AAR Awards 2009 Professional Environmental Excellence Award To Paul Kurzanski of CSX Transportation
Washington, D.C. - Oct. 27, 2009 - The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today awarded the 2009 Environmental Excellence Award to CSX Transportation (CSXT) employee Paul Kurzanski.
A 30-year veteran of the railroad industry, Kurzanski currently serves as manager of environmental remediation with CSXT in Jacksonville, Fla. The award was presented at the annual Railroad Environmental Conference at University of Illinois, Urbana.
Railroads have a great environmental story to tell, and it's the efforts of employees like Paul that make it possible, said AAR President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger. His pursuit of excellence and depth of experience has benefited not only his railroad, but also our entire industry through his active participation in our environmental activities over the years.
In his work with CSXT, Kurzanski manages approximately 125 environmental remediation projects annually in six states and two Canadian provinces.
Throughout his career, he has worked closely with communities and regulators to provide amicable solutions to environmental challenges. He was instrumental in developing and implementing CSX's Leased Property Review Program, Lab Management Program and Safety Observation Program.
Kurzanski is a frequent presenter at AAR's Environmental Conference and is also the author of 19 Environmental Management System documents. His work with environmental consultant teams has helped save CSX over $4 million through innovative remedial methods, skillful negotiations, and a focus on project closures. Within the last two years, he has managed and successfully mitigated several significant train derailments that included hazmat releases. Throughout the company, he is known as a go to guy for environmental issues and has received the company's Chairman's Award of Excellence.
Kurzanski was one of six railroad industry professionals nominated for the award. The award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated outstanding performance in environmental awareness and responsibility during the year.
The five other nominees are as follows (alphabetical):
Tami Calderon is environmental coordinator in Amtrak's Mechanical Department in Los Angeles. A 26-year railroader, Tami became environmental coordinator for Amtrak's Los Angeles yard in 2004. The yard showed an immediate improvement in scores registered during environmental audits. In recent years, Tami has focused on emissions and energy conservation at the L.A. Yard, promoting use of electric carts rather than diesel. She has also initiated numerous energy conservation programs, including use of photovoltaic cells on switches, reducing energy costs $3,000 a month, and a retrofit for the pit lights in the Los Angeles Service and Inspection Facility expected to reduce energy costs an additional $23,000 annually. Earlier in her career, she received an Amtrak Presidents Award for Environmental Achievement for implementing a recycling program in the L.A. Yard. Her interest in recycling continues today through a new program to increase recycling on-board Amtrak trains.
Dillon Magers is manager of environmental operations for BNSF Railway in Springfield, Mo. Dillon was first employed by BNSF as a summer intern while still in college and has been employed full-time in railroad environmental programs since graduating sixteen years ago. He is one of only three BNSF environmental employees to obtain his Professional Engineering license and is regarded as a valued resource following derailments, spills, floods, landslides and other disasters. During the catastrophic floods of 2007 and 2008, Dillon ensured that environmental compliance was maintained at a high level, despite spending over 10 weeks in the field managing contractors, sourcing and stockpiling materials, rebuilding grade and placing track panels. He personally oversaw restoration work to public and private properties and utilities impacted by BNSF's recovery efforts in excess of $750,000. He also has been instrumental in the success of BNSF's environmental information management system.
Devin Sprinkle is regional manager in the Environment Department for CN Railway in Homewood, Ill. A 10-year railroad veteran, Devin is the key environmental manager for CN when it comes to secondary response issues, spill assessment and remediation activities. He has responded to, and managed, numerous spills and derailments involving any number of hazardous and non-hazardous commodities on a yearly basis. State and federal authorities have nothing but praise for his thoroughness and concern on limiting impact to the environment. One example of this occurred last year when a methanol spill occurred in Illinois and his management of the response drew praise from government officials and environmental agencies. He is the lead manager with his group when it comes to dealing with all regulatory bodies pertaining to the management of environmental issues.
Pat Student is director-hazardous materials management with Union Pacific Railroad in Omaha. Pat has been in the railroad industry for 34 years and during that time has worked continuously to improve the safety of transporting hazardous materials. In his company, Pat works across departments to deliver the best blend of regulatory, business, and relationship management. He also serves on five industry-wide committees and sub-committees. Pat played a key role in AAR's creation and adoption of a separate STCC series for hazardous materials which allowed the industry to identify hazardous shipments for the first time. He also worked to create the first railroad train-specific computerized emergency response information. These systems are still used today to print appropriate response information on shipping papers for nearly 2 million shipments of hazmat by rail per year. He helped create a manual for crews that specifically laid out risks and response requirements for hazardous materials on their train. Pat was also responsible for developing a new tool that made it possible identify violations of hazmat car placement rules, producing a 98 percent reduction in such violations. He also serves in a leadership role in the Next Generation Rail Tank Car Project, which works with Dow Chemical and Union Tank Car to design a car that improves shipment survivability.
LeeAnn Thomas is manager, U.S. environmental accrual, with Canadian Pacific Railway's U.S. subsidiary, the Soo Line in Minneapolis. LeeAnn has been involved with the environment for 25 years, the last 14 with the railroad industry. She began her railroad career charged with implementing CP's Environmental Accrual Program which evaluates historic contamination sites on the railroad's U.S. properties. As part of this, she developed an electronic program, which allows for immediate updating, accessing, reviewing and sharing of data on a real-time basis. The process has been updated over the years and is moving to a web based system to allow greater access. She also has consolidated environmental financial reports, so that environmental site financial issues are identified before they become large problems. She worked with her Canadian counterparts on the development and implementation of a risk scorecard that annually evaluates the progress of the historical environmental cleanup program. LeeAnn has been working with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency on a Brownfield Programs Assessment, and has been an active participant in the Minnesota Groundwater Association for 25 years.
