Mark York
(502) 564-3350

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Nov. 10, 2003)- An Oldham County resident, the former Meade County judge-executive and a Louisville recycling facility received Environmental Excellence Awards last week. The Kentucky Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet (NREPC) presented 19 such honors during the Governor’s Conference on the Environment in Lexington on Oct. 27.

The Louisville area winners were:

• Mark S. Brown, former Meade County judge-executive
• Outer Loop Recycling and Disposal Facility Bioreactor Landfill, Louisville
• Donna Williams, Oldham County

Mark S. Brown won the Environmental Excellence Award for Heritage Land Conservation for helping to protect and preserve Kentucky’s natural landscape and its native flora and fauna. Brown,who served as a state representative for 14 years, sponsored the Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Act, legislation that enabled natural areas to be purchased, saved from development and preserved for future generations. During his time as judge-executive, Brown established a litter control program, completed the requirements for qualifying Meade County as one of the first ‘Certified Clean Counties’ in Kentucky and educates youth by speaking at various Boy Scout and elementary school events about proper waste disposal.

Outer Loop Recycling and Disposal Facility Bioreactor Landfill was honored with the Environmental Excellence Award for Industrial Environmental Leadership. The Bioreactor Landfill is an ongoing research program designed to evaluate new technologies while increasing methane production within the landfill waste mass. Its objectives are to increase methane production for Kentucky’s only landfill gas-to-energy project; eliminate methane emissions to the atmosphere; reuse and recycle leachate; gain disposal space to extend the life span of the landfill; and restore the land to normal use. Several landfill cells have recycled more than one million shredded waste tires to improve leachate, and gas collection and methane gas is being captured and delivered to General Electric’s Appliance Park Facility, replacing conventional fuels to provide steam and heat.

Donna Williams won the Environmental Excellence Award for Environmental Education. Williams, of Bethlehem, Ky., is an administrative secretary for the Oldham County Soil and Water Conservation District. Williams works closely with the county’s teachers, officials and the general public. One of her biggest projects is "Celebration Earth," an environmental educational program for middle school children. Williams gives much of her time to providing and coordinating environmental education issues to the people of Oldham County.

Environmental Excellence Awards are presented annually and nominations are solicited from citizens and businesses across the state.