CHICAGO - Partners for Clean Air selected Susan Adams of Crystal Lake as the winner of a 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid last night at the Green Pays on Green Days grand prize drawing. The Green Pays on Green Days program ran by Partners for Clean Air and administered by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA), is a public education initiative created to help Chicago-area residents understand how individual actions impact the quality of the air we breathe.

Adams was one of 50 finalists invited to a closing ceremony held at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Lincoln Park. The grand prize 2010 Toyota Prius was donated by Your Chicagoland Toyota Dealers.

"Green Pays on Green Days is a program that teaches residents that it's not just vehicles and industry that cause pollution, it's the decisions all of us make daily," said Doug Scott, Director of the Illinois EPA. "When you do siomple things like turn up your thermostat just a few degrees during the summer or switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs, you are making a difference."

The program seems to be making a real impact. When the ceremony's emcee,  Metereologist Brant Miller of NBC5 Chicago, asked Adams what "green actions" she took this summer to promote cleaner air, she explained that her family is planting native landscape in their yard, which greatly reduces the need to water and mow.

The Illinois EPA and Partners for Clean Air have sponsored Green Pays on Green Days since 2002.  The 2009 program ran from June 12 through September 12. Finalist names were drawn each day local air quality was forecasted to be good (or "green" according to the federal air quality index). All 50 winners were chosen randomly for a chance to win the 2010 Toyota Prius.

Also honored were the many sponsors of the program (listed in alphabetical order): Abbott, American Lung Association of Illinois-Greater Chicago, Archer Daniels Midland Company, Corn Products International Inc., ExxonMobil, Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation, Jewel-Osco, Midwest Generation, EME LLC, Motorola, and Regional Transportation Authority.

Green Pays on Green Days targets individuals in areas that do not meet federal ambient air quality standards. The contest was open to residents in Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will counties in Illinois who pledged to take "green actions" to reduce air pollution. Green Pays on Green Days has been funded for eight consecutive years by financial and product contributions from numerous Illinois businesses and organizations.

Partners for Clean air is a non-profit coalition dedicated to bringing cleaner air to the greater Chicago area. For more information, visit www.cleantheair.org.