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News ReleaseNov. 3, 2003 PNM Director Receives National Environmental Achievement Award
Albuquerque: PNM's Director of Special Communications Marc Christensen has received an Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) award for his leadership role in several power industry water resource sustainability initiatives.
Christensen, who has been with PNM since 1991, has spearheaded several projects at PNM that would reduce the amount of water the company requires to produce electricity. These projects, if successful, will serve as a paradigm to benefit other utilities' power production efforts. Christensen's work on a federal grant and his leadership role in the ZeroNet Initiative contributed to his recognition, said Robert Goldstein, senior technical leader and area manager of water and ecosystems at EPRI. Christensen played a critical role in coordinating a competitive grant application to the U.S. Department of Energy that ultimately resulted in EPRI and PNM receiving a $400,000 award to study the use of produced water at the PNM San Juan Generating Station. "Produced water" is high saline concentration water from deep aquifers that is brought to the surface during oil and gas production. The grant, which will be funded later this fall, will support research to study the availability, location and chemistry of produced water, water transportation and treatment alternatives, and necessary regulatory and legal modifications. The ZeroNet initiative, spearheaded by Los Alamos National Laboratory, PNM and EPRI, is designed to create and apply technologies, information, data and decision support tools to help New Mexico manage its water crisis. Christensen played a leading role in the project's design and communicated the benefits of the initiative to key stakeholders at a state and national level. PNM will serve as a test utility in ZeroNet. "For a long time, we have recognized what a valuable asset Marc is to our organization," said Bill Real, PNM senior vice president of public policy. "We are not only pleased with the environmental initiatives Marc has led at PNM that are for the betterment of the company and New Mexico, but we are pleased that EPRI has chosen to acknowledge his achievements as well."
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The
award, named the Environmental Sector Delivery and Application
Award, is granted to individuals in the energy industry who
apply successful application of research results to resolve
tough environmental challenges and who effectively champion
research results to internal and external audiences. The projects
must produce benefits of measurable value, including savings
in capital or operation and maintenance costs, achieve new
technical and scientific developments, or overcome financial,
technical or policy challenges.