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EPA honors Pacific Southwest environmental heroes Willie Nelson, Clif Bar among this year's winners

Release Date: 04/18/2006
Contact Information: Leo Kay, Press Office, 415/947-4306

04/18/06 – SAN FRANCISCO During the agency's eighth annual Environmental Awards Ceremony in San Francisco today, U.S. EPA Regional Administrator Wayne Nastri presented plaques to three dozen organizations and individuals throughout the Pacific Southwest in recognition of their efforts to protect and preserve the environment in 2005.

"These organizations and individuals have applied creativity, teamwork and leadership in addressing many of the West's most sensitive and complex environmental challenges," Nastri said. "Thanks to their efforts, our air, water and land will be cleaner and safer for generations to come. The winners set an example for all of us to follow."

The Region 9 Environmental Awards program acknowledges commitment and significant contributions to the environment in California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii, Pacific Islands and tribal lands. Thirty nine groups and individuals were selected from more than 160 nominees received this year from businesses, media, local, government officials, tribes, environmental organizations and citizen activists.

This year's winners include: Willie Nelson, who is being honored for opening the first biodiesel station in California; Patagonia, for 30 years of forward thinking environmental programs at its headquarters in Ventura, Calif.; and an innovative dust outreach campaign in Arizona that has raised public awareness of a serious local air pollution problem. The winners and basis for recognition are:

Environmental, Community and Non-Profit

Laguna Beach High School Surfrider Club
Laguna Beach, CA
The Laguna Beach High School's Surfrider Club was selected for its initiative in testing ocean water quality on a weekly basis, and posting results for public access. Southern California beaches are used by millions more than the rest of the country combined so providing this vital information helps people maximize public health protection and feel assured of reliable information regarding ocean water quality. The students provide regular data, as well as helpful tips and information on everything from the increased polluted runoff that exists near storm drains to higher bacteria rates following rain storms. The club has an established and important link with the community, and has sought to resolve problems regarding beach water quality with the city. Web address: www.surfrider.org/lagunabeach/waterquality.

Green Dollhouse Project Team
San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Over 50 individuals and organizations collaborated to make this innovative project come alive. Through the creation of green dollhouses, the public was turned on to green building principles and materials as never before. In a building design competition, 15 dollhouses each a unique vision of green building were selected. The dollhouses feature gray water systems, vegetated and metal roofs, energy efficiency, salvage and reuse, composting, and green materials. Through an exhibit, a Web site and extensive local and national press coverage of the green dollhouses, the concept of green building reached a wider audience. About 20,000 people visited the exhibit and this year the exhibit visits Sacramento and New York City before returning to San Mateo.

Ho'oulu Lahui
Pahoa, HI
Ho'oulu Lahui, an educational nonprofit organization in Hawaii seeks to perpetuate cultural traditions and practices of the ancient Hawaiians. By embracing traditional concepts and merging them with the latest in technology, its goal is a sustainable community living in harmony with the environment. The organization's 600 coastal acre land base includes an ancient Hawaiian village that serves as a cultural and environmental learning center. Ho'oulu Lahui's partnership with Kua oka La Public Charter school includes plans for the first totally driven solar school in the state of Hawaii. Ho'oulu Lahui is an exemplary environmental model for educational agencies. Among its activities, it partners with college students on forest management and hosts students, families and educators from across the world on its solar program and other environmental practices.

Sally Tomlinson, Executive Director
Sustainable Silicon Valley
San Jose, CA
Tomlinson heads a public benefit corporation that partners with businesses, governments and non government organizations in addressing some of the region's most pressing environmental issues. Several of its partners achieved outstanding energy savings and CO2 emissions reductions. Acterra cut energy use by 66 percent and natural gas use by 33 percent in two years; Cisco systems reduced CO2 emissions by 23.3 million pounds per year, equivalent to removing 2,300 cars per year from the road. These are just some of examples of creating a healthy environment, a vibrant economy and an socially engaged community. The promotion of innovative ideas and technologies serves as a model for business clusters throughout the country.

