by David Chapman
Staff Writer
With the goal for national designation, members of the local Clean Cities Coalition spent the first year building relationships with potential stakeholders and advocating the benefits of weaning off petroleum usage in transportation.
The results? So far, so good, officials said Friday during the group’s monthly meeting.
Business and community membership has steadily increased each month as participants continued to learn the economic and environmental benefits of alternative fuels and vehicles.
“It’s gone from the perception of a fad to more of a mainstream business concept,” said Victoria Pennington, North Florida Transportation Planning Organization marketing consultant.
The North Florida TPO officials house and initially funded the group that began its efforts in November 2009. Officials with fleet management groups from the City, independent authorities and local businesses throughout Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns counties were among the early participants.
Clean Cities is a government and industry partnership designed to reduce petroleum usage through advancing alternative fuels.
Since the effort was begun in 1993 by the U.S. Department of Energy, nearly 90 coalitions have formed and are eligible for federal funding.
The coalition’s goal is to reduce petroleum consumption by 2.5 billion gallons by 2020.
The local organization has regularly invited proponents of propane, natural gas, biodiesel, ethanol, electricity and other sources to discuss the benefits of the individual fuels and educate fleet management operators and other community members.
In addition to the information, the local coalition also updates participants about grants that apply to retrofitting or changing their fleets and other energy-dependent practices, although efforts focus mainly on transportation.
National designation generally takes about two years, said Wanda Forrest, local Clean Cities coordinator, and one of the biggest elements comes with establishing a market foundation.
Forrest said the past year of community outreach has been positive, but maintaining the level of participation is important to become nationally designated.
Pennington said a target submission for the national designation will be mid- to late-2011.
Forrest announced Friday that the Internal Revenue Service certified the organization as a 501(c)(3), which allows for more flexible fundraising efforts.
Members and participants also heard from Tom Larson, Florida Energy policy manager for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, about the need to reduce greenhouse gases and dependence on gasoline.
Improved vehicle milage rates along with more efforts with solar and biomass would aid in the efforts.
“We’ve got to work on it,” said Larson. “We can’t stay quiet.”
As for the political landscape affecting such changes, Larson said recent election results might slow such alternative efforts as the focus shifts to eliminating obstacles for business.
356-2466