The applicants and nominees listed below were recognized by the Governor in 2001 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.

Business/Industry/Trade/Professional Organizations

Large Businesses:

Central Vermont Public Service - With its home office in Rutland, Central Vermont Public Service is an independent, investor-owned company providing energy and energy-related services to customers in nearly three-quarters of the towns, villages and cities of Vermont. The company employs 530 people and serves nearly half of all Vermonters. In 1999, CVPS and its subsidiary, AgEnergy, developed, patented, and marketed both locally and worldwide an energy efficient milking system.

SmartDrive was born of a technology void discovered during the implementation of farm energy efficiency programs at CVPS. The company had already helped farmers implement many new products and technologies for reducing energy use on the farm, but no one had yet developed a product designed to reduce energy usage for milking, a particularly energy consumptive task. Key to the effort is a variable speed control for dairy vacuum pumps. SmartDrive reduces energy use for milking from 60 to 80 percent, helps farmers save millions of dollars in electrical costs, reduces energy demand, and significantly reduces noise pollution in barns. The average savings for SmartDrive units sold to date is estimated to be 50,000 kilowatt-hours per year. With 600 units sold, that’s about 30 million kilowatt-hours of energy saved annually with SmartDrive – enough to meet the energy demands of approximately 5,000 homes for one year. Energy conservation easily translates into avoided air emissions. Based on emission savings estimates, that means SmartDrive units already sold and in use prevent nearly 69,000 pounds of nitrogen oxides, 183,000 pounds of sulfur dioxide, and more than 44 million pounds of carbon dioxide! With all SmartDrive has to offer, it’s a smart investment in pollution prevention, in preserving Vermont’s working landscape, and in creating a more sustainable future.

Husky Injection Molding - Located in Milton, Husky Injection Molding employs 360 Vermonters and is a global supplier of injection molding equipment and services to the plastics industry. At the Milton campus they are responsible for the production of hot runners. Hot runners are configurations of metal plates and nozzles, which heat and inject plastic into a mold that will give the plastic its shape. Husky is rightly proud of their quality and environmental management systems, but there is realization also that improvements in technology can only take environmental protection so far. Those at Husky recognize the need for a broader and deeper commitment to take personal responsibility for the many environmental consequences of their actions – at work, at home and everywhere else in between. In March of 2000, Husky created an incentives program designed to reward practices and behaviors with positive environmental consequences. The GreenShares program goes beyond simply providing incentives for positive environmental behaviors though; it serves as an educational tool by suggesting simple things anyone can do to protect the environment. As suggested by its name, the GreenShares program rewards employees with shares in the company stock based on activities and outcomes. GreenShares are earned in any or all of four categories:

• Share the Road - encompasses such activities as carpooling, biking, walking, public transport, or the purchase of a fuel-efficient vehicle.
• Share our Resources - encompasses on-the-job activities designed to reduce energy and other resource consumption.
• Share your Time - encompasses social and environmental justice activities done on an employee’s free time for which no payment is received.
• Share the Spirit - encompasses environmentally preferable purchases made at work and at home.

Already, the GreenShares program has inspired the planting of more than 350 trees and more than 1,000 days of non-solo commuting. Husky leverages GreenShares to enhance an already strong and widespread corporate culture of caring in the workplace -- and extends it even further into employee’s homes and the broader community.

IBM Surface Prep Engineering Team - At IBM, now a nine-times Governor’s Award recipient, it takes many operations, procedures and processes to manufacture a semiconductor computer chip to exacting quality specifications. One process in particular, wafer surface preparation, is a critical component of wet processing and involves the rinsing and drying of wafers at critical junctures in the chipmaking procedure. A major retooling of the wafer surface preparation process focused on water and energy conservation and the source reduction of several process chemicals. The Surface Prep Engineering Team installed a jet rinse system and created a dual drier configuration to enhance drying. With the new wet surface preparation system now in operation process water is reduced by 20 million gallons annually; chemical usage is reduced by approximately 15,000 gallons per year; and electrical energy, fuel oil, and exhaust flow reductions result in 1,550,000 KWH saved per year and 190 tons of reduced carbon dioxide emissions. The cost savings resulting from this modernization project amount to more than $500,000. This type of project is indicative of the continued commitment IBM Burlington and the IBM Microelectronics Division makes to quality, and in these difficult economic times, to achieving both environmental and economic goals simultaneously.

Small Businesses:

Dog River Alternative Fuels - Despite temporary low energy costs, it is clear that energy independence becomes an ever more important state and national goal as oil supplies continue to be exhausted and global tensions involving the Middle East increase. The search for reliable, renewable energy resources has already led Vermonters to explore the potential of hydroelectric, geothermal, wind, and photovoltaic energy – and now, the diversity of our home-grown energy base is expanded with the introduction of biodesel!