Charleston Elementary School
Los Banos, CA
This group of Los Banos fifth graders named their project "Let Birds Fly" to bring attention to the loss of Bay Area wetlands and bird habitats. To stop the loss of the bird population, the class
took on a number of activities, including producing handbooks, door hangers and magnets to inform the public of the effects of feral cats on the bird population -- the cats are often responsible for the large number of birds killed. The children built bird boxes and worked with the city to hang them in town and along walking trails. They also distributed the door hangers and magnets throughout the town. To further educate the community, they built a schoolyard habitat using native plants, and painted a mural at the school depicting native plants and birds.

Don Gilmore
Community Housing Development Corporation of North Richmond
Richmond, CA
The Community Housing Development Corporation of North Richmond has contributed to affordable housing and economic development for more than 15 years. But more than that, it works with Global Green USA to assist architects, builders, engineers and property managers in implementing green design principles in their developments, which lowers utility costs, creates safe and healthier living environments and reduces the impact of pollution. One of its programs provides awards to property owners whose homes have curbside appeal or out-standing landscaping. Recently it has begun purchasing, remediating and developing contaminated properties. EPA recognizes the group's ability and willingness to provide long term benefits not only for its immediate community but also for the larger Bay Area environment.

Conservation Society of Pohnpei
Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia
The Conservation Society of Pohnpei, an organization in the Federal States of Micronesia, has made great strides toward reducing the amount of clearing that goes on in its upland rainforest and creating a comprehensive watershed management system for the island. The commercial cultivation of kava in the rainforest is destroying irreplaceable habitat that contains scores of unique endemic species, and is severely threatening the integrity of the water supply for the island's 35,000 inhabitants. Clearing of the forest is illegal, so the Conservation Society educates farmers and students on the effects of clearing the watershed such as decreased quality, quantity, sedimentation, erosion and landslides. These efforts have resulted in a significant decrease in the number of farmers entering the watershed. Currently, this program is being adapted and implemented by two other conservation organizations in Kosrae State and the Republic of Palau.

Nicole Rothfleisch
Imperial County Farm Bureau
El Centro, CA
Imperial County farmers have reduced by 50 percent the phosphate laden silt that comes from 470,000 acres of farmer's fields, becoming one of the most successful phosphate reduction programs in California. This is possible thanks to the Imperial County Farm Bureau and California's Region 7 Water Quality Control Board. Imperial County farmers were tasked with reducing phosphate silt by 50 percent over a 15 year period. After only three years, local water tests show a 50 percent reduction of silt in the New River and 36 percent reduction of silt in the Alamo River. Instrumental in the Imperial County silt reduction program were training videos in Spanish and English and an interactive informational web site.

California Academy of Sciences
San Francisco, CA
Founded in 1853, the California Academy of Sciences is the largest cultural institution in San Francisco. The Academy's new building will house 18 million natural history specimens including a planetarium, research laboratories, and administrative offices all under one living green roof. The new California Academy of Sciences building showcases world-class architecture by Pritzker Prize Laureate Renzo Piano. The building will feature an undulating living roof covered with acres of native plant species and will use state-of-the-art technologies to conserve water and energy and reduce pollution while using environmentally friendly building materials. Opening in 2008, the new California Academy of Sciences will set a standard of sustainable architectural design, while imparting environmental stewardship.

West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project
Group Co-Chairs: Margaret Gordon & Brian Beveridge
Oakland, CA
The West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project has fought to improve local air quality due to its proximity to the Port of Oakland and area freeways. In 2005, the project: Co-convened the West Oakland Toxic Reduction Collaborative; Led the campaign to establish a West Oakland Truck Route; Obtained new grants to continue its community based research and public education efforts; Was featured as part of UN World Environment Day 2005. The West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project has reached out to Port of Oakland, US Postal Service, Cal EPA, the Pacific Institute, independent truckers, local elected officials and community residents, joining them in achieving healthy solutions to environmental and public health issues.

