxics use
reduction by replacing cleaners, strippers, glues, paints and
solvents with less- and non-toxic alternatives. In addition, they
reduced the need for replacement equipment by seeking opportunities
to repair broken equipment and by finding reuse opportunities for
what typically had been disposed of in the past. Changing the
culture of a workplace is difficult, if not impossible, without the
concerted efforts of many people throughout an organization. It’s
clear that environmental excellence in pollution prevention has
forever changed the environmental practices and organizational
culture at the United States Postal Service.
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| Governor's Awards Program
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