John Hurley manages 1200 acres of Green Certified Forest land on the sensitive watershed of Chase Mountain in Berlin. His concern for global climate change and for the impact his own diesel powered equipment was having on both water and air quality led him to conceive of and to found Dog River Alternative Fuels. The goal of this new energy company is to provide Vermonters with a premium biodiesel fuel made from post-consumer -- that’s used -- vegetable oil, collected largely from local restaurants.

A market survey conducted by the fledgling company served to identify ample quantities of waste vegetable oil. Vermont restaurants annually discard approximately 150,000 gallons of used cooking oil. Some of this is shipped out of state to rendering plants where processing makes it usable as animal feed additives, for soap making, and as additives for cosmetic and skin care products and much of the rest of it ends up in landfills. Since late last year, Dog River has collected a portion of this waste cooking oil and converted it to a fuel. Biodiesel can be used in factory diesel vehicles with little or no modification. Biodiesel fuel can also be mixed with heating oil and #2 diesel to be used in space heating. Every gallon of biodiesel fuel used in Vermont displaces an equal amount of petroleum diesel fuel.

Biodiesel does not contribute to global climate change, burns with far fewer harmful air emissions, and replaces the sooty, acrid small and black smoke of petroleum diesel with the sweet aroma of french fries. Ironically, biodiesel, as a nontoxic surfactant, has been used to clean up oil spills. Dog River already supplies UVM with biodiesel to fuel its campus transit bus. They’ve created a Website to promote and market the biodiesel fuel they make and their educational video explaining how others can make fuel from waste vegetable oil has sold internationally. This being the case, it’s clear that it won’t be very long before skiers will be whisked to the top of a Vermont mountain on a chairlift powered by the oil once used to make their french fries.

Environmental, Community & Non-Profit Organizations:

Efficiency Vermont - Earlier this year, on the first of March, Efficiency Vermont celebrated one year of operation as Vermont’s – and the nation’s – first "energy efficiency utility". In 1999, the Vermont Legislature and the Vermont Public Service Board created Efficiency Vermont to help Vermonters conserve energy, reduce energy costs, and protect the environment. Efficiency Vermont is operated by the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation, a nonprofit energy services organization. In the year 2000, more than 17,000 Vermonters availed themselves of the programs offered by Efficiency Vermont. In that year alone, estimated energy savings topped 23,000 MWh of annual electricity savings, but because the average lifetime of these savings is expected to be 14.5 years the resulting savings over the lifetime of the measures installed in 2000 are estimated to be more than 300,000 MWh! Efficiency Vermont has helped foster widespread awareness of energy efficiency and conservation by helping ski areas install energy-efficient snow-making equipment; builders construct energy-efficient homes; residents to use energy-efficient lighting; and businesses to invest in energy-efficient motors, refrigeration units, and electrical end-use equipment. The many programs developed and implemented by Efficiency Vermont have helped expand the meaning of Yankee ingenuity and frugality to encompass energy efficiency, energy conservation, and a healthy intolerance for wasteful behaviors.

Vermont Pharmacies Association and the Board of Pharmacies - During the first two weeks of February 2001, Vermont pharmacists hosted a mercury fever thermometer exchange at pharmacies across the state. Central to organizing this effort and ensuring its success was the Vermont Pharmacists Association and the State Board of Pharmacies. The Association and the Board were both instrumental in securing the participation of more than 100 pharmacists which not only conducted the exchange, but also pledged to discontinue the sale of mercury fever thermometers. They were the motivating force helping pharmacists to "Catch the Fever" and then Vermonters to rummage for their mercury fever thermometers in order to exchange them for digital thermometers. The program’s success was also due to the near 100 percent participation of pharmacists throughout the state who conducted the exchange and ensured that the mercury fever thermometers were packaged properly for transport to the Chittenden Solid Waste District. During the exchange 45,000 mercury fever thermometers were collected as well as other miscellaneous mercury devices, and 33,000 digital thermometers were given away free of charge to Vermonters. Nearly 100 pounds of mercury was removed from Vermont households and managed properly as a result of this initiative.

Teachers & Students:

John Werner - John Werner, chemistry teacher at Arlington Memorial High School, has been concerned about the environment for a very long time -- and he’s made it a policy to share his concerns with the young people he’s come to know. Awareness and concern are basic building blocks for change, and it’s clear that education plays an important role in helping us develop a healthier relationship with the environment. As Gandhi once said, however, "We must become the change we wish to see in the world". To do this meant that John needed to ensure that his actions reflected his values. Thus, getting his own house in order meant, for example, committing Arlington Memorial High School to participate in the School Science Lab Chemical and Mercury Clean-out Project. John assumed a leadership role in inventorying, sorting, and removing outdated, unlabeled and hazardous chemicals found in the school’s science lab and storage closet. This in itself is highly commendable. John went further, however, by developing a Chemical Management Plan to address the purchase, use and proper disposal of laboratory chemicals. In addition, John successfully advocated for an investment in equipment and supplies necessary to conduct Microscale Chemistry experiments. Microscale chemistry offers an environmentally safe pollution prevention method for performing chemical experiments using small quantities of chemicals -- without compromising the quality and standard of applications in education and industry. By reducing chemical usage and hazardous waste generation at the source, John Werner offers others a model for how educators -- and students -- can take concern for the environment, personalize it, and act to reduce risks in their own lives and in their communities.

