Dallas First Major City to Join National Environmental Performance Track

The city of Dallas is the first major city to set goals to go above and beyond environmental requirements as part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Environmental Performance Track. Dallas joins the Performance Track program with 42 other new members that include facilities from across the country.

“Performance Track members are raising the bar when it comes to environmental stewardship,” said EPA Regional Administrator Richard E. Greene. “By setting high goals that go beyond compliance with regulations, members are delivering real results that will preserve and protect our natural resources.”

Dallas, for example, the first large city government to become a member of the program, intends to reduce water use at all city sites by 5 percent over a three-year period, a reduction of 49 million gallons of water used.

Other new Performance Track members from Texas include Dyess Air Force Base, Abilene; Goss International Americas Inc., Ft. Worth; Rio Grande Village Store & RV Park, Big Bend National Park; Rough Canyon Marina LLC, Del Rio; and Southfork Ranch, Parker.

Both public and private individual facilities may apply for Performance Track membership, with some companies having multiple facilities in the program. Performance Track members represent a wide range of industries, including government, electronics, chemical products, pharmaceuticals and rubber and plastics.

This latest group of Performance Track members was accepted from applications submitted in spring 2008. To earn membership, applicants must demonstrate and commit to maintaining a strong record of environmental compliance, set three-year goals for continuous improvements in environmental performance beyond legal requirements, have internal systems in place to manage environmental impacts, engage in community outreach and consistently report results.

Since the launch of the program in 2000, Performance Track members have set more than 4,000 goals to benefit the environment. As a result, they have reported greenhouse gas reductions of 310,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, reductions in nitrogen oxides of 13,000 tons and reductions of hazardous waste of 52,000 tons.

For more information on the Performance Track program and its new members, visit http://epa.gov/performancetrack/.

Source: U.S. EPA