Innovations Awards

Winner - Iowa - 2003 - Pollution Prevention (P2) Intern Program

This program places college graduate and upper level undergraduate students in Iowa's businesses, industries and governmental agencies for a 12-week period to help identify, evaluate and implement ecological and economical solutions for specific environmental issues or problems.

Alternate - North Carolina - 2005 - Ecosystem Enhancement Program (EEP)

The initiative restores and protects that state’s natural resources and assists responsible economic growth, proactively compensating for unavoidable environmental damage to North Carolina’s wetlands and waterways.

Alternate - Vermont - 2005 - Comprehensive Environmental Resource Management Plan (CERMP)

This program establishes a single source within state government for identifying and advancing the environmental sustainability of state government operations.

Alternate - North Carolina - 2003 - State Facilities Utility Savings Initiative

To reduce utility expenditures and conserve energy and water through no- and low-cost measures, this initiative provides tools to 25 state agencies and 17 universities. Rate reviews of utility bills, operations and maintenance surveys and sample building monitoring, and comprehensive training in energy management are tools used to achieve savings.

Finalist - Maryland - 2005 - Chesapeake Bay Watershed Restoration Fund

This program establishes a new funding mechanism to support capital improvements to wastewater treatment plants and other measures essential to the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay. The program helps generate revenue by implementing new fees on the use of septic systems and in water and sewer bills.

Finalist - Michigan - 2005 - Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program (MAEAP)

In order to develop and promote a recognized, voluntary and proactive environmental assurance program targeted to Michigan's agriculture industry, this program ensures that producers engage in cost-effective pollution prevention practices and are in compliance with applicable state and federal environmental regulations. MAEAP uses a systems approach based on education, site-specific risk assessments and third party verification that is developed for all Michigan farms, regardless of size, commodity or species.

Finalist - Minnesota - 2005 - Strategic Conservation Agenda

This program uses new approaches for defining and measuring progress toward statewide natural resources results. The program also uses 85 specific indicators and targets to measure results in six performance areas: natural lands, fish and wildlife, waters and watersheds, forests, outdoor recreation and natural resources stewardship education.

Finalist - Tennessee - 2005 - Southeast Alternative Fuels Task Force

This team comprised of state environmental officers, energy officers, transportation officers, Clean Cities coalitions and private sector stakeholders works together to advance the use of cleaner burning fuels in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. The task force is currently focused on developing refueling corridors and accompanying support tactics so that by 2010, facilities that provide biodiesel and ethanol will be strategically located along key interstate highways.

Finalist - Hawaii - 2004 - From Pollutant to Power: Transforming Marine Debris to Energy

This program created a process by which discarded commercial fishnets are burned at the state’s garbage-to-energy plant to generate electricity instead of being sent to a landfill.

Finalist - New Hampshire - 2004 - Full Quantity Generator Certification Program

This program requires hazardous waste generators in the state that produce more than 220 pounds of hazardous waste in a month to have a hazardous waste coordinator on staff at the facility where the waste is generated. The coordinator must be certified annually by the state Department of Environmental Services.

Finalist - New York - 2004 - Distributed Generation–Combined Heat and Power Program

The program supports development of distributed generation and thermally activated technologies and sub-systems in a variety of applications through showcasing new technologies in various innovative, replicable combined heat and power applications. Its goal is to make clean and efficient onsite generation a viable option for New Yorkers.

Finalist - Ohio - 2004 - Oil and Gas Emergency Management Web site

This Web site provides the oil and gas industry, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and local emergency responders with immediate access to up-to-date information about oil and gas well ownership, emergency contacts, location, oil storage capacity, production history and other data necessary to respond to an oil spill, gas leak or well fire.

Finalist - Wisconsin - 2004 - Community Mercury Reduction Program

In a partnership between the state Department of Natural Resources and 20 municipalities to reduce the use of mercury-containing products in the state and to increase mercury recycling, this program targets entities that have historically used mercury products, including hospitals, dental offices, schools and HVAC contractors.

Finalist - Illinois - 2003 - Emission Reduction Market System

Operated by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, this system allows participating companies to buy, sell or trade units of ozone-producing emissions. This market-based program was designed to reduce atmospheric ozone and improve air quality.

Finalist - Minnesota - 2003 - Fisheries Easement Formulation Process

Minnesota’s Division of Fisheries designed this program to acquire stream easements to provide recreational and management access and to protect critical riparian habitat. These easements are acquired using a cost-efficient and creative formula that was adopted into state law.

Finalist - New York - 2003 - Clean Fueled Vehicles Program

This program is a coordinated effort to assist state agencies, authorities and universities in acquiring and utilizing clean fueled vehicles and to develop a statewide network of fueling stations to support the vehicles.

Finalist - South Dakota and Nebraska - 2003 - Purple Loosestrife Management Project

A joint initiative between the two states and South Dakota’s State Prison, this program helps stop the invasive plant purple loosestrife. Prison inmates raise approximately 250,000 Galerucella beetles each year and release them into the Missouri River to help control the purple loosestrife population, which damages wetland ecosystems and habitat.

Finalist - South Dakota - 2003 - Abandoned Tank Removal “Tank Yank” Program

As the nation’s largest and most comprehensive abandoned tank removal program, this project provides private owners with state funds to remove inactive or abandoned underground petroleum and waste-oil storage tanks, thereby reducing the environmental risks from petroleum releases.

Finalist - Utah - 2003 - Strategy to Address Water Pollution from Animal Feeding Operations

This program is a partnership between the Utah Department of Environmental Quality and the state’s agricultural community. Its goal is to reduce the amount of polluted surface and groundwater areas that endanger human health by issuing federal water quality permits to concentrated animal feeding operations.