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11/3/2022
The Association of American Railroads yesterday awarded its 2022 Environmental Excellence Award to BNSF Railway Co. Assistant Director of Advanced Energy Innovation James Taylor.
The rail industry’s highest honor for environmental professionals, the award recognizes Taylor for constantly engaging employees — especially in the field — to develop and deploy cutting-edge solutions that help BNSF more effectively and efficiently meet its operational needs, AAR officials said in a press release. His efforts also have helped advance sustainability.
“[Taylor’s] unique skillset allows him to communicate the benefits to a wide-ranging group of stakeholders across BNSF operations,” AAR officials said.
Taylor is actively involved in the design planning and execution phases of the programs he leads, including the first-ever deployment of a high-horsepower, zero-emission battery-electric locomotive in revenue service in North America, they said.
Moreover, his team was responsible for the full conversion of the yard hostler fleet in Stockton, California, to zero-emission, battery-electric vehicles; the installation and testing of lithium-ion locomotive starter batteries designed to reduce idling and decrease fuel consumption; the launch of an electric on-road, light-duty vehicle fleet; and the installation of more efficient LED yard lighting at more than 30 facilities.
These six other railroad environmental professionals were nominated for the 2022 award: Nick Pryor, environmental project manager for Kansas City Southern; Michael Linder, western regional manager of field operations for CN; Mike Mendoza, senior engineer-environmental for CSX; Troy Carpenter, regional manager of environmental operations for Norfolk Southern Railway; Dina Ledbetter, senior environmental specialist for Amtrak; and Kevin Peterburs, senior manage of site remediation for Union Pacific Railroad.