TDEC Names OxyChem a Governor's Environmental Stewardship Award Recipient

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has named OxyChem as a recipient of the 2026 Governor's Environmental Stewardship Award for Pursuit of Excellence. This year marks the 40^th anniversary of the Governor's Environmental Stewardship Awards which honors individuals, businesses, and other organizations for their commitment to preserving the state's natural resources.

The Pursuit of Excellence award honors former Governor's Award recipients who have demonstrated continued, outstanding achievement beyond their initial recognition. An invitation-only distinction, it acknowledges past three-year honorees who exemplify sustained excellence and merit renewed commendation.

OxyChem's New Johnsonville facility announced significant progress in environmental performance and operational reliability following the expansion of its award-winning Hydrogen Boiler Clean Air project into a comprehensive, sitewide continuous-improvement initiative. Building on its prior Governor's Environmental Stewardship Award in the Clean Air category from 2023, the facility transformed the project into a long-term program focused on energy efficiency, mechanical reliability, waste minimization, and water stewardship.

The facility's energy conservation efforts have collectively recovered or saved energy, reduced CO₂, and made measurable improvements to air quality, wastewater quality, and local transportation impacts. The program's success is sustained through robust key performance indicator tracking across energy use, hydrogen utilization, chemical consumption, wastewater quality, and truck traffic ensuring early detection of performance drifts and long-term accountability.

OxyChem New Johnsonville's long-standing commitment has transformed environmental excellence into an everyday operational discipline by prioritizing planned downtime, mechanical reliability, and data-driven decision making.

There are ten categories for the Governor's Environmental Stewardship Awards. Other recipients include:

· Agriculture and Forestry - Cumberland River Compact

· Building Green - iFixit

· Clean Air and Transportation Solutions - Clarksville-Montgomery County School System

· Environmental Education and Outreach - Clearloop and Jackson-Madison County School System

· Energy and Renewable Resources - Memphis Light, Gas and Water

· Materials Management - Toyota Boshoku Tennessee LLC

· Natural Resources - Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful

· Sustainable Performance - Carlex Glass America, LLCWater Quality - Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency

The Robert Sparks Walker Lifetime Achievement Award will be announced at the Governor's Environmental Stewardship Awards event in September.

For more information on the recipients and the awards program, visit the Governor's Environmental Stewardship Awards website.