BNSF Railway Employee Wins Top Environmental Award
Lyle W. Staley of Topeka, Kansas, manager of environmental program development for BNSF Railway, won this year's North American Environmental Employee Excellence Award on Nov. 5 during an annual railroad industry environmental conference held at the University of Illinois in Champaign.
"Railroads are the greenest of the surface transportation modes," said Association of American Railroads President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger. "Partly it is because of the inherent efficiency of the steel wheel on steel rail, which last year allowed railroads to move each ton of freight an average of 436 miles per gallon of diesel fuel. Since 1980, we have improved our fuel efficiency by 85 percent, reducing fuel consumption by 45 billion gallons and carbon dioxide emissions by 500 million tons. But even more importantly, our industry has countless dedicated employees like Lyle Staley who are passionate about protecting and enhancing the environment. They are our industry's ultimate environmental advantage."
A 39-year railroad veteran, Staley was instrumental in leading certification of BNSF's Responsible Care Management System with a team leadership approach that resulted in estimated savings of $670,000. He also developed a database approach for estimating locomotive emissions that is used to meet government requirements.
Others nominated for the award were John C. Calhoun, an environmental engineer with CSX Transportation in Jacksonville, Fla.; Stella Karnis, corporate manager for site assessments with CN Railway in Montreal; James A. Levy, program manager, site remediation for Union Pacific in Roseville, Calif.; Camille Ross, senior environmental health & safety coordinator for Amtrak in Washington, D.C.; and Paul B. Williams, assistant manger-hazmat and environmental for Norfolk Southern Railway in Roanoke. Va.