Mahealani Merryman, Executive Director
Moanalua Gardens Foundation
Honolulu, HI

Founded in 1970, the Moanalua Gardens Foundation has helped preserve and protect the environmental and cultural resources of Hawaii. Recent examples of the Moanalua Gardens Foundation's efforts include: Safeguarding Moanalua Valley from the construction of the H-3 freeway, thus preserving for perpetuity 3,700 acres of land for the people of Hawaii; The award-winning Partners in Education Program, which reaches thousands of public elementary school students with lessons on Hawaii's ecology, geology and geography; "Exploring the Islands," a distance-learning program, reaches thousands of students each school semester; and support for the Legacy Lands Act of 2005, which requires that 10 percent of the real estate conveyance tax be deposited into a land conservation fund to ensure protection of these lands and resources for future generations.





Federal, Tribal, State or Local Government


Kids Environmental Festival
Cucamonga Valley Water District
Rancho Cucamonga, CA
The Cucamonga Valley Water District hosted its second annual Kids Environmental Festival last year, drawing more than 650 fifth graders to participate in hands-on activities about water and the environment. The district has designed the festival to comply with the fifth grade California State Curriculum Standards for science, so teachers find the festival beneficial for their classroom curriculum. Activities offered include a drought tolerant plant demo, a demonstration of urban run-off and pollution, creating an edible aquifer out of ice cream float materials, an environmental magic show, and a giant "Earth Balloon" that students can climb into to learn about the different bodies of water all over the earth.






East Bay Municipal Utility District
Oakland, CA
Food waste accounts for 16 percent or 5 million tons of the total waste generated in California, with most of it going to landfills. Since 2004, East Bay Municipal Utilities District has accepted food waste to meet solid waste diversion goals and increase energy production at its facility using an anaerobic digestion process. The district now receives 40 tons of food waste per day, which produces fertilizer and enough methane gas to provide electricity for 570 households. The anaerobic digestion technology provides air and water quality benefits, and also offsets environmental impacts of fossil fuel generation. East Bay MUD continues to refine its food waste recovery process to ensure a reliable and cost effective method to meet waste diversion goals and provide an example for agencies nationwide.

Sandi Tripp and Susan Corum
Karuk Tribe of California, Department of Natural Resources
Orleans, CA
The Karuk Tribe played a key role in discovering, promoting, and advocating a timely response to a significant public health issue last Summer the presence of toxic algae blooms in the Klamath River.
Tribal members immediately notified resource managers and public health officials throughout the Klamath Basin and California, resulting in a comprehensive monitoring program, a real-time risk analysis, and an aggressive public notification campaign to let others know of the algae bloom's dangers, which range from mild skin conditions to permanent organ impairment and even death depending upon exposure time and intensity. The Karuk Tribe's data also led the owner of two hydroelectric dams on the Klamath to fund a three-year study of the cause, effect and extent of blooms in the Klamath Basin.

Yvonne Mallory
City of Gardena, CA
Since becoming involved in the brownfields program, Mallory's energy and enthusiasm have led Gardena to use a $350,000 EPA grant as "seed money" to leverage more than $20 million in acquisition and cleanup costs. Her work has helped redevelop formerly abandoned properties in a poverty stricken area of Gardena into a Walgreens, a Sav-on Drugs, with a third property soon to be acquired by the City and used for a new public transit facility. The two drug stores resulted in 115 new jobs, and the transportation facility will create about 100 jobs. Thanks to Mallory's dedication to environmental justice, community outreach and brownfields redevelopment, the city has used its funds to target projects with near-term redevelopment potential to promote job creation and reduce public health risks.

David Saddler, Tim Walls and Cauy Washburn
Tohono O'odham Utility Authority
Sells, AZ
The Tohono O'odham indigenous community of Quitovac is a small village in Sonora, Mexico with no indoor plumbing or electricity. For years the residents used shallow hand-dug wells contaminated with total coliform and fecal coliform, and at least one well was contaminated with high levels of lead, arsenic, uranium and chromium. The Tohono O'odham Nation used EPA funding to provide safe drinking water for this community by planning, designing and constructing the community's first water distribution system, increased water storage capacity, and well improvements. This marks the first time a U.S. tribe has completed a water infrastructure project to serve an indigenous community along the Mexico border, and the collaboration with EPA and Mexico provides additional long- term benefits such as basic sanitation for the local boarding school, a health clinic and electricity for the village.

