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154 Environmental Leaders Renew Membership in EPA's Performance Track

Release Date: 08/21/2007
Contact Information: Dave Ryan, (202) 564-4355 / ryan.dave@epa.gov

(8/21/07) Pharmaceutical plants, paper mills, a golf course, a textile manufacturer, and an automobile maker are among the 154 facilities that have renewed their membership in EPA's National Environmental Performance Track program. A record 92 percent of the members up for renewal in 2007 applied for another three-year term in the program.

Performance Track complements regulatory approaches with new tools and strategies that recognize and drive environmental excellence. The program's more than 450 members include facilities from major corporations, small businesses, and the public sector in 46 states and Puerto Rico.

Like new members of the program, renewing facilities must set four new environmental performance goals (such as reduced energy use), have an independent review of their environmental management system, and be screened by EPA for continued compliance with environmental laws.

Some EPA Regions offer Performance Track members special "challenge goals" that address a regional or national environmental priority. Because these challenge goals are more demanding, members may count them as two environmental performance goals. The member then only has to set three goals rather than the standard four. In this renewal round, 47 members chose to set "challenge goals." For example, renewing members in EPA Region 1 (New England) may choose a challenge goal to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by five percent, while those in EPA Region 4 (Southeast) may choose a challenge goal to reduce their discharges to water by 15 percent.

Collectively, Performance Track members have set more than 1,500 environmental goals to improve their performance in areas such as waste generation, water and energy use, air emissions, and habitat conservation. Since the program's inception in June 2000, members have reduced their water use by 3.5 billion gallons, increased their use of recycled materials by 135,000 tons, and reduced greenhouse gases by more than 97,000 metric tons—equivalent to the annual emissions of 21,000 passenger cars.

Additional information on Performance Track may be found at: epa.gov/performancetrack/events/renewing_facilities_aug07.htm