Helping businesses in western Pennsylvania reduce waste and emissions, save energy, save or create more than 400 jobs, and achieve $20 million in economic benefits over five years has earned the Most Valuable Pollution Prevention Award from the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable for the ETAC-PennTAP-Penn State McKeesport Partnership.

The Electrotechnology Application Center at Northampton Community College (ETAC), The Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PennTAP), and Penn State McKeesport formed a partnership to provide one-on-one pollution prevention and environmental compliance outreach and technical assistance to help western Pennsylvania businesses go beyond regulatory compliance.

Among the documented environmental benefits from the partnership’s first five years are a reduction of 70,000,000 gallons of water use and wastewater discharged; elimination of 12,000,000 pounds of air emissions; and reduction of 5,000,000 pounds of solid wastes.

In addition, the partnership clients reported energy savings of 4,000,000 kilowatts of electric power and 50,000 thousand cubic feet per year of natural gas.

The award, presented on September 19 was sponsored by the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable, the largest membership organization in the United States devoted solely to pollution prevention. The Roundtable provides a national forum for promoting the development, implementation, and evaluation of efforts to avoid, eliminate, or reduce pollution at the source.

Dr. Mike Vasilik, Director, and Joe Cresko, Process and Materials Engineer represented ETAC at the award ceremony in Washington, D.C. PennTAP specialist Roger Price, who accepted the award on behalf of the partnership, said, ”In the past many economic development stakeholders have often viewed economic development and environmental protection as competing priorities. This partnership illustrates how technical assistance focused on waste reduction and energy conservation can be entirely compatible with economic development.”

9/22/2006