Ak Chin Indian Community
Maricopa, AZ
In less than a decade, the Ak Chin Tribe has built an effective environmental department that has achieved many tangible environmental benefits, including cleaning up and preventing new illegal dumpsites; removing over 90 vehicles and184,000 pounds of auto, farm and truck tires; recycling 53,030 pounds of scrap metal, 46,000 lbs of scrap appliances, and 432 batteries; and removing all underground storage and septic tanks from the community. The community water supply meets all federal and state health and safety standards, and the tribe has also instituted an interactive GIS application to plot and track water quality sampling locations. Other successes include an integrated pest management system and a lead and asbestos assessments program for several tribal buildings.

City of Fresno, CA
Fresno is a shining example of environmental and energy conservation leadership, having recently been lauded by the Department of Energy for its initiatives to place in service new clean air vehicles such as 25 CNG Buses, 69 LNG Refuse trucks, 33 hybrid vehicles and over 100 heavy vehicles with diesel exhaust after-treatment devices. A solar power project provided for the installation of 62,500 square feet of photovoltaic panels which displaced 1.3 megawatts of non-renewable energy with renewable energy. Fresno also has built the largest CNG refueling station in the San Joaquin Valley and has upgraded several city buildings with high efficiency lighting and appliances, reducing electrical consumption by 30 percent. The city's clean energy initiatives are a component of Mayor Alan Autry's plan, "Operation Clean Air," to meet its quest for long-term regional air quality improvements.

Pima County Department of Environmental Quality, Air Quality Staff
"Got Dust?" PSA
Tucson, AZ
Pima County's "Got Dust" television commercial shows a boy who passes by a few sources of airborne dust on his way to school before, feeling poorly, going directly to the nurse's office. Caked in dust, the boy leans on the door, pushing it open with his shoulder. The nurse is shocked by his dusty appearance. The boy coughs in his fist and dust flies out. A voice over states that "200 people in the Tucson area will die from breathing airborne dust this year," and closes with a statement "Got Dust? Keep it Down!" and provides PDEQ contact information. The commercial as well as PDEQ's other outreach is probably part of the reason that dust complaints have increased 42.5 percent since 2003, and Pima County dust inspectors have increased their inspections 156.2 percent between 2003 and 2005. Since the fall of 2004, the 30-second PSA has aired over 170 times on three commercial television stations in Tucson, over 800 spots on national cable channels, and numerous times on a local cable channel.

UC Berkeley: The Green Room
Each year approximately 6,000 students live in UC Berkeley's residence halls, with each new group of students bringing an array of electronics, appliances, personal care products, backgrounds, habits and behaviors. Last Fall, UC Berkeley students opened the "Green Room" to address four different aspects of living a more "green" lifestyle: reuse and recycling, energy usage, water usage, and purchasing and consumption. Within these categories, the room displays Energy Star products, personal care products, and reusable products, along with numerous signs explaining the environmental and (if applicable) financial benefits of each product when compared to "regular" items. Tours are given by the room's host, who mentions aspects of LEED, green building, the benefits of using stairs rather than elevators, and shows bike racks, recycling chutes, and low flow toilets and faucets. The Green Room's success has also led to other ideas for similar green demonstrations at UC Berkeley and other campuses.

Dr. Ralph Appy
Port of Los Angeles
San Pedro, CA
Although the Port of Los Angeles is the busiest in the nation funneling $102 billion of goods annually it continues to make important strides in drastically reducing air and water pollution. Programs addressing vessel speed reduction, yard tractor modernization, local truck fleet modernization, alternative maritime power, locomotive modernization and clean fuels are reducing tons of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter emissions daily. Consider alternative marine power alone, which eliminates diesel fuel use by docked vessels via alternative energy: China Shipping is achieving a reduction of 1 ton of NOx and PM per day. An additional six shipping lines are expected to switch over soon. The port's water quality efforts have helped make San Pedro Harbor one of the nation's cleanest, home to 75 unique fish species, over 400 different species of benthic organisms and 99 different bird species.

