News Release

BNSF Employee Receives Rail Industry's Top Environmental Award

FORT WORTH, Texas, Nov. 06, 2008:

Lyle W. Staley, manager, BNSF Environmental Program Development, Topeka, Kansas, today was awarded the Association of American Railroads 2008 North American Environmental Employee Excellence Award at the 2008 Railroad Environmental Conference.

"Staley has dedicated himself to advancing BNSF's environmental initiatives in new and innovative ways," said Mark Schulze, BNSF vice president, Safety, Training and Operations Support. "His work in fuel conservation and spill prevention has resulted in successful programs that help in protecting the environment. Many of the programs under his leadership were originally developed for just one BNSF facility, but have now been implemented elsewhere on BNSF’s network."

A 39-year railroad veteran, Staley was instrumental in leading BNSF's certification for the American Chemistry Council's Responsible Care Management System (RCMS), a health, safety, security and environmental continuous improvement process that applies an integrated, structured approach to drive results in key areas. Staley also developed a database for estimating locomotive emissions that is used in meeting government requirements.

"Railroads are the greenest of the surface transportation modes," said Association of American Railroads President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger. "Partly it is because of the inherent efficiency of the steel wheel on steel rail, which last year allowed railroads to move each ton of freight an average of 436 miles per gallon of diesel fuel.

"But even more importantly, our industry has countless dedicated employees like Lyle Staley who are passionate about protecting and enhancing the environment. They are our industry's ultimate environmental advantage."

About BNSF’s Environmental Efforts

BNSF Railway's comprehensive approach to environmental stewardship promotes sustainability in the communities it serves today, and gives future generations a cleaner road ahead. Rail is the most fuel efficient mode of surface transportation, moving a ton of freight more than 400 miles on a single gallon of diesel fuel. As the rail industry's intermodal leader, BNSF also leads in environmental stewardship. Each BNSF intermodal train moves takes more than 280 long-haul trucks off the nation's crowded highways.

About BNSF Railway

A subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (NYSE:BNI), BNSF Railway Company operates one of the largest North American rail networks, with about 32,000 route miles in 28 states and two Canadian provinces. BNSF is among the world's top transporters of intermodal traffic, moves more grain than any other American railroad, carries the components of many of the products we depend on daily, and hauls enough low-sulfur coal to generate about ten percent of the electricity produced in the United States. BNSF is an industry leader in Web-enabling a variety of customer transactions at www.bnsf.com.

BNSF Headquarters
BNSF Railway Company
2650 Lou Menk Dr. 2nd Floor
Fort Worth, TX 76131-2830
P.O. Box 961057
Fort Worth, TX 76161-0057
Phone: (817) 352-1000