BNSF News

Keltner Receives Prestigious John H. Chafee Award

2010-04-22

Charlie Keltner on April 21 received the Association of American Railroad's John H. Chafee Award for his contributions to protecting and preserving the environment.

Keltner, senior manager, Corporate Facilities, was BNSF's nominee for the annual award, which was named after U.S. Senator Lincoln Chafee's father, who promoted the environmental advantages of rail.

"Charlie is a prime example of a railroad employee who seriously considers the impact of his decisions on the environment," said Mark Schulze, vice president, Safety, Training and Operations Support. "His leadership and example have helped maintain the high standards of performance for operating BNSF facilities while preserving and protecting the environment."

Keltner is responsible for managing all support functions at BNSF corporate headquarters in Fort Worth. That responsibility includes about 1 million square feet and involves 3,000 employees and contractors. The contractors he supervises are responsible for lighting and electrical service, heating and ventilation, other mechanical services, landscaping, architectural planning and food services.

Under Keltner's leadership, projects to reduce environmental impacts and save money have been implemented in every area.

Keltner, for instance, looked for ways to reduce water use for landscape irrigation, a project with continuing significant environmental benefit. To reduce water consumption, sprinkler heads were replaced with an electronic irrigation management system that uses soil moisture sensors and a meteorological station to automatically determine if the irrigation system needs to run. Water use for irrigation was reduced by about 30 million gallons annually.

Keltner has also volunteered to lead the BNSF Green Team at the corporate facility. The team is comprised of about 30 members from various departments. The team has successfully instituted several projects, including a change to network printers' default so that documents are printed double-sided rather than single-sided. This one activity has saved tons of paper from being recycled or disposed of in the local landfill.

The Green Team sponsors an annual employee environmental education program on Earth Day. In 2009, more than 500 employees attended and learned how they could reduce their environmental impact both at work and at home. Similar Green Team activities were scheduled for April 22 this year.

Keltner constantly looks for ways to recycle and reuse materials. When it was time to replace 630,000 square feet of carpeting, Keltner looked at an environmentally friendly way to complete the project. As the old carpeting was removed, it was sent offsite for recycling. More than 300,000 pounds of carpeting that would have been disposed of in a landfill was recycled instead. The new carpeting selected contained 42 percent recycled content and was greenhouse gas neutral.

In addition to these, Keltner has been instrumental in several other unique projects.

• A campuswide single stream recycling program targets mixed office paper, plastics, metals and cardboard. This program has reduced the amount of energy and money being spent for waste disposal.
• Keltner managed a program to replace 25 percent of the roof surface on the campus buildings with Energy Star-rated material. This material has a white pigment that reflects thermal energy, reducing the temperature of the roof by about 100 degrees. The reduction in heat transfer reduces the air conditioning needs by 10 to 15 percent.
• In 2009, Keltner led a program to replace the light fixtures at the facility parking garage and at one of the office buildings. The old, inefficient fixtures were replaced with higher efficiency units. The annual estimated electrical savings for this one project is about 375,000 kilowatt hours. The net savings to the railroad annually is about $40,000. This is a great example of how saving energy and reducing green house gasses can also have significant financial benefits.

BNSF Headquarters

BNSF Railway Company
2650 Lou Menk Dr. 2nd Floor
P.O. Box 961057
Fort Worth, TX 76161-0057
Phone: (817) 352-1000

For more information on the company and its transportation solutions, visit the BNSF Web site at www.bnsf.com