Redstone Arsenal and the Solid Waste Disposal Authority of the City of Huntsville have been recognized for their efforts in a joint project to reduce air pollutant emissions and make a positive impact on regional air quality.

Don Henderson, the energy manager with the Garrison’s Directorate of Public Works, and John “Doc” Holladay, the authority’s executive director, received 2025 Air Pollution Control Achievement Awards on Feb. 5 at a Huntsville City Hall ceremony. Adam Dauro, chairman of the City of Huntsville’s Air Pollution Control Board, presented the awards.

“Our awardees worked together to bring this project to fruition which, among multiple benefits, reduces their collective impact on regional air quality,” city’s Natural Resources Director Darlene Elliott said.

Last year, Redstone Arsenal and the authority entered into an agreement for the installation and operation of a 12.4-megawatt turbine, which uses steam produced by the incineration of waste at the authority’s waste-to energy facility to provide electricity for the installation.

“The electricity produced by the steam turbine offsets roughly 60,000 megawatt hours of electricity that was historically purchased from TVA,” Elliott said. “This locally produced renewable energy equates to a regional reduction of nitrogen oxide emissions of roughly 6 tons per year, a reduction of sulfur dioxide emissions of approximately 8 tons per year and a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of around 20,000 tons per year.”

Elliott said the emissions reductions are based on average TVA electricity sales emission factors, but the actual effect will probably be substantially higher.

“Although TVA relies on less polluting sources of energy like nuclear and hydroelectric power to provide as much of their base load as possible, they do need to use fossil fuel combustion to meet higher demands,” she said. “Therefore, the offset from this steam turbine project will help to reduce the demand on TVA, ultimately reducing the reliance on fossil fuels.”

The project is “a culmination of a joint effort with a lot of partners and a lot of key players,” Henderson said after the ceremony. That list includes the authority, divisions within the Directorate of Public Works, TVA and Huntsville Utilities. “A lot of great people that take pride in being really good at what they do came together with one mission.

“I was happy to be a small part of it.”

“It’s a model for the nation,” Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle said. “It’s a great day to be in Huntsville and it’s a great day to be able to walk outside and take a breath of fresh air and know that you’re really getting a breath of fresh air because of the work that everybody’s done here.”

Elliott noted that to help put the project’s benefit into perspective, “the energy produced by the new steam turbine equates to the amount of electricity needed to power roughly 4,000 homes in the Huntsville area. That’s pretty significant for one turbine and some steam off the solid waste incinerator.”

The project affects regional air quality and provides the area with a locally produced renewable energy source that has the potential to expand to make an even larger impact in the future, she said.

“With continued population growth and associated electricity demand, projects such as this one are a benefit in fostering long-term energy reliability,” she said.

The authority, a public, nonprofit public corporation, operates the landfill and waste-to-energy incinerator facility in Huntsville and provides curbside recycling and household hazardous waste collection.

Since the inception of the waste-to-energy facility in 1990, steam has been secured to heat some buildings on the Arsenal, according to Elliott, and “the turbine project was the next step in making as much use as possible of the potential energy off the incinerator.”

Dauro thanked Redstone Arsenal and the authority “for their innovation and their hard work implementing these strategies to improve our air quality for everybody in the city.”

To qualify for an achievement award, a nominated project must constitute “a voluntary reduction in air pollutant emissions that goes above and beyond any regulatory obligations,” Elliott said. The awards program was established in 1997, and, in all, 112 awards have been handed out, with some recipients recognized more than once.