This is a photo of the front of the Arkansas Dept. of Env. Quality’s new green building.  It’s a LEED certified Gold building and was completed in the spring of 2007.  It’s located along the Arkansas River and has walking trails behind it.  We are able to see herds of deer in the floodplain in the mornings and late afternoon.  There have been reports of as many as 42 at one time.  It’s really a paradise compared to where we used to work.  (We used to work in 7 different building located along the side of I-30.)  We’re very proud of it.

ADEQ’s P2 Program essentially started in July of 2003 when I came on board.  The first couple of years, 50% of my job was to develop a P2 program and the other half was coordinating the agency’s comment letters for NEPA. I started with a scant P2 web page and went from there.  Like my counterpart in Oklahoma, I am the only person in the program. I really had no idea what I had gotten myself into when I accepted the position of P2 Coordinator.  I don’t think I would have made it without the P2 Roundtable.  They have been my P2 educational lifeline. P2 is full of challenges, with lots of ups and downs, but overall, it’s a rewarding field, and I really do think the work of state P2 Programs are making a difference.

My first year in the P2 Program the EPA asked me to submit my source reduction data. I didn’t have any.  I asked everyone I could think of at ADEQ to help me and I still came up with no data. The last item on the list, a tiered leadership program, has not been developed yet, but I will be working on a proposal

Myself and the P2 Steering Committee were heavily involved in the development of the award.

ADEQ’s Business Assistance Program, which the P2 Program is a part, offers environmental loans for small businesses (<100 employees). The loans are low interest loans at 80% of the prime lending rate and max out at $45,000. Over the last couple of years, many independent truck drivers have been getting loans for Alternate Power Units or APUs. The truckers are able to use the APUs to run the cab of their 18-wheelers rather than idling the trucks.  Generally, the cost savings in diesel fuel in just one week’s use can pay the monthly payment on the loan (run $8,000-$10,000).  From the fuel savings, you can calculate all sorts of P2 data:  CO2, BTUs, $, NOx, PM.   

ADEQ has implemented an Env. Management System based on an ISO 14001 system.  It took several years to get it going because ADEQ’s headquarters moved to a new green building.  That slowed us down.  We just conducted our first internal audit this year.  The results were encouraging and we know we will have even better results in the future.  The EMS is generating: Energy reductions (electricity/natural gas) The green building is helping tremendously there.  Mechanical/technical/energy supply problems at first. Solid waste reductions.  36% (comprehensive recycling program with a Recycling Committee made up of representatives from each division) Decreased use of office paper; 15.6% decrease for copy paper and 21.7% overall decrease *Commute solutions (new administration is receptive and has appointed a flextime task force)

Under a P2 grant, ADEQ put on three day-long seminars to introduce Arkansas hospitals to H2E, now renamed Practice Greenhealth.  The workshops were held in different regions of the state; one in the northwest corner, one central and one southeastern. I used the contact information from the online registration lists for my follow-up work.  I started out with a short email and an attachment for data.  I was assisted by Susan Roothaan and Martina Gerhke from A Nurtured World.  They have a grant from the EPA to assist states in Region 6 gather P2 data. We contacted the registrants by phone.  I did not get any data returned voluntarily from the email.  I discovered that many of the hospitals are doing some good P2 work, but they are not tracking their data.

I don’t know what your site assistance pictures look like, but these pictures are good examples of what I encounter on a typical visit. Most of the time, basic COMPLIANCE and the use of best management practices to prevent pollution is the best I can hope for.  Generally, it’s very difficult to get source reduction data from very small businesses.  I do have several medium size businesses, one of which is featured on this slide, and is under new management, that I expect to be able to get data from in about a year.

One of my favorite pictures.  I thought I’d share it with you.  The person that owns this business is required to keep hazardous waste manifests and storm water sampling records.  Do you think he can open the drawer in his desk?

The Arkansas Material Exchange is for secondary materials from Arkansas businesses, such as byproducts of manufacturing processes.  The materials are posted free of charge and the site is managed by ADEQ’s Solid Waste Division’s Recycling and Market Development Branch.  Unfortunately, this site is buried in ADEQ’s web pages and is not getting much participation or generating any data so far.  The Solid Waste Division is planning to join the RENEW site on The Zero Waste Network’s web site.  That site includes Oklahoma and Texas, too.  New Mexico may be joining soon, also.    

Arkansas does not currently have a tiered environmental leadership program.  Under the next P2 grant, I am going to do an in depth study of other state leadership programs and put the information in a proposal for ADEQ’s senior management.  I know the program will need several levels and will have the Performance Track as the top tier.  The proposal will include financial and staff needs, publicity, etc.  A tiered leadership program will also be a source of P2 data.  ADEQ’s new director is very interested in developing incentives for our state’s P-Track members and has also been briefed about developing a leadership program that ties in with P-Track.