Environment notebook

State agency gives 3 entities awards

Goodwill Industries of Arkansas, L'Oreal USA and Arkansas State University were the winners of environmental awards announced and presented Friday by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

Goodwill, for diverting waste from landfills and reinvesting most of its revenue into educational and other services, won the department's 13th annual Arkansas Environmental Stewardship Award, according to a department news release.

For reducing water use, waste and carbon dioxide, the department awarded the Arkansas Environmental Technology Award to L'Oreal USA. The company reduced water use by 82 percent, waste by 40 percent and carbon dioxide emissions by 76 percent in 2016. The company also recently installed a 1.2 megawatt solar array at its North Little Rock facility.

The department awarded its first-ever E2 Award to Arkansas State University after the school and Johnson Controls signed a contract to reduce energy use by "upgrading lighting, water, HVAC, and energy management systems across the campus," according to the release. The project will save the Jonesboro campus more than $25 million in utility and operating costs during the next 20 years, the release states.

The Saline County Regional Solid Waste District and the Benton County Environmental Division were finalists for the Environmental Stewardship Award. Pratt & Whitney PSD of Springdale and Clearwater Paper were finalists for the Environmental Technology Award.

Advocate opens White River unit

The Waterkeeper Alliance has added a branch of its organization on the White River, according to a joint news release from the organization and the new White River Waterkeeper.

The White River Waterkeeper will be headed by Jessie J. Green, a former senior ecologist at the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality.

The Waterkeeper Alliance has more than 300 different Waterkeeper groups worldwide advocating to protect individual waterways.

The White River Waterkeeper will focus on issues within the river's watershed throughout Arkansas and southern Missouri. Its mission is to "protect the public health and natural resources" of the river. The group will open an office is Jasper and take on issues affecting the Buffalo River as an initial priority, according to the news release.

Metro on 05/07/2017

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