Gov. Pat Quinn awarded Managing Director of the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District Bill Volk the 2009 Environmental Hero Award on Tuesday, according to a press release.

“I think it is more indicative of the commitment of the district than me personally, but I’m very happy to receive this award,” Volk said.

He was amongst 22 individuals and groups from Illinois who were awarded this honor for their commitment to protecting Illinois’ environmental beauty.

Volk received this award for helping develop a plan for MTD buses to use diesel emission particulate filters, the press release said. The plan also called for the district to use green cleaning products and to reuse rainwater for washing buses. Volk said MTD has worked with the community to develop this plan for the past two years.

“If we don’t worry about our footprint, it’s hard to promote public transportation as a green alternative,” he added.