NEWARK, N.J., March 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today recognized PSE&G
for its extraordinary efforts to recycle hazardous lead-clad cable
and remove more than 1.3 million pounds of lead from the
environment. This is the second time that PSE&G has won one of
the EPA's National Partnership for Environmental Priorities (NPEP)
awards, a result of setting and exceeding voluntary goals.
"We are proud to once again be recognized by the federal
government for work to recycle and reuse," said Eric Svenson, PSEG's vice president for policy
and environment, health and safety. "We've long been committed to
sustainability, and this award is validation of our leadership in
that area."
PSE&G exceeded its most recent NPEP goal by removing over
1.3 million pounds of lead contained within paper insulated lead
cable (PILC) and replacing it with lead-free ethylene propylene
rubber (EPR) cable. PILC is proactively removed after system
failures, other maintenance activities, or during infrastructure
upgrades, which helps ensure the aging cable system does not impact
continued high system reliability. The lead was sent to a scrap
metal recycling facility and then to a smelter for reuse as raw
material.
PSE&G worked with vendors to establish a new method of
calculating and tracking the amount of lead removed and recycled
from its cable. The PILC replacement process has become standard
practice for the utility.
PSEG has invested approximately $100
million in 30MW of solar in 3 large-scale projects in FL, OH
and NJ. The company is also developing a 350-MW wind farm off the
coast of southern New Jersey and
investing in compressed air energy storage through a partnership
with Energy Storage & Power (ES&P).
In addition, PSE&G, the company's regulated electric and gas
utility, has two solar initiatives, including a $105 million solar loan program and another
called Solar4All- an 80 MW program that involves attaching
grid-connected solar panels to 200,000 utility poles in
neighborhoods across New
Jersey.
The NPEP is an EPA program focused on reducing the use of
potentially hazardous chemicals from products and processes. By
partnering with the EPA, NPEP partners from industry, business and
municipalities are recycling and reducing the use of toxic
chemicals. NPEP strives to improve chemical management to reduce
the potential release of chemicals that could affect human and
environmental health. NPEP is part of the EPA's Resource
Conservation Challenge (RCC), a national effort to conserve natural
resources and energy by managing materials more efficiently.
PSEG aims to be recognized for its leadership in providing safe,
reliable, economic and green energy. The company was recently named
to the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index (DJSI North
America) for the second year in a row.
Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) is
New Jersey's oldest and largest
regulated gas and electric delivery utility, serving nearly
three-quarters of the state's population. PSE&G is the
winner of the ReliabilityOne Award for superior electric system
reliability. PSE&G is a subsidiary of Public Service
Enterprise Group Incorporated (PSEG) (NYSE:PEG), a diversified
energy company (www.pseg.com).
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SOURCE Public Service Electric & Gas Company (PSE&G)