ALBANY – New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis Tuesday announced an initiative that will help and encourage businesses to excel when it comes to environmental standards and practices. The "New York Environmental Leaders" (NYEL) program will assist businesses and organizations in developing and implementing new operating practices and will recognize their successes. Enrollment in this voluntary program is open until Oct. 31.

NYEL provides recognition and incentives to New York State companies and organizations that can demonstrate the use of sustainable business practices or pollution-prevention practices that exceed merely complying with environmental laws. The program is open to wide array of organizations including businesses - especially manufacturers - as well as organizations such as schools, hospitals, and local governments.

NYEL members will be rewarded with an invitation to apply for a summer intern to help out with an environmental project that goes beyond regulatory compliance. The interns are made available through the DEC's Pollution Prevention Internship Program, which matches dynamic college engineering and science majors with leading New York businesses.

In addition, NYEL members have access to a specially-designated contact within the DEC. The NYEL contact will be available to help with communication between the member and DEC, and help members garner assistance from the recently launched New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (www.nysp2i.rit.edu/) to meet their green goals. NYEL members are also able to use the NYEL logo as a sign of their green practices.