Governor Herbert Signs 12th Annual Alternative Fuels Awareness Month Declaration
Date: Monday, November 2nd
Time of the event: 11 – 12 p.m.
Location: Virtual Event
Website: http://utahcleancities.org/event/alternative-fuels-declaration-2020/
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GOVERNOR HERBERT SIGNS 12TH ANNUAL
ALTERNATIVE FUELS AWARENESS MONTH DECLARATION
Nov 2, 2020 — Salt Lake City, Utah
Leaders and organizations virtually gathered for the 12th Annual Governor’s Declaration in celebrating Alternative Fuels Awareness Month for November. This public and private partnership works to advance green, clean transportation and infrastructure. This year’s virtual event was designed to engage a diverse audience and aims to educate on the topic of renewable alternative fuels, emission reductions and focuses on the high tech scene of advanced vehicle technologies such as electrified roads, autonomous vehicles and real world fleets using renewable fuels. Fast tracking the integration of advanced fuel technologies assuredly boosts Utah’s overall economy, fosters academic ingenuity and benefits the transportation sector as a whole by offering the most modern and state-of-the-art transportation models within the state, region and nation.
The Governor’s Declaration highlights key real world successes in Utah demonstrating the integration of low and zero-emissions transportation options and furthermore calls for the continued expansion of infrastructure for alternative fuels. The declaration notes the emerging portfolio of advanced fueled vehicles, both public and private, including fuels produced from Utah-sourced agricultural and municipal wastes, for renewable sourced electric, propane, compressed natural gas, and biodiesel making all renewable alternative fuels carbon benefitting and beyond zero emissions.
The Annual Declaration for Alternative Fuels Awareness Month in Utah began in 2008 and has since drawn local and national interest. This year’s declaration will be read by Utah Clean Cities Board President and Innovation Director of ASPIRE at Utah State University, Dr. David Christensen. Highlighted were several key successes realized to date, including the developing infrastructure in Utah with leadership from the Utah Inland Port Authority, the eight-state agreement to advance an electric vehicle corridor across the west, Utah’s gateway communities taking the lead with the world’s favorite National Park, and the largest environmental health department advancing one of the most electrified fleets in the state. In total, 1,594 stations across Utah offer alternative fuels, including CNG, RNG, LNG, autogas and electric, many along its most traveled corridors: I-15, I-80 and I-70.
Our event speakers included:
- Tammie Bostick, Executive Director of Utah Clean Cities
- Dr. David Christensen, Innovation Director of ASPIRE, Utah State University
- Jack Hedge, Executive Director of the Utah Inland Port Authority
- Dr. Royal DeLegge, Director of the Salt Lake County Environmental Health Department
- Brent Chamberlain, Commissioner of Kane County & EVZion Shuttle
Utah continues to be at the forefront of emerging electrification technologies, thus leading the world through research conducted at Utah State University’s newly established National Science Foundation project: Advancing Sustainability through Powered Infrastructure for Roadway Electrification (ASPIRE) — a diverse network of faculty, students, key industry members and stakeholders pursuing research that enable widespread electrification of all vehicle classes, improved air quality, and public infrastructure that provides an inexpensive, seamless charging experience.
As a key highlight, Utah Clean Cities has committed to advancing two Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies programs cooperative agreements — EVZion Electric Shuttle and CORWest. EVZion aims to develop and deploy a small-scale EV shuttle system through the east side of ZNP to increase connectivity across Southern Utah and act as a national model. The CORWest project connects eight western regional states – Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming – developing electric corridors in rural, gateway communities across the intermountain region that will make it possible to drive an electric vehicle across rural and scenic roadways corridors in the west.
These two projects are expected to generate more than three million in revenue for the state over the next three years with federal, state and local funding.
“EVZion and our advocacy for the EV market will benefit the Intermountain West Region as both projects support consumer education, stakeholder engagement and urban and rural infrastructure development of electric vehicle charging through the expansion of alternative fuel corridors,” said Tammie Bostick, Executive Director of Utah Clean Cities.
