Community Partnership Report - Caring for Our Environment
- Trees for Tucson
- Recycling
- Raptor Protection Program
- Habitat for Owls
- Travel Reduction Program & Fleet Services
Like many of you, TEP is heavily invested in efforts to protect the Sonoran Desert. Our contributions to environmental organizations and educational programs have totaled more than $800,000 in the last five years alone. TEP continues to work with government agencies on environmentally conscious projects – from burrowing owl habitat at the Power Plant to preventing fire danger with Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Trees for Tucson
More than 57,500 trees have been planted throughout the metro area thanks to TEP’s support for Trees for Tucson, a year-round program that allows residents in TEP’s service area to purchase up to two drought-resistant, five-gallon trees for just $8 each.
The trees provide shade that can help reduce energy consumption in homes and businesses. They also make Tucson a more beautiful place while absorbing carbon dioxide, providing habitat for wildlife and reducing soil erosion from storm water runoff and wind.
TEP’s commitment to making Tucson greener reached another milestone on Oct. 27, 2007, when more than 680 volunteers joined TEP to plant "1,000 Trees for Tucson." The event, part of National Make A Difference Day, helped promote volunteer partnerships with local businesses and government entities. Trees were planted in parks, neighborhoods, schools and at the offices of charitable, nonprofit organizations. Organized by TEP, the event raised more than $40,000 to pay for the trees as well as site inspections and irrigation to ensure that the volunteer planting efforts of hundreds would benefit Tucson for years to come.
TEP continued the tree-planting tradition in October 2008 during a city-wide volunteer event. In addition to painting recycling barrels and recycling electronics, volunteers planted 300 trees at Tucson-area parks.
Recycling
TEP is committed to reducing waste through innovative recycling efforts.
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Tree limbs and brush trimmed from around utility poles and power lines are used to make high-quality fertilizer instead of being discarded in landfills. A large-capacity mulching operation and nursery at TEP’s H. Wilson Sundt Generating Station also recycles wood waste from commercial landscaping operations in Tucson and will accept other wooden waste products.
The operation, a partnership with Civano Nursery, produces about 16,000 cubic yards of compost each year. The compost yard also serves as a temporary home for trees that have been salvaged from construction sites. TEP provides the nursery with land, electricity, run-off water from the power plant and more than 400 tons of green waste that are removed annually from power line corridors. In 2008, TEP's efforts helped prevent more than 15 tons of greenwaste from being disposed of in a landfill. We’ve also designed other recycling efforts around materials used in the electric utility business:
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 Compost, laid out in long rows, is turned about once a week to encourage decomposition. The nursery produces about 500 cubic yards of compost each week for eight months each year. |
Civano Nursery owner Wes Shipley inspects a large pile of ground tree limbs at the Civano Nursery’s compost yard at the TEP Irvington Campus. |
Raptor Protection Program
TEP has worked with the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the University of Arizona for the past decade to protect raptors from fatal encounters with electrical equipment. Our program utilizes what are now considered “best practices” for utilities, and it has been referenced in numerous scientific articles.
The nesting and hunting habits of Harris Hawks expose them to greater risk of electrocution than other raptors. To reduce that risk, TEP relies on study data, community support, customer communication and field work from TEP employees to identify and install safeguards on utility poles within 300 feet of an active Harris Hawk nests.
TEP typically spends between $100,000 and $200,000 every year on these efforts. Additional measures taken in 2004 boosted that year’s raptor protection spending to $458,000.
These two ravens built a nest precariously atop TEP equipment. Dangerous nesting sites are identified and mitigated through the company’s Raptor Protection program.
Habitat for Owls
The H. Wilson Sundt Generating Station not only provides power to Tucson residents, it’s also home to burrowing owls. Since 2005, TEP has worked Arizona Game & Fish to provide new habitat near the power plant for owls displaced by development in other areas. TEP volunteers built burrows for 60 pairs of owls.
Burrowing owls (right) have made themselves at home in the underground shelters (left) built by TEP volunteers.
Travel Reduction Program
TEP encourages employees to take advantage of alternative modes of transportation.
Many TEP employees ride a bicycle to work, take the bus, work at home or take advantage of a compressed work week, all of which reduce the need to drive into the office. TEP covers the cost of bus fare for any employees who would like to commute to work by bus.
In a 2007 Pima Association of Governments survey, 279 TEP employees reported using alternative modes of transportation for work. That saved them 618,368 miles of driving, 30,918 gallons of gas, 17,887 pounds of pollution and a total of $299,908 in commuting-related costs.
Fleet Services
TEP’s fleet of more than 200 diesel-fueled vehicles runs on bio-diesel, a non-toxic, environmentally friendly fuel produced from soybeans. In 2008, TEP purchased 152,666 gallons of 80/20-blended bio-diesel, greatly reducing vehicle emissions. TEP's lighter-duty fleet of more than 280 vehicles, including small pick-ups, SUVs and vans, includes six hybrid vehicles and 99 flex-fuel vehicles, which can run on a blend of up to 85 percent ethanol.
