Tiny gas station wins award for environmentalism 14 in all receive DEP’s accolades

Since Gov. Angus King started giving awards for environmental responsibility, dozens of international corporations have been honored for their efforts. But this year’s list of 14 honorees also includes a tiny gas station boasting the only pumps in Guerette near the shore of Cross Lake.

“I wanted to be an environmental leader to show everybody, ‘Hey, I’m just a little guy and I can meet the standards,'” said Jules St. Peter, the third-generation owner of St. Peter’s Country Store. Guerette is about 20 miles northwest of Caribou.

The store was honored for spending thousands of dollars and many hours going above and beyond state requirements to earn the right to post the Department of Environmental Protection’s “environmental leader” sticker on its pumps.

Fewer than a tenth of gas stations in Maine have achieved the qualification, said Louis Fontaine of the DEP, who works with the environmental leaders program.

“A lot of people don’t step up to the plate and do it,” added Julie Churchill-Durkee, also of the DEP, who coordinates the governor’s awards.

Dead River Co. stations in Millinocket, Ellsworth, Rockport and Holden are also being honored for achieving environmental leader certification this year, bringing the total number of environmental leader stations statewide to 46.

Few small, independent stations have earned the honor, however, because they tend not to have “environmental specialists” on staff, Fontaine said.

St. Peter decided that it would be worth the two-year effort to make sure that the store, which has been pumping gas since 1925, was as environmentally benign as possible.

“You’ve got to do it right,” he said. “I’m about 250 feet away from a very important water source for northern Maine. The lakes keep us in business. We need to protect them.”

The other local Governor’s Environmental Excellence Award winners for 2002, selected from more than 30 applicants, are as follows:

. Georgia Pacific Corp. in Old Town, for its pollution prevention program, which included major reductions in the amount of wastewater emitted as well as energy-saving policies.

. The Landfill Oversight Committee of Hampden for its work bridging the gaps between local people and the Pine Tree Landfill and drafting effective environmental policy.

. Colby College in Waterville for its environmentally sustainable policies in the purchase and disposal of food, energy, paper and chemicals.

. International Paper in Bucksport, for an overall 619,000-pound reduction since 1990 in the amount of toxic chemicals used.

. SAPPI in Skowhegan, for both its efforts to reduce phosphorous output and its overall 97 percent reduction in the use of toxic chemicals since 1987.

Southern Maine winners for 2002 include Bath Iron Works, International Paper in Jay, National Semiconductor in South Portland, NorDx in Scarborough, the Portland Water District, Pratt & Whitney in North Berwick and Fairchild Semiconductor in South Portland.