Governor Rick Perry and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Recognize State's Environmental Achievers; Air, Water, Recycling Efforts To Receive State's Highest Environmental Honor.

AUSTIN, Texas -- An 8-year-old recycling champion, an environmental truck stop system that reduces diesel emissions and an automated irrigation control system are among 10 Texas projects selected as winners of state's

highest environmental honor by Governor Rick Perry and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).

The 2005 Texas Environmental Excellence Awards will be presented on May 3 as part of the TCEQ Environmental Trade Fair and Conference. The awards are given annually to the environmental projects across the state that demonstrate the highest achievements in resource conservation, waste reduction and pollution prevention. Individuals, companies and organizations are eligible to receive the awards in 10 categories.

"In Texas, we understand that the air we breathe, the water we drink and the land we inhabit are not only essential to our quality of life but to the quality of life that will be enjoyed by our children and grandchildren," Perry said. "These awards honor a diverse group of individuals and organizations that have gone far beyond the call of duty in protecting Texas' environment."

The winners, their locations, and brief descriptions of their projects are listed below. For more information on the winning projects and a complete list of finalists, visit www.teea.org.

2005 Texas Environmental Excellence Award Winners

Individual - Hannah Greer, Van Alstyne

When Hannah Greer learned that her small town north of Dallas did not
have a recycling program, she decided to start one herself. During the
summer of 2004, Hannah and her mother searched for sponsors. A local
paper company agreed to supply recycling boxes and dumpsters, and
Mother Nature's Recycling volunteered to transport the paper free of
charge to a recycling facility 50 miles away. Today, all four schools
and the administrative offices of the Van Alstyne Independent School
District (VAISD) are recycling paper due to Hannah's effort.

Innovative Technology - IdleAire Technologies, Dallas

IdleAire Technologies is working to reduce diesel emissions from the
long-haul trucking industry with an environmental truck-stop system in
Dallas, El Paso, San Antonio and Baytown. Through a simple window
adapter, the Advanced Travel Center Electrification (ATE) system
provides truck cabs with electricity, central heat and air, broadband
Internet access, satellite TV and long-distance phone service -- all
without idling the trucks' engines. IdleAire estimates its six Texas
installations have reduced extended idling of long-haul trucks by
950,000 hours, saving 1 million gallons of fuel and significantly
reducing diesel emissions.

Agriculture - Tom Green County Water Control & Improvement District
No. 1, San Angelo

When drought conditions in the Concho Valley severely lowered
reservoir levels in the mid-1990s, district officials devised a new
plan for crop irrigation. Instead of draining water from the Twin
Buttes Reservoir, farmers use effluent from the City of San Angelo's
wastewater system. For the past seven years, farmers irrigated their
crops without depleting the reservoir's water supply. Technology
upgrades over the past three years have further improved water
monitoring and delivery efficiency. The Supervisory Control and Data
Acquisition (SCADA) system remotely controls and manages water flow
through four automated gates along a 65-mile canal, delivering
effluent more efficiently to 120 farms across 15,000 acres.

Civic/Nonprofit - Clear Creek Environmental Foundation, League City

The Clear Creek Environmental Foundation (CCEF) is being honored for
its efforts to clean up and restore Clear Creek, a tributary that
travels through several Houston areas of mixed-use development before
emptying into Clear Lake and ultimately Galveston Bay. Founded by two
League City residents, the CCEF galvanizes hundreds of volunteers for
annual cleanup events, collecting 60 tons of trash and 3,000 tires
from Clear Creek as well as underwater debris hazardous to boats. With
a dual focus on cleanup and restoration, the CCEF has begun a vital
habitat restoration project, planting cord grass along five miles of
shoreline to improve fishery habitat and control erosion.

Education - City of Laredo Environmental Services Department, Laredo

In water-strapped South Texas, Toby Globy, planet-saving mascot of the
City of Laredo Environmental Services Department, is teaching
elementary students across the region how to care for their
environment and protect their only source of drinking water, the Rio
Grande. Through interactive presentations, dramatic play, bilingual
songs and activity-laden educational materials, the program taps into
a child's most critical learning skill: imagination. To date, 13,000
kindergarten through second-grade students in 60 schools across Laredo
have received Toby's message about the importance of litter control,
recycling, water protection and conservation.

Government - University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston

The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) is being recognized for
a multi-faceted resource conservation and recycling program that
touches every aspect of university operations. UTMB initiated an
energy conservation program that reduced usage of water, electricity,
gas and other utilities by 15 percent. Further reductions are
anticipated with the installation of a 200-kW fuel cell. The
university recycles more than 800 tons of paper and cardboard
annually, along with hundreds of tons of metals, chemical solvents,
printer cartridges, kitchen grease, X-ray film, motor oil, tires and
paint.

Large Business/Technical - Cargill Meat Solutions, Friona

At Cargill Meat Solutions, engineers designed and installed an
automated biogas recovery system to recover methane gas from the
facility's anaerobic wastewater treatment lagoons. The system, one of
the first of its kind in Texas, successfully alleviates toxic and
greenhouse emissions and controls odors, while producing 20 percent of
the facility's boiler fuel needs. Operating on a continuous basis, the
system recovers an average of 800,000 cubic feet of biogas per day,
with a monthly gas value of approximately $75,000.

Large Business/Nontechnical - H-E-B, San Antonio

H-E-B is being recognized for its ongoing efforts to conserve
resources and reduce waste through environmental programs supported by
60,000 employees in 300 stores across Texas and Northern Mexico. H-E-B
has converted more than 60 heavy-duty trucks to run on cleaner burning
liquefied natural gas (LNG), saving fuel and reducing noxious
emissions by 40 percent annually. The company recycles everything from
plastic shopping bags and cardboard to aluminum, steel, plastic and
oil, diverting an average of 200,000 tons of materials from landfills
every year. And through educational programs such as "Trees for
Texas," H-E-B is cultivating a whole new generation of environmental
stewards.

Small Business - EnviroGLAS, Plano

EnviroGLAS is being recognized for its efforts to recycle glass into a
new flooring concept that's as striking as it is innovative.
EnviroGLAS Terrazzo, made from an overabundance of crushed glass
aggregate, is now being used in several public and private buildings
across North Texas, including the DFW Airport, a local Starbucks, and
Bukhair Elementary School in the Richardson Independent School
District. Revisiting the centuries-old Italian concept of using marble
scrap to create terrazzo tile, EnviroGLAS has received a U.S. patent
for its product.

Youth - Highland Lakes Elementary School, Granite Shoals

For students at Highland Lakes Elementary School, learning about the
environment is all in a day's work. Through Project LIFE (Leading
Investigators For the Environment), students of all ages worked
together to transform a parched patch of earth into an eight-acre
nature trail and outdoor classroom. The only outdoor environmental
classroom in Marble Falls Independent School District, Project LIFE
has grown over the years into a cross-curricular learning program that
emphasizes critical thinking skills, bringing to life through hands-on
experience principles learned in the classroom.