Winners of Pennsylvania’s Award for Environmental Excellence named

Bethlehem, PA— Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell honored Lehigh Valley Industrial Park Inc. for its successful remediation and redevelopment of the former Bethlehem Steel Corp. site, the largest privately owned brownfield property in the nation.

Lehigh Valley Industrial Park Inc. was one of 12 winners of the Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence.

Bethlehem Steel Corp. site redevelopment has been a priority in the Lehigh Valley. The 1,600-acre property represents 20 percent of the city’s taxable land and is the region’s most important economic development project.

In May 2004, Lehigh Valley Industrial Park acquired 1,000 acres of the site and embarked on redevelopment. The property contained the remnants of 140 years of steel manufacturing — buried building foundation, abandoned infrastructure lines, contaminated soil and groundwater. Through the use of engineering and institutional controls, redevelopment of the property was made economically feasible.

The Bethlehem Commerce Center will serve as a pioneer project as the first selection for the Governor’s innovative Brownfield Action Team (BAT) initiative. BAT improves the state’s Land Recycling Program by expediting the advancement of the project. BAT projects typically get permitted in half the time.

The success of this innovative community project also contributed to a historic agreement in 2004 between DEP and the U.S. EPA to make the Land Recycling Program the first in the nation to serve as a “one-stop shop” for standards guiding the cleanup of brownfield sites. The memorandum clarifies that sites remediated under the state’s brownfields program also satisfy requirements for three key federal environmental cleanup laws.

Aside from Lehigh Valley Industrial Park Inc., the other 11 winners of the 2005 Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence include:

•Southern York County Library, Shrewsbury, York County.: The library employed achieved a 35 percent reduction in overall energy use, with $4,475 in energy savings projected annually.

•CENTRIA, Ambridge, Beaver County: CENTRIA performed an oven and line speed upgrade at its facility, increasing the throughput of the Ambridge paint line and minimizing the use and expense of natural gas. Gas savings are expected to range from $600,000 to $800,000 per year.

•Exhibit Place Inc., McKees Rocks, Allegheny County: This business realized savings of about $12,800 per year in energy costs through energy efficiency improvements resulting in a 40 percent energy cost reduction.

•Loyalhanna Watershed Association, Ligonier, Westmoreland County: This group’s e-cycling program began in an effort to benefit the environment. The e-cycling program is now one of just 13 in the commonwealth, and the only one run by a private organization.

•Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp., East Earl, Lancaster County: In 2004, Conestoga created an Environmental and Community Outreach Team to extend their environmental efforts into the community.

•Granger Energy of Honey Brook LLC, Caernarvon Township, Lancaster County: The Lanchester Landfill Gas Utilization Project is the first multiple customer landfill gas-to-energy project in Pennsylvania. Landfill gas is transported underground from the landfill for 13 miles to multiple customers, making it the longest landfill gas pipeline in the United States.

•Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development LLC, Lower Gwynedd Township, Montgomery County: Through installation of a “zero” discharge cooling tower water treatment system, Johnson & Johnson achieved an annual savings of $29,472.

•Wirerope Works Inc., William-sport, Lycoming County: The Company installed a combination of technologies successfully eliminating 27,000 pounds of lead pollution annually and recycled more than 80,000 pounds of lead.

•Cranberry Township, Cranberry Township, Butler County: The Township developed the Collection Connection, a comprehensive municipal waste management program that addresses the changing needs of its community.

•Scrubgrass Generating Co., Kennerdell, Venango County: The Benjamin No. 6 Reclamation project transformed a formerly abandoned mine land into an environmentally viable landscape capable of supporting diverse vegetation, wildlife and aquatic species.

•PhillyCarShare, Philadelphia: PhillyCarShare is the first system in which government employees and residents share vehicles. The project replaced 330 municipal vehicles, saving $2 million annually, and residents have sold or avoided car ownership of roughly 1,200 vehicles, saving about $5.5 million annually.