JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Corp. will celebrate Earth Day 2009 at its headquarters and across its rail system with tree plantings, cleanups and educational events that increase environmental awareness and improve the environment.
“While CSX and its 30,000 employees respect the environment every day, Earth Day offers us an annual opportunity to acknowledge our accomplishments, learn something new and renew our commitment to continually increasing our role and responsibility as an environmental steward,” said Skip Elliott, CSX vice president for public safety and environment.
CSX’s Earth Day programs emphasize the environmental stewardship that is consistently practiced and recognized at CSX.
The railroad will kick off the celebration on April 18 by continuing its fifteen-year sponsorship of and participation in the 2009 Earth Day & Ecology Fair in Jacksonville, Florida, its headquarters city.
Next week, employees in Waycross, Ga.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Cincinnati and Cleveland, Ohio; Selkirk, N.Y.; and Nashville, Tenn. will spend a day at their facilities planting trees, cleaning up nearby debris and celebrating the importance of environmental stewardship.
The railroad will also recognize other companies that demonstrate environmental leadership. On April 23, CSX will present its first annual Environmental Awards to customers who have reduced their carbon emissions, alleviated traffic on highways and conserved fossil fuels by shipping freight with CSX.
In addition to the work being done along the network, CSX will sponsor three concurrent lunchtime presentations at its headquarters on native gardening; the work of the St. Johns Riverkeeper, a private, non-profit organization sponsored in part by the railroad; and the City of Jacksonville’s sustainability program.
CSX will cap its Earth Day celebrations with a City Year Service Day in Worcester, Massachusetts on April 25. CSX and City Year will help the City of Worcester kick off a tree planting campaign that will provide long-lasting enjoyment and environmental benefits to the community.
Beyond these annual Earth Day events, CSX’s environmental stewardship and leadership extend across virtually all of its operations.
CSX was the first railroad to join the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Climate Leaders Program, working closely with the agency to annually inventory and publicly report its greenhouse gas emissions and future emissions reduction plans. CSX was also the charter railroad member of EPA’s SmartWay Transport Partnership, which promotes voluntary reductions in fuel consumption and emissions. In 2007, EPA presented CSX with its SmartWay Excellence Award, which recognizes freight carriers that have made significant contributions to protecting the environment.
Since 2000, CSX has invested more than $1 billion to purchase new Tier I and II clean air locomotives, and has upgraded another 1,200 locomotives to further reduce emissions and fuel consumption. Additionally, CSX has entered into innovative public-private partnerships to fund deployment of new GenSet locomotives that dramatically reduce emissions and meet stringent noise level requirements. These actions have helped CSX reduce carbon production by more than 80 percent since 1980.
CSX also has a comprehensive recycling program, reclaiming old equipment and rail for steel content, reusing cross ties as landscape timber, and repurposing a portion of locomotive lube oil for use as an alternative fuel source.
— PRNewswire-FirstCall
