UCC Joins Nationwide Policy Efforts for Clean Fuel, Vehicles & Infrastructure at Energy Independence Summit in Washington, D.C.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – February 5th, 2020.
Utah Clean Cities Executive Director, Tammie Bostick, and Senior Project Manager, Emily Paskett, will join clean transportation leaders from across the nation next week in Washington, D.C. to educate federal policymakers on the need to accelerate America’s adoption of alternative fuels and advanced vehicle technologies. Bostick and Paskett will participate in the Energy Independence Summit 2020, the nation’s premier clean transportation policy event, onFebruary 10-12.
While there has been a recent drop in gasoline prices, they remain extremely volatile, and the U.S. continues to send more than $200 billion per year to OPEC and other nations for oil, stated Bostick. According to Bostick, the transition to alternative fuels must support America’s growing economy and secure a healthy future for our communities.
“We are traveling to Washington D.C. to ensure that our Utah legislative delegates understand that the U.S. and Utah must strategically expand our use of stateside fuels. To stabilize all fuel prices and decrease our reliance on imported oil, we must increase our renewable fuel portfolio and lessen our dependence on fossil fuels in the transportation and energy sector,” she said. “For Utah, the message is clear: we must tackle our serious air quality issues with the goal of zero emissions at the tailpipe.”
The Clean Cities Coalition Network, encompassing over 90 coalitions, is the ideal model for the future of transportation and supports American jobs and advances American technologies fueled by state-side energy innovation and resilient energy resources. This model is designed to be clean, renewable and sustainable. “In the end game, it is the resilience strategy we must set as our unwavering goal,” Bostick stated.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, there are approximately 1.8 million alternative fuel vehicles on the road in the U.S. and 87,000 alternative fueling stations. Utah has more than 50,000 alternative fuel vehicles on its roads and over 900 AFV fueling stations and alternative fuel corridors completed and new designations soon to be completed. Along the population-dense Wasatch Front and rural Utah communities, Utah Clean Cities Coalition continues to support the adoption of alternative fuels for both private and public fleets. Utah fleets lead the nation with advanced technologies and smart mobility.
Leading fleets and projects using advanced fuels are highlighted below:
- Park City’s full-electric bus system, Electric Express, has traveled the most electrified miles in the nation. This innovative fleet program is supported by the WestSmart EV project funded by the Department of Energy Clean Cities Vehicle Technologies program led by Utah’s major electric utility Rocky Mountain Power and state and regional partnerships.
- WestSmart EV project completed the Interstate-15 electric corridor with multiple stakeholders throughout the state focusing immediately on rural, gateway communities. This project was supported by the Utah Clean Cities ground-breaking infrastructure Live and Work Electric workplace charging program.
- Jordan School District houses the largest natural gas bus fleet in the state and models carbon benefiting transportation and unprecedented savings for their district.
- ACE Recycling & Disposal is one of the first large fleets to begin using renewable natural gas (RNG) in over one hundred refuse haulers.
- Salt Lake City International Airport upgraded its compressed natural gas (CNG) fleet shuttle system using smart mobility expertise to add renewable fuels to their fueling stations creating carbon-benefiting to their low emission fleet.
- Dominion Energy advanced Utah energy portfolios with H.B. 107 which expands the Sustainable Transportation and Energy Plan Act (STEP) to include the large-scale development and use of renewable fuels in transportation and energy.
- Utah Transit Authority (UTA) has reduced its emissions by more than half by diversifying its fleet since 2008. UTA demonstrates smart mobility resilience with a long-term goal of evenly converting their fleet to include CNG, electric and hybrid fuels.
Transportation Energy Partners (TEP), the summit organizer, reports that summit participants will have the opportunity to interact with top administration officials, including leaders from the Departments of Energy, Transportation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Moreover, summit participants will have the ability to relay the need for ongoing federal support for alternatives to petroleum-based fuels to more than 250 congressional offices.
“American industry has demonstrated the ability to produce high performing technology to meet the demand for cleaner fuels and vehicles,” stated Alleyn Harned, President of Transportation Energy Partners. “However, insufficient and inconsistent government incentives and support hinder companies’ ability to make the long-term investments required to sustain these clean transportation solutions. We need stable and predictable federal investments to enable fleets and technology developers to make sound, long-term planning and investment decisions.”
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Utah’s Alternative Fuel Portfolio:
- Utah has a complete natural gas (CNG & RNG), liquified natural gas (LNG), autogas and electric vehicle (EV) corridor along I15 with future developing corridors along I80 and I70.
- 941 stations in Utah offer alternative fuels.
- Utilities, Rocky Mountain and Dominion Energy, both have Sustainable Transportation Energy Plans(STEP).
- Utah has 10 Idle Free Cities and State Idle Free Laws to protect air quality and decrease emissions in our communities and workplaces.
- 28 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 achieve state and federal mandates and implement sound business practices to tackle the serious nonattainment conditions in our state.
About: Transportation Energy Partners Web: transportationenergypartners.org
Transportation Energy Partners (TEP) is a national non-profit organization that brings Clean Cities coalition leaders together with the clean transportation industry to advance policies that will reduce American dependence on petroleum-based fuels. TEP works closely with and provides policy support to the nearly 90 Clean Cities coalitions and their 15,000 stakeholders in 45 states and the District of Columbia. Since 1993, the Clean Cities coalitions have played a leading role in implementing local programs and projects to deploy alternative fuels, vehicles and infrastructure. The Clean Cities coalitions and their stakeholders have displaced more than 11.5 billion gallons of petroleum through the use of alternative fuels and vehicles, hybrid-electric vehicles, idle reduction technologies, fuel economy, and low-level fuel blends.