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EPA Invites Environmentally-Responsible Companies to Step Up to the Plate; Agency to Hold Half-Day Workshop for Potential Environmental Performance Track Members

Release Date: 05/29/2002
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(#02051) San Juan, Puerto Rico – EPA Region 2 is inviting Puerto Rico based businesses and facilities that have an exemplary environmental record to join EPA’s National Environmental Performance Track Program. EPA is holding a half-day workshop on May 31 in San Juan for companies interested in joining. I will give them the opportunity to speak with current Performance Track members and EPA representatives and to learn how they can help shape the future of the program. “These are companies that have consistently done better than what is required of them by environmental regulations,” said Jane Kenny, EPA Region 2 Administrator. “By voluntarily entering the Performance Track program, they commit to take their environmental performance to the next level, to become environmental leaders in the business world.” Facilities accepted into the Performance Track program must have a history of sustained compliance with federal and state environmental requirements; have adopted and implemented an Environmental Management System (EMS), an organization's systematic effort to meet its environmental requirements and improve its overall performance; demonstrate at least two past environmental achievements and commit to four future improvements; and must have established a public outreach program with a commitment to public performance reporting. Performance Track’s current member facilities – 280 from across the country-- represent small businesses and large companies from the chemical, electronic, automotive, dry cleaning and pharmaceutical industries, among others. Facilities that join Performance Track benefit by getting deemed a low priority for inspection targeting, although they are not exempt from inspections. EPA will also consider, as a discretionary factor in the assessment of penalties for violations, a facility's participation in the program as an indication of its good faith efforts to comply. Facilities are listed on the Performance Track Web site and other EPA sites, and included in promotional materials related to partnership programs, in feature articles and in case studies that profile accomplishments. There are now a total of 38 Region 2 facilities in Performance Track – 15 in New Jersey, 13 in New York and 10 in Puerto Rico. The current application period is August 1 - October 31, 2002. The Workshop is being held on May 31, 2002 from 1:15 pm to 4:00 pm at Johnson& Johnson’s Ethicon, LLC, 183 Road, Kilometer 8.3, San Lorenzo Industrial Park, San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico. To find out more or to sign up for the workshop, call (787) 977-5836 and ask for Rafael Mayoral, Public Affairs Specialist. For additional program information, including a complete listing of facilities in Performance Track go to https://www.epa.gov/performancetrack.