Surface and Ground Water Protection Department
Navajo Nation EPA
Window Rock, AZ

In 2005, the Surface and Ground Water Protection Department under the Navajo Nation EPA had tremendous accomplishment in terms of environmental protection activities. The tribe promulgated five new regulations; completed over 1,000 environmental compliance assistance, monitoring and enforcement activities; is now treated as its own state for important sections of the Clean Water Act; and conducted over 100 environmental outreach activities. The tribe secured important EPA funding to address the Black Falls Community of Arizona, where 100 percent of the residents have no running water in their homes. Overall, the department works closely with numerous partners to achieve results in environmental protection and shares its experience through technical presentations in various environmental conferences.

Individual

Jack Fancher
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Carlsbad, CA
Jack Fancher has dedicated his career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to the restoration of coastal wetlands in southern California. It is his extraordinary vision and persistence that has resulted in the Bolsa Chica wetlands restoration, the largest remaining degraded wetlands systems in the region which has seen nearly 90 percent loss of historic coastal wetlands. His involvement in this site spans nearly three decades. As project manager, he coordinated local, state and federal agencies to complete this project, one of the most expensive wetland restoration projects estimated at approximately $140 million. When completed this summer, the site will provide a fully functional tidal system that will benefit numerous wetland dependent species including several endangered species.

James Burgett
Alameda County Computer Resource Center
Berkeley, CA
James Burgett operates a "garbage to gold" business that has Berkeley officials boasting about it as they tout ways the private sector can be green. Berkeley's mayor says Burgett's nonprofit company is just the kind of recycling business the city hopes to attract and may be one of the first to recycle electronics. Burgett, who founded the non-profit corporation 11 years ago, builds working computers for poor people and nonprofit agencies worldwide. Every month, Burgett's company processes an average of 160 tons of computers and electronic items, recycling virtually all of the components for reuse. What started as a one-person operation that cannibalized computers found in dumpsters has become a $60,000-a-month operation recycling electronics in Berkeley, south Marin County, Piedmont and San Francisco.

Dr. Dawn Gouge
University of Arizona, Maricopa Agricultural Center, Urban IPM Program
Maricopa, AZ
Dr. Gouge is a recognized leader in protecting our nation's children from risks associated with pesticides. Dr. Gouge works at the Arizona Cooperative Extension at the University of Arizona and is passionately committed to implementing and promoting Integrated Pest Management to provide long term management of pests with minimum impact on human health, and the environment. Under her leadership in 2005, Arizona was recognized as a national leader for implementing IPM in its schools.
Her efforts have resulted in the reduced use of pesticides around the country -- schools in Indian country, along the US/Mexico border and in rural, inner-city and suburban areas have seen a reduction of more than 80 percent in pesticide use.

Eugene Tseng and Associates
Agoura Hills, CA
Tseng is a leader, innovator, a trusted advisor and a mentor to all levels of government in the field of solid and hazardous waste, recycling and environmental management for the last 30 years. After Hurricane Katrina, he spent numerous hours over several weeks working with federal, state and local officials in New Orleans to establish procedures and provide technical assistance. He has traveled all over the world to provide his expertise he recently toured Europe with a delegation from Los Angeles and consulted on the emerging use of conversion technology in Europe and in the United States for solid waste conversion into electric power, methanol and other products. Tseng has been a key innovator and technical expert in resolving critically important issues at solid waste facilities. Tseng's efforts have benefitted the public by making regulatory programs stronger, smarter and safer.

Jeff Gustafson
Danville, CA
Jeff Gustafson at 19 has already made a significant impact in improving the environment and encouraging others to become involved in community environmental projects in the East Bay. In this past year, his contributions have been many and varied Jeff coordinates the work of more than 200 volunteers on maintaining a 20-mile public trail in Contra Costa County in a sustainable way. Jeff serves with the Contra Costa Waste Authority, auditing waste streams and making recommendations for pollution prevention for municipalities and school districts. Jeff first began his environment work projects in high school and continues to show enthusiasm for environmental projects and to foster student involvement in college. It is heartening that there are young people like Jeff with energy and commitment to the environment who can become tomorrow's environmental leaders.

