Letter from Assistant Secretary to St. Louis Lighthouse for the Blind Praising the LHB Green Cleaning Products

Dear Mr. Thompson:

Congratulations on the development of your new line of environmentally preferable cleaning products! We are pleased to see that the co-branded Skilcraft/Rochester-Midland cleaning products (Envirocare line Glass Cleaner, Neutral All Purpose-Cleaner, Tough Job Cleaner, and Washroom Cleaner) were the first cleaning products that Green Seal certified under Green Seal Standard (GS 37) for Industrial and Institutional Cleaners.

Through your work together with the National Industries for the Blind, the Committee for Purchase from People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled, and NISH, Chimes and other private partners, workers with disabilities are an integral part of a highly successful janitorial pollution prevention effort focused around federal buildings. This effort now encompasses over 20 million square feet of Federal office space in the District of Columbia Metropolitan Area, improving the indoor air quality for 90,000 office workers and workplace safety for 1,300 disabled janitorial workers. Enclosed please find a copy of the nomination package submitted to the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive for the 2003 White House Closing the Circle Award, recognizing your organization as well as other partner organizations.

As you know, we are able to and are actively promoting the use of the environmentally preferable cleaning products for use at Department of the Interior (DOI) sites. The products have proven to be highly effective at the DOI Main Interior Building over the last three and one half years. Among the numerous environmental benefits, we are particularly pleased to be using floor finish that does not contain heavy metals, and have estimated that this has prevented as much as 500 pounds of zinc per year from reaching sanitary sewers from just this facility. As an agency charged with the protection of natural resources, it is appropriate that we seek to eliminate discharges that are highly toxic to aquatic species. To promote the adoption of such best management practices, Interior developed a janitorial pollution prevention training with and for NISH work centers for the purpose of expanding the use of these products throughout the Federal Government.

Thank you for your work in this endeavor. If anyone is interested in more information regarding Interior's using these products, please refer them to Heather Davies, Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance, who can be reached at (202) 208-7884 or by email at heather_davies@ios.doi.gov.

Sincerely,
/signed/
P. Lynn Scarlett
Assistant Secretary - Policy, Management and Budget

Enclosure
cc: E. Robert Chamberlin, President and CEO, NISH
James Gibbons, President and CEO, National Industries for the Blind
Leon A. Wilson, Jr., Executive Director, the Committee for Purchase from People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled