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Seven Caesars regions and 17 properties will contribute fuel made from waste vegetable oil

LAS VEGAS, June 7, 2012 /Environmental Expert/ — For the second consecutive year, Caesars Entertainment Corporation (NASDAQ:CZR) is sponsoring Dartmouth College’s Big Green Bus tour across America. The converted Greyhound bus, operated by students, will run on recycled waste vegetable oil (WVO) as it travels the country educating individuals on best sustainability practices.

The 11-week, 12,000-mile journey will take the 13 students across 24 states and will make refueling stops at Caesars resorts including Harrah’s Cherokee Casino (June 26), Harrah’s Tunica Casino (July 1), Harrah’s New Orleans Casino (July 3), Harrah’s Phoenix Ak-Chin Casino (July 14), Flamingo Las Vegas (July 19), Harrah’s Lake Tahoe Casino (July 24), Harrah’s North Kansas City Casino (August 30) and Thistledown Racetrack (September 3).

In 2011, Caesars Entertainment recycled 320,000 gallons of restaurant oil at its resorts and casinos nationwide with 144,000 gallons coming directly from restaurants on the Las Vegas Strip. The restaurant vegetable oil is recycled and reused at the resorts, or is removed and repurposed for use in biodiesel and other products. By providing WVO to the Big Green Bus, the company is helping reduce the vehicle’s carbon emissions during its journey across America.

‘Having Caesars Entertainment as a sponsor has given us great insight to its compelling sustainability practices,’ said Remington S. Franklin, Big Green Bus Communications Liaison. ‘We are on the bus to learn and spread what we learn and are very fortunate to have support from sustainability leaders like Caesars Entertainment.’

Caesars Entertainment’s Big Green Bus gold national sponsorship will enable this ‘classroom on wheels’ to increase awareness about the importance of sustainable practices and incorporating conservation at home.

The bus will provide educational opportunities at each stop through stations including a tour of the bus, an interactive map telling stories of sustainability across the country, a demonstration of how individuals can build and shop for environmentally friendly products, a discussion about the energy cost of food, personal waste reduction and a stationary bicycle that powers a generator to light multiple energy efficient bulbs.

‘This year, we are proud to increase our support of The Big Green Bus and its mission to educate communities around the country on climate change and environmental responsibility,’ said Gwen Migita, Vice President of Sustainability & Community Affairs for Caesars Entertainment. ‘Caesars is committed to support the classroom on wheels while engaging thousands of employees and the community in seven regions around the country.’

CodeGreen seeks to make both positive environmental and social impacts while reducing water, energy and waste consumption at each of its more than 50 properties worldwide. By enabling efforts through thousands of employees, Caesars is increasing sustainability education with the Big Green Bus and serving as a catalyst for environmental change. Supporting the Big Green Bus is just one of hundreds of responsible green practice programs Caesars assists with at its resorts and in the communities it serves.

For additional information about the 2012 Big Green Bus tour, its crew and sponsors visit www.thebiggreenbus.org.

For additional information about Caesars Entertainment’s sustainability efforts visit http://www.caesars.com/corporate/environment-sustainability.html.

About Caesars Entertainment Corporation Sustainability
Caesars Entertainment Corporation’s resorts are committed to environmental sustainability – investing at a corporate level more than $62 million on conservation projects that have reduced energy usage by more than 170 million kilowatt hours (kWh) and carbon emissions by 110,000 metric tons each year. One such investment is the use of solar and steam co-generation facilities at the Rio All Suites Hotel & Casino, Harrah’s Lake Tahoe and Showboat Atlantic City that capture waste heat and steam to create onsite energy, thereby decreasing demand for purchased electricity.

Caesars’ nearly 70,000 employees drive its sustainability strategy, CodeGreen, through innovative environmentally responsible practices; implementing more than 110 large impact conservation projects to reduce water, energy and waste consumption at a corporate level. More than 200 of the company’s employees have completed its Green Meetings & Events Certification training program, the only program of its kind in the industry. During the past eight years, CodeGreen programs have resulted in annual savings of 200 million gallons of water and 640,000 gallons of waste vegetable oil among other waste recycling efforts.

Caesars Entertainment’s leadership in environmental stewardship and energy efficiency has earned the company more than 40 environmental awards and multiple Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) honors. Caesars has achieved ‘industry firsts’ in transparency of impacts such as GRI protocol reporting and establishing aggressive carbon reduction goals around environmental and social metrics. For further information on Caesars’ CodeGreen efforts and its sustainability report visit www.caesars.com/CodeGreen.