Debbie Raphael
San Francisco Department of the Environment
Raphael provided the leadership and vision that culminated in San Francisco becoming the first city in the U.S. to be guided by the "Precautionary Principle" the concept of choosing the least environmentally harmful alternative first rather than waiting for proof of harm. Last June, San Francisco enacted new innovative environmental legislation that phases out the use of toxic products by city government including certain types of paint, cleaning solutions and plant fertilizers. The city makes about $600 million in purchases a year, and the new legislation requires the city to take public health and environmental stewardship into consideration when purchasing products from toilet paper to computers. By exercising its economic power, San Francisco will encourage market development of new products that are healthier and more environmentally friendly.





Rodolfo Anguiano Gaspar
Grupo Ecologista Gaviotas
Playas de Tijuana, Mexico
Gaspar, a 70 year old Tijuana resident, has been working without pay as the president of Grupo Ecologista Gaviotas along the U.S-Mexico border. Aided by the Ja Jan Coalition (which means "clean water" in Pai Pai dialect), state of California, International Community Foundation and the EPA, Gaspar took on sewage flows originating in Mexico and impacting the U.S. side of the border at the Tijuana River National Estuary Research Reserve. Thanks to his efforts, Laureles Canyon, one of Tijuana's poorest and most at risk communities, now has drinking water infrastructure. Within that same community, city of Tijuana has removed tons of trash and refuse. The community of Laureles Canyon now enjoys sewage infrastructure and a sense of empowerment, thanks to the vision of Gaspar.















Business, Industry, Trade or Professional Organization
Pfizer La Jolla Laboratories
San Diego, CA
Pfizer Inc.'s La Jolla Laboratories consists of nine buildings with nearly 1 million square feet of laboratory and office space. The state-of-the-art facilities are home to over 1,700 researchers and support staff that conduct research on cancer, viral diseases, diabetes, obesity, and HIV, among others. Pfizer's La Jolla buildings are designed to perform 27 percent to 30 percent better than required under California's energy efficiency standards. This is enough electricity to supply over 1,000 average size homes and a reduction in CO2 emissions of up to 15,000 tons per year. As part of its Energy Efficiency Initiative that started in mid-2005, Pfizer La Jolla expects to cut its natural gas consumption by as much as 25 percent and its electricity consumption by 15 percent in 2006.





Eric Cruz
Basula Produkto
Saipan, Marianas Pacific
Basula Produkto, a joint venture of Maeda Pacific Corp. and Ericco Enterprises, strives for a cleaner environment via recycling. In 2005, Basula Produkto processed and shipped off-island 1,119 tons of cardboard and paper, 188 tons of aluminum and 513 tons of scrap metal. The venture also crushed 200 tons of glass and baled 200 tons of used tires. All this activity has diverted over 2,220 tons of waste away from the landfill, thereby increasing the life span of the landfill. While providing jobs and creating a business, Basula Produkto has contributed to a cleaner environment for the people of the CNMI. Working together with the Government and other businesses, Basula Produkto hopes recycling will grow and be practiced all the residents.

Grace Pacific Corporation
Honolulu, HI
Grace Pacific Corp., the fourth largest construction firm in Hawai'i, owns and operates a large fleet of diesel fuel-powered, non-road equipment. To address emissions associated with the fleet, the company initiated a program aimed at reducing air emissions, increasing energy efficiency, and decreasing fuel consumption by replacing and re-powering vehicles and equipment that are more than five years old. The data generated during the diesel repowering project will help other Hawaii companies make informed decisions when developing programs to meet new emissions requirements. Grace Pacific will also be the first Hawaii-based firm in its industry to have developed a comprehensive environmental management system that conforms with the ISO 14001 international standard.

Cliff Waldeck
Waldeck's Office Supply
San Francisco, CA
This past year, Cliff Waldeck has transformed his company into San Francisco's only "certified green" office supply company, the only office supply retail store to be awarded the prestigious 2005 California Waste Board's Waste Reduction Awards Program Award and, perhaps, the only green office supply retail store in the United States. Waldeck believes "the office products industry needs to follow the example of the old fashioned garbage companies who used to take all the refuse to the landfill but today recycle 60-70 percent of the waste stream." The store sells the highest recycled content, refurbished, reusable, non-toxic and energy efficient products; recycles -- both for the company and its customers -- all recyclable products, including laser/inkjet cartridges and batteries; reuses all packing material; and promotes business and products through 100 percent post consumer waste, tree-free or paperless communication.

