"Our relationship with PASSPORT has been an exemplary partnership that has provided us with an enormous amount of opportunity. Besides supporting a program that allows our true colors to show, we are supporting our educational outreach goals. PASSPORT is an excellent resource for the citizens of Texas and we at Dow are proud to be part of it."

Ron Dipprey
Government and Public Affairs Manager

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DOW CHEMICAL'S COMMITMENT TO THE ENVIRONMENT

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COMMITMENT TO WILDLIFE

Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Council. Three Texas Operations projects have been certified by the Council as a Corporate Wildlife Habitat for individual species management:

Located inside the industrial complex of Texas Operations is the largest black skimmer nesting colony on the Texas Coast. Since 1968 when 38 birds were discovered wandering among the cars in an employee parking lot, the skimmers have come to "own" it. Employees have added a viewing platform and other amenities to the nesting ground which is now a protected site year-round. Bird counts have totaled as many as 1,800 throughout the years.

Texas Operations employees have been involved in a variety of projects in the Dow Nature Refuge, including woodland enhancement and restoration, meadow management, pond management and monitoring, and bird and wildlife surveys. Dow employees are also using this area to showcase the use of native plants in the landscape.

Sea Center Texas, a state-of-the-art marine fish hatchery and educational center, opened in March in Lake Jackson on 75 acres of property donated by Texas Operations. In 1985, the Gulf Coast Conservation Association, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Dow Chemical teamed up to stop the decline of the redfish population along the Texas Coast. This alliance evolved into redfish rearing ponds in the Texas Operations industrial complex whereby an estimated 50 million fingerlings were raised and released into the bays and estuaries along the coast.

The Dow ponds became the most successful ponds in the Texas redfish hatchery program, due to high water quality and precise control provided by Dow technology. From these beginnings, the $13 million Sea Center Texas hatchery evolved, dedicated to restoring and preserving coastal marine fish populations.

Birding. Brazoria County is one of the most productive birding areas on the Upper Texas Coast and one of the birding hot spots of North America. Located in the Gulf Coast flyway, Texas Operations will have the first corporate site to be included on the Great Texas Birding Trail. Texas Operations also is a major partner in producing the annual Migration Celebration, a community festival and seminar held to promote ecotourism in southern Brazoria County. And Texas Operations participates in the hugely successful Annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count by allowing birders into normally restricted areas and by working with the Brazosport Birders to publish a birding checklist and map.

Employee projects. Texas Operations employees are building a platform in the industrial complex to view the osprey that are plentiful visitors, as well as wood duck nesting sites around the edges of the complex. Recently, employees began a project to enhance 2.8 acres of wetland in the complex.

Mad Island Marsh Preserve. Mad Island Marsh was once the premier freshwater system on the Texas Mid-Coast and harbored thousands of waterfowl and abundant wildlife. In the past 50 years, saltwater intrusion, overgrazing, agricultural conversion and development in this watershed have impaired the region's ecological health. Texas Operations participated in habitat management work at the Preserve, focused on restoration and enhancement of wetland and uplands areas.

COMMITMENT TO REDUCING AND RECYCLING

Emission goals. In 1988 Dow Chemical set goals to reduce emissions by 50 percent by 1995. The company accomplished this goal a year early and set new, aggressive performance goals by 2005. These goals are based on an evaluation of the risk that certain materials pose to the environment, the work force and public health and safety. Dow is committed to reducing emissions of these priority compounds by 75 percent and other chemical compounds by 50 percent by 2005.

Waste management Dow Chemical has been committed to waste management for years, and many communities have adopted Dow's policy of reduce, reuse and recycle. Dow's strict waste management hierarchy begins with work to eliminate or minimize waste generation and then to find ways to reuse and recycle materials. This policy has spurred the development of new products made from former plant waste materials. Recycling at the Texas Operations plant site is not just a commitment of the manufacturing plants. Employees also manage programs for recycling paper, polystyrene foam, wood and metal.

THE DOW CHEMICAL COMPANY, TEXAS OPERATIONS

Texas Operations is the largest manufacturing complex in The Dow Chemical Company. Located on 5,000 acres in Freeport, Texas Operations employs 6,000 people and up to 2,000 contract workers. Built in 1939 to manufacture magnesium for World War II, Texas Operations has grown to 72 manufacturing units that ship hundreds of products worldwide.

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