About Caesars Entertainment Corporation
Caesars Entertainment Corporation is the world’s most diversified casino entertainment company. Since its beginning in Reno, Nevada, more than 74 years ago, Caesars has grown through development of new resorts, expansions and acquisitions, and now operates casinos on four continents. The company’s resorts operate primarily under the Harrah’s®, Caesars® and Horseshoe® brand names. Caesars also owns the World Series of Poker® and the London Clubs International family of casinos. Caesars Entertainment is focused on building loyalty and value with its guests through a unique combination of great service, excellent products, unsurpassed distribution, operational excellence and technology leadership. Caesars is committed to environmental sustainability and energy conservation and recognizes the importance of being a responsible steward of the environment.

For more information, please visit www.caesars.com.

SOURCE Caesars Entertainment Corporation

As a current or past member of Truckee Meadows Tomorrow (TMT) you know that we provide comprehensive, unbiased data about the Truckee Meadows that individuals, businesses and governmental entities use to help achieve their goals. We are writing to let you know that Truckee Meadows Tomorrow is still working hard to fill that valuable role of providing a community voice for citizens and key stakeholders.

With the current economic climate the Community-wide Survey has not been conducted, but our research into community quality of life indicators continues and shows both positive and negative movement, in several quality of life indicators:  A snap shot of our community from Quality of Life indicators is below:

For Families in the Truckee Meadows some “things” cost less 

• The cost of living relative to other cities has declined from 107.9 in 2006 to 98.3 in 2011, although food and transportation are rising in 2012.
• The housing opportunity index has risen with falling housing prices, from 17.3 in 2006 to 82.5 in 2011, making housing more affordable.
• Average monthly rent and utility costs have remained the same, at $873 in 2007 and 2010.

But families have less to make ends meet

• The percentage of families with income below poverty has risen from 6.5% in 2006 to 10.8% in 2010;  and the percentage of our population without health insurance has risen from 17.4% to 22.3% for the same period.
• Median family income has fallen from $66,335 in 2006 to $61,119 in 2010.
• The percentage of people paying over 30% of their income for rent and utilities has risen from 38% in 2006 to 45% in 2010 for owners and room 44% to 54% for renters. This reflects the impact of falling income and unemployment, even though housing costs have remained constant or declined.

While the economy stabilizes

• Employment-to-labor force population ratio of 0.88, as of March 2012, has improved to 2009 levels.
• The number of building permits rose in 2011 for Reno and Washoe County, while the valuation rose for all three local entities.
• Washoe County Crime Index rates continue to trend downward, well below Nevada, the western states, and national rate.
• Citizens are increasingly unengaged.
• Voter registration and turn out is trending down, and less than 45% of the eligible population actually votes.
• Citizen involvement with local governments is down during a time when difficult decisions are being made about essential or priority services.

Since 1993, TMT has been an authority, change agent and advocate, focused on improving the community’s quality of life through collaboration and partnership across northwestern Nevada. In 1996, TMT received a $750,000 grant from Washoe Medical Center (now Renown Health.), which supported TMT through 2001. Of that $750,000, community organizations received $500,000 to impact change in indicator areas. Since 2003 memberships, sponsorships, small grants, events & donations have sustained our programs including updating our community indicators.

Residents of the Truckee meadows bring to light the work of TMT.  Citizens provide ongoing input into what they value, businesses use that information for decision-making, and local governments for policy-making.

Source: Federal Register

SUMMARY: This rule modifies the testing procedures approved for analysis and sampling under the Clean Water Act. EPA proposed these changes for public comment on September 23, 2010. The changes adopted in this final rule fall into the following categories: New and revised EPA methods and new and revised methods published by voluntary consensus standard bodies (VCSB), such as ASTM International and the Standard Methods Committee; updated versions of currently approved methods; methods reviewed under the alternate test procedures (ATP) program; clarifications to the process for EPA approval for use of alternate procedures for nationwide and Regional use; minimum quality control requirements to improve consistency across method versions; corrections to previously approved methods; and revisions to sample collection, preservation, and holding time requirements. Finally, EPA makes changes to three effluent guideline regulations.