Institutions and Municipalities:

Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District [CVSWMD] - The Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District is a union municipal district in Vermont chartered to manage solid waste on behalf of its members. The District provides recycling, hazardous waste management, waste reduction, composting and reuse programs for residents and in some instances, businesses, from 22 member towns. Beginning in 1999, the District offered a program designed to significantly reduce the quantity and toxicity of hazardous household products purchased and disposed of by residents in the District. The DeTox Family Program was designed to stimulate environmentally preferable purchasing and toxics use reduction of household cleaning chemicals. The target group for the program’s pilot was comprised of parents and staff at the Turtle Island Children’s Center in Montpelier. Families with pre-school-age children are a key market segment particularly receptive to changing potentially risky behaviors and statistics attest to the fact that toxic products in the home are in fact responsible for serious injuries to children who cannot yet read. The effort involved administering pre- and follow-up awareness surveys of staff and parents, conducting an audit of the Turtle Island Children’s Center, providing in-service training for staff, implementing a parent education and outreach effort, and distributing "Green Cleaning Kits". In evaluating the effectiveness of the DeTox Family Program surveys show that more than 60 percent of program participants changed their purchasing behaviors in order to eliminate or reduce household health risks. Where we are truly serious about reducing children’s environmental health risks we must be sure to prevent exposure to hazardous cleaning agents. The DeTox Family Program is an important tool that helps child care providers and parents partner to prevent the accidental poisoning of young children -- and the environment -- both at the same time.

Chittenden Solid Waste Management District - The Chittenden Solid Waste District is responsible for managing the solid and household hazardous waste generated by 17 member communities in Chittenden County. It is the District’s mission to provide efficient, economical, and environmentally sound waste prevention and disposal options. In 1999, the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation announced its intent to work with Vermont high schools and middle schools to rid science laboratories of mercury and other dangerous and hazardous chemicals that had accumulated and been stockpiled for years. When private contracting for hazardous waste handling and disposal was explored it proved prohibitively expensive. The District came to the rescue by offering a more cost-effective approach that had them assume responsibility for assisting the Department in the clean-outs and for packaging, transport, off-site storage and ultimate disposal of the chemicals collected. In all, Chittenden Solid Waste District was involved in lab chemical clean-outs and disposal at 83 middle- and high-schools. Over 600 pounds of elemental mercury and other mercury-containing products were removed from Vermont schools. An additional 16,000 pounds of other hazardous chemicals were removed from participating schools. To prevent future problems, the District and the Department provided training in chemical inventory management and worked with teachers and school administrators to develop lab chemical management plans. Such leadership as was exercised by the District with this initiative resulted in a cost-effective and sustainable solution to a very real environmental problem.

Town of Montgomery - The ability of communities to capitalize on their assets and to address tragedy or to overcome adversity is a hallmark of many Vermont communities. The governing body of the Town of Montgomery is a 3-member selectboard made up of Brent Godin, Jerry Mayhew and Artie St. Onge. The Town Clerk is Lynda Cluba. These individuals, together with landowners, teachers and students of the Montgomery Elementary School, representatives of both state and federal governments, and volunteers from several local organizations came to the rescue of the Trout River. The Trout River, which runs through Montgomery, was severely degraded by gravel mining and encroachments. After flooding in July, 1997, the river became an active threat to a state highway and residential property, was washing away acres of farmland, and had lost virtually all its recreational and ecological values throughout a two mile-long reach. In response, the Town embraced a new paradigm for river restoration – one that did not rely on traditional dredging and bank armoring approaches but, rather, sought stable river functions and erosion prevention using principals of applied fluvial geomorphology. In less technical terms, that means the town sought to restore a stream flow pattern that took into account channel geometry prior to human disturbance and the flood. The natural channel restoration effort was based on a realistic assessment of sediment loading from the watershed and attempted to balance fluid dynamics with sediment transport. The project applied various flood prevention strategies, restored stable channel functions, created vegetated buffers, protected extensive riparian wetlands, and created new in-stream habitat for aquatic wildlife. Here, by working with, rather than against nature, the Town of Montgomery created an environmental management solution that respects rather than attempts to defy the forces of nature.