The Berkley Group participated in DEQ’s Piedmont Region VEEP workshop and helped to provide breakfast and lunch to attendees at their Valley Region VEEP workshop late last year. The workshops provided education on the VEEP program, success stories, and lessons learned as well as created a peer network for discussing the program in the future.
The Virginia Environmental Excellence Program (VEEP) was authorized by the Virginia General Assembly in 2005 to encourage facilities and organizations to go above and beyond their legal requirements with regard to the environment and pollution.
The facility-based track encourages the use of environmental management systems (EMS) based on the principles of ISO 14001 and pollution prevention techniques. This track includes three levels:
Environmental Enterprise (E2) is for facilities in the early stages of implementing an EMS.
Exemplary Environmental Enterprise (E3) is for facilities with fully-implemented EMSs, pollution prevention programs and demonstrated environmental performance.
Extraordinary Environmental Enterprise (E4) is for facilities with both fully-implemented EMSs (verified by a third party) that have committed to measures for continuous and sustainable environmental progress and community involvement.
The Sustainability Partners (SP) track encourages organizations such as businesses, local governments, universities and state agencies to make environmental sustainability part of their culture through leadership, innovation, and continual improvement.
The benefits of participating in the program include:
Formal recognition of accomplishments and achievements
Regulatory incentives
Discounts on permit fees for E2-E4 facilities
Consideration of alternative compliance methods to state regulations for E3 and E4 facilities
Congratulations to the municipalities recognized for environmental excellence in the program! Any facility that impacts the environment through its operations, activities, processes, location, or other parameter is eligible to participate in the program. Many of the municipal facilities are water or wastewater treatment plants, landfills, and schools.
You can read more about the program in the Virginia Water Environment Association’s winter 2018 edition of the Conduit magazine on page 37 or at DEQ’s website.
If you’d like to discuss avenues for environmental excellence or need assistance engaging your citizens in your success stories, please give us a call!