TCEQ hosts Trade Fair and honors Environmental Excellence Awards winners at banquet

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality welcomed back more than 4,000 registrants to its Environmental Trade Fair and Conference at the Austin Convention Center, May 14-15, 2024.

Agency staff led more than 100 courses and discussions, in 14 different educational tracks, over the two days with topics including air and water permitting, oil and gas, industrial and solid waste management, compliance and enforcement, and remediation programs. The exhibit hall featured more than 300 exhibitors, TCEQ's Mobile Command Unit, and the Take Care of Texas program.

This year's culminating event honored the Governor's Texas Environmental Excellence Award winners at a banquet on the evening of May 15, 2024. This annual awards program recognizes achievements in environmental preservation and protection. Celebrating its 31st year, the program has honored more than 250 successful environmental projects and activities. TCEQ hopes to encourage others to initiate like-minded projects and reinforce a spirit of environmental stewardship.

This year's winners include a port that has reduced its diesel-powered cargo-handling equipment emissions by 90%, a community organization that has collected over 25,000 tires for recycling and reuse, and a river authority that established a digital representation of water plant operations to inform real-time decision-making.

This year's Educator of the Year initiated a Wildlife Management course focused on advanced environmental stewardship that teaches the needs and values for productive and healthy ecosystems.

Those honored included:

Civic/Community:

WINNER

Keep San Angelo Beautiful, San Angelo - Tires-To-Go

Pollution Prevention:

WINNER

Port Houston, Houston - Port Houston's Carbon Neutrality, Electrification, and Sustainability Work

Education:

WINNER

Keep Irving Beautiful, Irving -Environmental Education

Youth:

WINNER

Ella Elkins, San Angelo - Plastic Recycling Project

Technical/Technology:

WINNER

Trinity River Authority of Texas- Digital Twin Technology

Innovative Operations/Management:

WINNER

Parkland Health, Dallas - Holistic Energy Management Framework

Water Conservation:

WINNER

Tarrant Regional Water District, Fort Worth - Learn and Grow Program

Individual:

WINNER

Don and Penny Johnson, Missouri City - Lifetime Environmental Education Efforts

Environmental Educator of the Year:

WINNER

Venessa Wallace, Peet Junior High, Conroe - Wildlife Management Teacher

Winners from the Take Care of Texas' Art and Video contests were also honored at this year's banquet and awarded prizes from the Texas Chemistry Council and Waste Management.

Information about the TEEA categories and videos highlighting this year's winners can be found on the TEEA webpage. Information on how to apply for a future TEEA is also available.

Next year's Environmental Trade Fair and Conference will be June 3-4, 2025, at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, TX.

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