Michael Brown and Jacques Sinoncelli
Greenline Industries LLC
San Rafael, CA
Greenline Industries designs and builds advanced biodiesel plants for small to medium sized production facilities. The new plant boasts a waterless flow-through system that produces diesel fuel with little waste. The company now has six plants either completed, under construction or in the planning stage for a total of almost 25 million gallons of biodiesel a year. Biodiesel can be used in any way that petroleum diesel is used and made from almost any vegetable oil or animal fat, limited only by available land and crops. Biodiesel results in substantial reduction of unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter compared to emissions from petroleum fuel. Greenline Industries has become the vocal, technical conscience of a growing trend toward clean energy independence that will help the ozone layer, reduce global warming and allow any region to gain a measure of energy independence.

Lisa Pike
Patagonia, Inc.
Ventura, CA
For over 30 years Patagonia Sportswear has valued the environment and human life. Among its many environmentally related achievements, Patagonia has: Worked with mills to develop recycled polyester for use in its clothing line; Converted their entire cotton sportswear line to 100 percent organically grown cotton; Eliminated colors from the line that require the use of toxic metals and sulfides; Created the "Common Threads Recycling Program"; Achieved a 60 percent reduction in energy use through solar-tracking skylights and radiant heating; Installed recycled carpet in its corporate office and stores; Use recycled-content paper for its catalogs; Purchase its electricity from newly-constructed renewable energy plants; Award nearly $1 million annually in grants to domestic and international grassroots environmental groups.

Cassandra Cyphers
Clif Bar Inc.
Berkeley, CA
Clif Bar Inc. has demonstrated commitment to environmental protection, receiving numerous awards for its work, including EPA's Green Power Partner of the Year Award in 2004. Clif Bar's environmental
stewardship takes many forms, including: Use of organic ingredients; Clif Bars product line contains a minimum of 70 percent organic ingredients Use of recycled paperboard product caddies Renewable wind energy by purchasing "renewable energy certificates" Clif Bar recently co-sponsored the Mavericks Surf Contest, the first-ever "climate neutral" surf event, purchasing enough renewable energy credits to offset the 86.6 tons of CO2 generated by the event through air travel, ground transport, hotels, boats, jet-skis, aircrafts and generators.

Harvey Whittemore
Coyote Springs Investment, LLC
Sparks, NV
Coyote Springs Investment LLC is committed to preserving aquatic resources in the proposed Coyote Springs Development Project in northern Clark County, Nevada, which includes commercial, residential and recreational components. At every step of the way, Coyote Springs Investment has listened to concerns from the EPA and other federal agencies over the potential environmental impacts of its proposed development. In the spirit of responsible corporate partnership, Coyote Springs International made environmentally sensitive improvements to their project plans, including establishing
the "Pahranagat Wash Conservation Corridor" protecting the main stem of the Wash that flows north to south through the entire development site. Coyote Springs International stands as a model for environmentally sensitive development in the arid West.

Willie Nelson Biodiesel
San Diego, CA
Willie Nelson has opened his first California biodiesel outlet in San Diego. He continues to reassert his commitment to this clean and renewable form of energy that uses only natural oils and fats for production. His interest in biodiesel stems from the fact that the diesel trucks put out an inordinate amount of pollutants. He also believes that the massive agricultural demand for soy and canola oils would reinvigorate the farmers of America. Nelson firmly believes in helping others; be it farmers, cutting pollution and helping restore a balance to America's energy needs. He is a model of the socially-committed entertainer.


Intel Project XL Stakeholder Team
Intel Corporation
Chandler, AZ
Intel Corporation worked with the EPA, State of Arizona, Maricopa County, Gila River Indian Community, the City of Chandler, and public stakeholders to develop an environmental master plan for the company's 720-acre manufacturing site in Chandler. The Intel Corporation's project recycles more than 70 percent of solid and chemical waste, and has implemented innovative water conservation strategies to conserve over two billion gallons of water through water treatment and recharge, wastewater reuse in industrial systems, and internal water recycling. In addition, Intel Corporation's facilities have created thousands of high-paying jobs, adding a positive annual economic impact of $2.6 billion for the state of Arizona.

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