TCEQ announces Texas Environmental Excellence Award winners
March 21, 2023 - Winners to be recognized at a banquet in May
Phone: 512-239-5000
After Hrs: 512-239-5000
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is pleased to announce the 2023 Governor’s Texas Environmental Excellence Award winners.
This year’s winners include an educator working from a floating classroom that has educated more than 52,000 individuals about how to protect and improve the continuum of ecosystems. Another winner has spent more than a decade restoring a former dairy farm back to its natural Blackland Prairie.
Additionally, other winners include a youth who has created a conservation group called “Sustainability” as a way to engage and educate youth about litter and how it impacts waterways; to a nature center designed to introduce students and families to the flora and fauna of the Lower Rio Grande Valley; and a company who relocated its main office to Texas as the state’s first LEED Certified version 4 Platinum building.
TCEQ applauds the creativity and resourcefulness of this year’s complete list of TEEA winners and finalists:
Civic/Community:
WINNER
City of Plano, Plano — Live Green Plano: Environmental Education & Community Outreach Program
FINALISTS
Texas Conservation Fund/Houston-Galveston Area Council, Houston — River, Lakes, Bay ‘N Bayous Trash Bash
Turn Compost LLC, Garland — Community Compost Subscription
Education:
WINNER
Lower Rio Grande Valley Nature Center, Weslaco — Lower Rio Grande Valley Nature Center
FINALISTS
Clean Air Force of Central Texas, Austin — Be Air Smart School Sensor Program
CEMEX Construction Materials South, LLC, New Braunfels — CEMEX Commitment to Education
Environmental Educator of the Year:
WINNER
Whitney Curry, Captain, Educator, & Executive Director, Corpus Christi — Texas Floating Classroom
FINALISTS
Adrienne Paquette, Conservation Educator, Junior Master Naturalist Founder/Chair, The Woodlands — Heartwood Chapter Texas Master Naturalist
Sandra Johnson, Ph.D., Educational Consultant, Sanger — Johnson Consulting Service
Innovative Operations/Management:
WINNER
Ascension, Austin — Environmental Impact and Sustainability
FINALISTS
City of Frisco, Frisco — Creating a Creek Assessment Management System
City of Abilene Stormwater Services, Abilene — Integrated Street Sweeping Program with Curb and Gutter Maintenance through Herbicide Spraying Treatment
Individual:
WINNER
Robert Mione, Allen — Connemara Nature Preserve
Technical/Technology:
WINNER
Texas A&M Agrilife Research, Blackland Research and Extension Center, USDA-ARS Grassland Soil and Water Research Lab, and USDA-NRCS Conservation Effects Assessment Project, Temple — Implementation of the Soil and Eater Assessment Tool and Hydrologic and Water Quality System in Texas
FINALIST
City of Lewisville, Lewisville — Lead Services
Pollution Prevention:
WINNER
Grundfos, Brookshire — Working Sustainably at the New Grundfos U.S. Main Office and Global Headquarters for Water Utility
FINALIST
Keep Pearland Beautiful, Pearland — Stella Roberts Recycling Center
Water Conservation:
WINNER
L3Harris Technologies, Greenville — Chemical Processing Wastewater Reduction
FINALISTS
Tarrant Regional Water District, Fort Worth — Learn and Grow Program
Tyson Farms, Inc., Seguin — AWS
Youth:
WINNER
Daniel Thomas, Colleyville — Sustainability
Celebrating its 30th year, the Texas Environmental Excellence Awards is an annual awards program that recognizes environmental preservation and protection achievements. Since 1993, the program has honored more than 250 successful environmental projects and activities. Through the TEEA, TCEQ hopes to encourage others to initiate like-minded projects and reinforce a spirit of environmental stewardship.