Zion National Park is the fourth most visited park in our National Park system with approximately 4.5 million recreational visitors per year and a propane shuttle bus system that serves 6.8 million riders per year. While this increase in tourism has positively impacted tourism and the surrounding local businesses and communities, the issue of traffic congestion has created urban pollution, noise and congestion problems for these parks and communities. Utah Clean Cities along with EVZion project partners, including Kane County, aim to provide a solution to this problem.
“As a gateway to [Zion National Park] Kane County, in conjunction with Utah Clean Cities, has established EVZion, which is an effort that will help Zion National Park address the issue of congestion and provide a clean alternative fuel for visitors who want to see the park in a way that they haven’t seen it before,” said Brent Chamberlain, Kane County Commissioner. “We’re really excited about the concept of being able to provide an alternative mode of transportation to visit ZNP. We appreciate the efforts of Utah Clean Cities. Without their support and the State of Utah, this project wouldn’t have been possible.”
According to the Executive Director of the Utah Inland Port Authority (UIPA), Jack Hedge, the UIPA has signed landmark agreements with partners such as Rocky Mountain Power and Dominion Energy that are primarily designed to forge strategies that decarbonize transportation in Salt Lake City and throughout the state of Utah. Furthermore, with the infrastructure being built by the UIPA the integration of alternative fuels will be a key strategy to improving air quality and providing broader accessibility for advanced vehicle technologies.
“[UIPA is] focused on building infrastructure so that the users can deploy their equipment, trucks, buses, cargo handling equipment, railroad engines all with these lower emissions fuels and really have a dramatic impact on the air we breathe every day. This is not well into the future, this is stuff we are doing right now,” said Jack Hedge, Utah Inland Port Authority Executive Director.
In recent years, several municipalities have committed to diversifying their fleets with alternative fuels, including Salt Lake City, St. George, Sandy City, Park City and now the gateway community of Kanab. Additionally, the Salt Lake City International Airport is working to continue to expand and fully convert to advanced fuels, including renewable natural gas (RNG) and electric. Technologically advanced, zero-emission fleet vehicle and fueling adoption among the private-sector continues to rise as well, with initiatives established by Geneva Rock, a construction business based in Orem; Packsize, a sustainable, world-wide packaging company; and ACE Recycling and Disposal; Momentum Recycling; and Waste Management.
“Fossil fuel emissions from vehicles currently comprise about 45% of the air pollution in Salt Lake County. Reducing these pollutants through the expanded use of alternative fuel vehicles helps to mitigate adverse health outcomes and promotes improvements in public health,” said Dr. Royal DeLegge, Director of the Salt Lake County Health Department.
We invite you to join Utah Clean Cities for a reading of our 12th Annual Alternative Fuels Awareness Month Governor’s Declaration 2020 on Monday, November 2, 2020 at 11 – 12 p.m. MST. Register for the event here: http://utahcleancities.org/event/alternative-fuels-declaration-2020/
Press Opportunities: If you were unable to attend this virtual event but are interested in event coverage, contact Emily Paskett from Utah Clean Cities for interview opportunities and video recording of the declaration reading: emily.paskett@utahcleancities.org
Utah’s Alternative Fuel profile:
- Utah has a complete natural gas (CNG & RNG), liquified natural gas (LNG), autogas and electric (EV) corridor along I-15 with future pending corridors along I-80 and I-70
- 1,596 stations offer alternative fuels
- 33 laws and incentives in Utah have been passed related to alternative fuels and advanced vehicles
About Utah Clean Cities
Web: utahcleancities.org
The mission of the Utah Clean Cities Coalition is to advance the energy, economic, and environmental security of the United States by supporting local decisions to adopt practices that reduce the use of petroleum in the transportation sector. Working closely with the Department of Energy’s Clean Cities programs, federal and state government, as well as our local stakeholders, we leverage our resources to bring funding into Utah to support the development and deployment of advanced fuel infrastructure and vehicles with an emphasis on renewable energies and technologies. We are committed to expanding transportation modeling by offering consultation services to access proven, state-of-the-art technological vehicles and equipment with proven return on investment for smart mobility fleets. We are here to support actionable steps to meet the challenges of our carbon-constrained world, to meet state and federal mandates, and implement sound business practices to tackle the serious nonattainment conditions in our state.