Sept. 6, 2023

Clean Cities and Communities 30th Anniversary Celebration (Text Version)

This is a text version of the video segment Clean Cities and Communities 30th Anniversary Celebration, which aired on Sept. 6, 2023.

MARK SMITH: Clean Cities was born 30 years ago as a result of the Energy Policy Act of 1992. The Clean Cities coalitions have played a vital role in the success that we've achieved, bringing new advanced technology vehicles to the marketplace.

SANDRA LOI: Together, coalitions create a compounding impact nationwide on our transportation systems and environment. Coalitions are instrumental in bringing clean transportation technologies to communities large and small one project, one local decision, and one fleet at a time.

MARK SMITH: The Clean Cities coalitions are really our experts on the ground. They're really sought after as that unbiased source or resource. They're there to really provide the education to help those fleets and other entities make an informed decision about what technology is going to work best for them and their fleet.

SANDRA LOI: Over the past 30 years, coalition activities saved the equivalent of 13 billion gallons of gasoline and prevented 67 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Coalitions combine their collective experiences and knowledge to advance our nation's transportation system far beyond what any single organization could accomplish on its own.

MARCY ROOD: Clean Cities coalitions serve urban, suburban, and rural communities throughout America. Coalitions help businesses and consumers adopt alternative fuel vehicles and advanced transportation technologies that meet their climate, financial, and energy goals. Coalitions are trusted partners and tailored projects to unique local needs.

JOHN GONZALES: Clean Cities coalitions leverage expertise from federal agencies. Primarily, the Department of Energy, as well as national laboratories and their fellow coalitions. DOE and national labs offer technical assistance, information resources, online training, and an array of data and analysis tools. National labs can also provide high-touch support to tackle more complicated challenges. Coalitions hold the respect and trust of both fleets and industry through their ability to provide objective data and real-world lessons learned.

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ANN VAIL: Louisiana Clean Fuels is a US Department of Energy designated Clean Cities Coalition. We work directly with our stakeholders to find simple solutions to help them reach their goals. One of our favorite projects is right here in downtown Baton Rouge. It's a capital area transit system. Back in 2014, they have a study that they conducted with the University of New Orleans that recommended that they move to electric vehicles.

The agency loves these buses because they say they are saving money on fuel and maintenance costs, and are reducing their carbon emissions by over 600 tons a year just with the nine buses that they currently have. We are so looking forward to seeing their success in the years to come.

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RICK PRICE: We're one of the Clean Cities organizations here in Pennsylvania, along with the Eastern Pennsylvania Alliance for Clean Transportation. And we're here today to talk about how we've worked with the education and the benefits of propane school buses for school districts.

MARK SCHMITT: The school bus of the future? They just keep gaining more and more popularity every year. They're extremely clean. And propane is a byproduct of natural gas, and 98% of it comes from North America.

MICHAEL GRAHAM: We work with fleets across the Pacific Northwest and help them adopt cleaner fuels and technologies. We like helping people. Letting folks approach us with their issues and providing them with unbiased information to help them chart their own path forward. One of my favorite projects where we put this into practice is our cleaner Air Columbia project.

To date, they've actually repowered over 75% of their fleet to tier three or better emissions technology, which is a huge achievement for the tugboat and harbor craft industry as a whole. We actually saw the opportunity to not only make a notable dent in local air quality emissions, but also catalyze alternative fuel adoption in an industry sector that just doesn't traditionally see alt fuel adoption.

TAYLOR YORK: Western Riverside County Clean Cities Coalition serves a broad group of stakeholders in inland Southern California. We do this by creating partnerships, understanding needs, bringing resources, such as grants, and through projects like large outreach events, small focus groups, one-on-one meetings, and grant writing. When community members can see their fingerprints on a project, they feel a sense of ownership. This leads to projects that are successful and well-utilized because community members understand what their real needs are.

One of these projects that we are writing is poised to bring over $1 million in clean car share to communities who are impacted by poor air quality. Deployment will be based on extensive community engagement we did in 2021 and refined through further community engagement during the project.

SUMNER POMEROY: In the last year, I participated in the Clean Cities Energy and Environmental Justice Initiative. Throughout this process, we talked a lot about asking first and listening, rather than assuming that we are the experts who have all the answers. Communities whose opinions are not only heard, but also valued and acted upon will be more invested in the solutions provided. So it's important to collaborate and co-create solutions with them.

ANTOINE THOMPSON: One of the projects that we're working on right now is around the mid-Atlantic Electrification Project. We are so excited with the significant level of community participation that's making a huge impact on expanding access to EV charging, and just a knowledge base around EVs.

MONISHA SHAH: The Clean Cities coalitions are so uniquely positioned to engage their local communities and co-develop projects that meet real needs on the ground. Blending together your long-standing technical knowledge of regional transportation resources and needs with your network of local relationships, coalitions can definitely help ensure that the benefits of transportation projects reach underserved and overburdened communities, especially with the recently established Clean Cities Energy and Environmental Justice Initiative.

30 years of experience working locally in communities across the country allows you to implement projects that save energy and money for people's pocketbooks, and reduce emissions, especially for communities that breathe in more air pollution than they produce.

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MARK SMITH: So to our 20,000 stakeholders across the country, we thank you for your involvement. You've played a key role in helping to secure our country's energy future, our economic viability, and to help build a better quality of life through the clean transportation solutions that we're bringing to the market. We urge you if you're not a member of Clean Cities to please reach out to your local coalition. They would love to have you as a member. Thank you.

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