A 30-year veteran of the railroad industry, Kurzanski currently serves as manager of environmental remediation with CSXT in Jacksonville, Fla. The award was presented at the annual Railroad Environmental Conference at University of Illinois, Urbana.
Railroads have a great environmental story to tell, and it's the efforts of employees like Paul that make it possible, said AAR President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger. His pursuit of excellence and depth of experience has benefited not only his railroad, but also our entire industry through his active participation in our environmental activities over the years.
In his work with CSXT, Kurzanski manages approximately 125 environmental remediation projects annually in six states and two Canadian provinces.
Throughout his career, he has worked closely with communities and regulators to provide amicable solutions to environmental challenges. He was instrumental in developing and implementing CSX's Leased Property Review Program, Lab Management Program and Safety Observation Program.
Kurzanski is a frequent presenter at AAR's Environmental Conference and is also the author of 19 Environmental Management System documents. His work with environmental consultant teams has helped save CSX over $4 million through innovative remedial methods, skillful negotiations, and a focus on project closures. Within the last two years, he has managed and successfully mitigated several significant train derailments that included hazmat releases. Throughout the company, he is known as a go to guy for environmental issues and has received the company's Chairman's Award of Excellence.
Kurzanski was one of six railroad industry professionals nominated for the award. The award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated outstanding performance in environmental awareness and responsibility during the year.
The five other nominees are as follows (alphabetical):
Tami Calderon is environmental coordinator in Amtrak's Mechanical Department in Los Angeles. A 26-year railroader, Tami became environmental coordinator for Amtrak's Los Angeles yard in 2004. The yard showed an immediate improvement in scores registered during environmental audits. In recent years, Tami has focused on emissions and energy conservation at the L.A. Yard, promoting use of electric carts rather than diesel. She has also initiated numerous energy conservation programs, including use of photovoltaic cells on switches, reducing energy costs $3,000 a month, and a retrofit for the pit lights in the Los Angeles Service and Inspection Facility expected to reduce energy costs an additional $23,000 annually. Earlier in her career, she received an Amtrak Presidents Award for Environmental Achievement for implementing a recycling program in the L.A. Yard. Her interest in recycling continues today through a new program to increase recycling on-board Amtrak trains.
Dillon Magers is manager of environmental operations for BNSF Railway in Springfield, Mo. Dillon was first employed by BNSF as a summer intern while still in college and has been employed full-time in railroad environmental programs since graduating sixteen years ago. He is one of only three BNSF environmental employees to obtain his Professional Engineering license and is regarded as a valued resource following derailments, spills, floods, landslides and other disasters. During the catastrophic floods of 2007 and 2008, Dillon ensured that environmental compliance was maintained at a high level, despite spending over 10 weeks in the field managing contractors, sourcing and stockpiling materials, rebuilding grade and placing track panels. He personally oversaw restoration work to public and private properties and utilities impacted by BNSF's recovery efforts in excess of $750,000. He also has been instrumental in the success of BNSF's environmental information management system.
Devin Sprinkle is regional manager in the Environment Department for CN Railway in Homewood, Ill. A 10-year railroad veteran, Devin is the key environmental manager for CN when it comes to secondary response issues, spill assessment and remediation activities. He has responded to, and managed, numerous spills and derailments involving any number of hazardous and non-hazardous commodities on a yearly basis. State and federal authorities have nothing but praise for his thoroughness and concern on limiting impact to the environment. One example of this occurred last year when a methanol spill occurred in Illinois and his management of the response drew praise from government officials and environmental agencies. He is the lead manager with his group when it comes to dealing with all regulatory bodies pertaining to the management of environmental issues.
Pat Student is director-hazardous materials management with Union Pacific Railroad in Omaha. Pat has been in the railroad industry for 34 years and during that time has worked continuously to improve the safety of transporting hazardous materials. In his company, Pat works across departments to deliver the best blend of regulatory, business, and relationship management. He also serves on five industry-wide committees and sub-committees. Pat played a key role in AAR's creation and adoption of a separate STCC series for hazardous materials which allowed the industry to identify hazardous shipments for the first time. He also worked to create the first railroad train-specific computerized emergency response information. These systems are still used today to print appropriate response information on shipping papers for nearly 2 million shipments of hazmat by rail per year. He helped create a manual for crews that specifically laid out risks and response requirements for hazardous materials on their train. Pat was also responsible for developing a new tool that made it possible identify violations of hazmat car placement rules, producing a 98 percent reduction in such violations. He also serves in a leadership role in the Next Generation Rail Tank Car Project, which works with Dow Chemical and Union Tank Car to design a car that improves shipment survivability.
LeeAnn Thomas is manager, U.S. environmental accrual, with Canadian Pacific Railway's U.S. subsidiary, the Soo Line in Minneapolis. LeeAnn has been involved with the environment for 25 years, the last 14 with the railroad industry. She began her railroad career charged with implementing CP's Environmental Accrual Program which evaluates historic contamination sites on the railroad's U.S. properties. As part of this, she developed an electronic program, which allows for immediate updating, accessing, reviewing and sharing of data on a real-time basis. The process has been updated over the years and is moving to a web based system to allow greater access. She also has consolidated environmental financial reports, so that environmental site financial issues are identified before they become large problems. She worked with her Canadian counterparts on the development and implementation of a risk scorecard that annually evaluates the progress of the historical environmental cleanup program. LeeAnn has been working with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency on a Brownfield Programs Assessment, and has been an active participant in the Minnesota Groundwater Association for 25 years.