News from New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

For more information contact: Yancey Roy, 518-402-8000

DEC Launches New "Environmental Leaders" Initiative for Businesses and Organizations

“NYEL” Promotes Practices That Go the Extra Mile in Meeting Green Goals

ALBANY, NY (10/07/2008; 1046)(readMedia)-- New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Pete Grannis today announced an initiative that will help and encourage businesses to excel when it comes to environmental standards and practices. The "New York Environmental Leaders" (NYEL) program will assist businesses and organizations in developing and implementing new operating practices and will recognize their successes. Enrollment in this voluntary program is open until Oct. 31.

"This is a unique opportunity for New York State businesses to show their green credentials and commitment," Commissioner Grannis said. "The NYEL program will bring deserved recognition to those companies that go the extra mile to make a positive impact on the environment and improve their overall operating efficiency. And they will spur their colleagues and competitors - who will become green with envy - to do the same."

NYEL provides recognition and incentives to New York State companies and organizations that can demonstrate the use of sustainable business practices or pollution-prevention practices that exceed merely complying with environmental laws. The program is open to wide array of organizations including businesses - especially manufacturers - as well as organizations such as schools, hospitals, and local governments.

NYEL members will be rewarded with an invitation to apply for a summer intern to help out with an environmental project that goes beyond regulatory compliance. The interns are made available through the DEC's Pollution Prevention Internship Program, which matches dynamic college engineering and science majors with leading New York businesses.

In addition, NYEL members have access to a specially-designated contact within the DEC. The NYEL contact will be available to help with communication between the member and DEC, and help members garner assistance from the recently launched New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (http://www.nysp2i.rit.edu/) to meet their green goals. NYEL members are also able to use the NYEL logo as a sign of their green practices.

NYEL provides flexibility to prospective applicants by offering two membership tiers, the entry tier and the leadership tier. The leadership tier is for those organizations that have a current track record of environmental leadership. Leadership-tier members must demonstrate a history of environmental compliance, a functional environmental management system, commitments to future environmental improvements that surpass minimum regulatory requirements, and a public outreach program.

Every year, the open enrollment period will be from Sept. 1 to Oct. 31.

Prospective applicants are encouraged to visit the DEC's website at http://www.dec.ny.gov/public/939.html for more information on NYEL and to download interactive versions of the NYEL applications.