DATES: This regulation is effective on June 18, 2012. The incorporation by reference of these methods is approved by the Director of the Federal Register on June 18, 2012. For judicial review purposes, this final rule is promulgated as of 1:00 p.m. (Eastern time) on June 1, 2012 as provided at 40 CFR 23.2 and 23.7.

Guidelines Establishing Test Procedures for Analysis of Pollutants Under Clean Water Act: Analysis and Sampling Procedures, 29758-29846

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-05-18/pdf/2012-10210.pdf

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-05-18/html/2012-10210.htm

Source: Environmental Expert

There’s a lot that can be done to optimise your waste shredding operations, but we feel that these two points sum them all up nicely:

1. Maximise your business opportunities

This can be done by choosing the right machinery. For example, if your shredder is suitable for a variety of materials, you multiply your chances of earning, and if you can adjust and fine-tune the process with minimum interference to your waste shredding process, even better!

Mobility is also an issue to take into consideration. What if the shredder is stationary, on a semi-trailer or on tracks? What kind of an impact does it have on your business?

2. Minimise your operation costs

Let’s take a look at an imaginary example:

Assuming that a shredder unit costs 330 000 euros and has a life cycle of 10 000 operating hours, purchase price accounts for 35% of the total operating costs. General maintenance and the operator’s wages make up around 23%, which leaves a massive 42% for fuel. It’s easy to see where the biggest savings can be made and, on the other hand, where the biggest gains in profit can be made.

To save fuel, you need to be able to fully understand all the parameters that affect the production rate, the quality of the end product and fuel consumption. When choosing new machinery, make sure that it has the functionality for tracking your vital process parameters. Otherwise you won’t know where to start optimising! In addition to fuel consumption, the trackable parameters may be production rate and goals, service intervals, alarms or a comparison between different operators.

If you don’t have enough information on what’s happening in your process, you are like a pilot who is trying to land his plane without instruments in zero visibility. You need a clear cockpit view in order to succeed.

Join Environmental Leader on Wednesday, May 23rd, 8am Pacific/11am Eastern for a webinar discussing how to reach beyond environment, health and safety regulations to enhance efficiency, improve competitiveness and reduce risks.

An increasing number of companies are re-evaluating their EH&S programs. This re-assessment is leading to an expanded role for EH&S as companies look to not only ensure compliance, but also to better understand their risks and opportunities and deliver on business and sustainability objectives.

Traditionally, compliance has been considered a “burden” and a drain on an organizations resources, time and budget. In addition, ineffective environmental management can expose organizations to significant risk and increase operational complexities.

In this live webcast, you will hear how best-in class companies are addressing the expanded role of EH&S and applying vital technology to transform the burden of compliance into an opportunity to drive operational efficiencies, enhance sustainability performance, and reduce overall risks.

Register here to join The Dow Chemical Company along with experts from Aberdeen and IHS as they discuss best practices in EHS and sustainability management and provide critical insight from companies who have put these best practices into action.

Topics of discussion will include:

• The profile and unique qualities of leaders in EH&S
• Strategies for streamlining compliance work processes to reduce risks and improve competitiveness
• Key success factors in evolving an EH&S program, including cross-functional collaboration and training
• How data can help create a roadmap for continuous improvement, provide a foundation for better decisions and drive action.

Register now and don’t miss this chance to hear firsthand how leading companies are going beyond compliance to optimize processes and deliver best-in-class environmental performance.

Click here and scroll down for speaker bios and registration information.

Source:  Cochrane & Associates, LLC

PCBs belong to a broad family of man-made organic chemicals known as chlorinated hydrocarbons. They were domestically manufactured from 1929 until their ban in 1979 and were used in hundreds of industrial and commercial applications.

Although no longer commercially produced in the United States, PCBs may still be present in products and materials produced before the 1979 PCB ban. In 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced new guidance regarding PCBs in caulk from buildings constructed or renovated between 1950 and 1978.  The EPA recommends testing for PCBs in peeling, brittle, cracking or deteriorating caulk in buildings, especially around school environments.

“To help people understand the hazards associated with PCBs the IAQ Video Network released a public outreach video on the toxic chemicals,” reported Paul Cochrane, President of Cochrane and Associates, the company behind the IAQ Video Network.  “We hope this video opens people’s eyes to the potential hazard of being exposed to this material.”

To view the video please visit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di0MKIDUya8