Hill Environmental Team recognized as best in DOD

  • Published
  • By Barbara Fisher
  • 75 Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah --  A team of environmental specialists here has been named the best Environmental Quality Team in the Department of Defense.
 
The 21-member group, part of the 75th Civil Engineer Group Environmental Division, includes biologists, an archaeologist, several engineers and other managers who oversee Hill AFB's natural, cultural and environmental compliance programs.

Representing the Air Force, the Hill AFB team was selected by a panel of judges from both the government and private sectors over entries from the Army, Navy and Marine Corps in the 2007 Secretary of Defense Environmental Awards competition.

"The success of our program depends on the environmental consciousness and ethic of many, many individuals - from our leadership, to the people on the front lines in our production areas," said Bob James, the Hill AFB Environmental Quality Team's division chief. "This year everyone's efforts were recognized. We're proud to receive this award on behalf of the entire Hill AFB community."

The Hill AFB Environmental Quality Team is responsible for overseeing all Hill AFB environmental programs and those at the Utah Test and Training Range, the nation's only permitted site for demilitarization, by detonation and burning, of explosives greater than 10,000 pounds. The team also oversees environmental efforts at the Little Mountain Test Annex, a 740-acre secure Air Force facility on the west end of 12th Street in Ogden.

For the 2007 award, the environmental team was recognized for:

- Reducing hazardous waste costs by more than $440,000 annually

- Establishing a new recycling program for scrap metals and other materials that made $43,000

- Demilitarizing more than 1 million pounds of stockpile missile motor propellant, burning 680 tons of NASA Titan propellant, and successfully transporting and detonating the first 81,000 pound, first-stage Trident missile motor for the Navy

- Helping transform more than 1 million pounds of spent abrasive blast media into construction blocks

- Producing 24.8 million pounds of scrap metal from bombs and targets, avoiding $5.84 million in disposal costs

- Making drastic facility and operational improvements to reduce by 95 percent the amount of storm water going into the industrial waste water treatment plant, thus decreasing treatment costs

- Training more than 13,500 employees on environmental topics

- Managing 317 archeological sites and 364 historical buildings and consulting regularly with 19 local American Indian tribes

- Processing more than 4,000 National Environmental Policy Act documents

- Being named a Tree City USA for the 14th year in a row

Two agencies the Hill group works with daily on environmental issues -- the Utah Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency - congratulated the Hill team on receiving the award.

"Utah is clean because of Hill AFB's outstanding work to set and achieve worthy environmental goals," said Rick Sprott, executive director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality. "Their innovative action and professionalism has improved the quality of life for many Utahans living, working and recreating near the base. Their commitment to protecting human health and the environment is impressive and serves as a model for others to follow. As one of their partners, DEQ is pleased with their work and supports their continued efforts."

"Hill Air Force Base has an excellent record working with both EPA and the State of Utah to quickly deal with environmental problems and to prevent their recurrence," said Robbie Roberts, administrator of EPA Region 8. "As one of the largest and most complex industrial activities in the state, its environmental record is clearly superior."