ESI Steward Level



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Partner Rising Steward Steward

Criteria

To become an Environmental Steward, the applicant must for each site meet the following criteria:

Not be under any environmental criminal indictment or conviction. DENR's Internal Workgroup reviews and retains the right to reject an applicant following a compliance review. Applicants will submit information on any environmental violations or reportable non-compliance for review on a case-by-case basis by the Advisory Board and DENR's Internal Workgroup. The Advisory Board will use the program's significant violations definition as a guideline.
Demonstrate commitment to meet and go beyond compliance.
Set site specific aggressive environmental performance goals that must be adopted into the framework of the environmental management system, include pollution prevention or process efficiency improvement activities and demonstrate a commitment to go beyond compliance. Goals should demonstrate annual improvements to performance, be appropriate to the nature, scale and environmental impact of the organization and result in reductions of an organization’s environmental impact.
Demonstrate a mature certified ISO14001 EMS or ESI Stewardship Plan. Organizations that do not have a certified ISO14001 EMS must be a member of the ESI at the Partner level and have an approved ESI Stewardship Plan prior to the opening of the ESI annual application period. DENR will provide or approve a verification team to determine if the applicant meets all the requirements identified on the ESI Stewardship Plan Checklist.
Agree to report annually on progress toward the organization's environmental performance goals, reductions in environmental emissions or discharges of releases, solid and hazardous waste disposal, use of energy and water and any reportable non-compliance events.
Agree to be a mentor to Environmental Partner and Rising Environmental Steward participants.
Have a process for communication with the local community on program activities and progress toward performance goals.
Demonstrate how the EMS or ESI Stewardship Plan is integrated into core business functions.

Benefits

Environmental Stewards will be eligible for all benefits available to Partners and Rising Stewards in addition to the following:

Formal public recognition from the governor and the Secretary of DENR that may include an award ceremony, public announcements and press releases;
Participation in the Environmental Stewardship Forum chaired by the Secretary and including key department policy makers;
Priority membership on the Advisory Board;
Use of a Steward program logo;
Established time frames for permit decisions. This does not change existing public comment opportunities;
Consideration for regulatory innovations as discussed below;
Other benefits as deemed appropriate by the Secretary based on recommendations from the Advisory Board.

Environmental Stewards who have been in the program for at least one year can seek support from DENR to implement regulatory innovations that follow principles outlined in the Joint EPA/State Agreement to Pursue Regulatory Innovation. Participants requesting approval of regulatory innovations may be required to have applicable permits in place. The department will work with stakeholders, the applicant and appropriate commissions to establish specific regulatory innovations requested by the applicant appropriate to the magnitude of environmental performance goals. DENR will provide assistance in seeking EPA support for regulatory innovations of delegated state or federally administered programs.

Members

Apply to the ESI program!