Fourteen Iowa organizations and businesses will receive the 2008 Governor's Iowa Environmental Excellence Award during ceremonies tentatively scheduled for July 28 in Des Moines.

Recipients include several in the Quad-City region.

The awards are the premier environmental honors in Iowa, recognizing leadership and innovation in the protection of the state's natural resources.

"The efforts of these organizations serve as a model in providing clean air, water and land for all Iowans," Gov. Chet Culver said in a news release.

The awards recognize comprehensive environmental programs by organizations and businesses, along with special project awards in water quality, air quality, waste management, habitat restoration/development, and energy efficiency/renewable energy.

Local recipients include Waste Commission of Scott County and MidAmerican Energy Co., both of Davenport, Environmental Excellence Award; Buffalo Bill Museum, LeClaire, Iowa, Special Recognition in Energy Efficiency/Renewable Energy; Muscatine Power and Water, Special Recognition in Waste Management; and Arnold's Body Shop, Davenport, Special Recognition in Air Quality.

Arnold's has adopted a green painting technology - a water-borne paint delivery system to reduce volatile organic compounds, or VOC, and hazardous air pollutants, or HAP. VOCs and oxides of nitrogen, found in traditional petroleum- and solvent-based paints for auto finishes, react in the presence of heat and sunlight to form ozone.

Owner John Arnold said Arnold's is one of only a few auto body shops in the United States to adopt the new environmentally friendly technology.

A field inspector for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which inspects Scott County Waste Commission's facilities, nominated the waste commission. That makes the award even more special, waste commission executive director Kathy Morris said.

"We are extremely proud of the award and our staff," she said. "We thought it was quite an honor that someone who is inspecting our facilities thought highly enough of us to recommend us for the governor's award."

The Buffalo Bill Museum was honored because of the museum construction committee's effort to provide a functional building "with emphasis on minimizing long-term owing and operating costs," according to the news release, and to provide a suitable environment for the Lone Star riverboat.

Instead of the conventional rooftop and cooling system, which were determined to be too costly in energy consumption and maintenance, a new ventilation system was designed along with the facility being built with solar panels.

MidAmerican's award involved its efforts to comply with former Gov. Tom Vilsack's statewide goal to add an additional 500 megawatts of renewable generation by 2010. MidAmerican ended up surpassing that goal by bringing online 1,284 megawatts and completing the work two years before the targeted date.