April 21, 2008

The Philadelphia Diesel Difference - Working Group Meeting
Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC)
190 North Independence Mall West,
8th Floor,
Philadelphia, PA 19106

IN ATTENDANCE:
Francine Carlini, PA Department of Environmental Protection
Eric Cheung, Clean Air Council
Fred Cummings, City of Philadelphia Division of Aviation
Bill Duceman, Freedom International Trucks
Sean Greene, DVRPC
Darlene Heep, City of Philadelphia Law Dept.
Thomas Huynh, City of Philadelphia, Air Management Services
Christine Knapp, PennFuture
Lisa Magee, Philadelphia Regional Port Authority
Urszula Miezio, Johnson Matthey
Mike O'Neill, Freedom International Trucks
Alison Riley, City of Philadelphia, Air Management Services
Dan Snowden, PennDOT
Barbara Wilson, Krapf Bus Co.
Dennis R. Winters, Philadelphia Clean Cities

MINUTES TAKEN BY:
Alison Riley

INTRODUCTIONS/ANNOUNCEMENTS
Alison welcomed the group and gave an update on the status of upcoming and ongoing grants. The City is still working with PennDOT on hammering out details of the construction contract language. Dan Snowden added that a Task Force has been established within PennDOT to review the language and comment. The Northeast Collaborative recently drafted their own template for others to use when considering implementing contract requirements.

At the request of the new administration, the Air Pollution Control Board meeting scheduled originally for early April has been postponed indefinitely.

The next MDC Workgroup calls are being scheduled for May, and Alison is looking for a speaker for that call if there are any suggestions.

Public Health Week went well. ECA provided workshops and AMS tabled, giving out info including PDD brochures.

MARAMA came out with a letter supporting use of state funds for regional programs such as a clean corridors initiative, or a marketing program for Region 3 (or we could partner with another region).

The City was awarded a Solar Cities grant for $200,000 from the Dept. of Energy. AMS is working with the Managing Director's Office in preparation for implementation of this program.

An RFP has been released for the Innovative Financing Grant from EPA for diesel projects. This program provides seed money for revolving loans, incentive programs, or other similar initiatives to reduce financial barriers to implementation for fleet owners.

The City, DVRPC, and other partners met to review projects for the Sustainable Skylines grant, and will be refining the grant package for EPA.

AMS is restricting use of emergency generators this summer in an effort to reduce the ozone impact on AQ Action Days.

Tom Weir has retired and is being replaced by Henry Kim as head of Program Services.

PHILADELPHIA DIESEL DIFFERENCE ACTIVITIES UPDATE:
Eric talked about the many activities CAC has been involved in for "Earth Month" including the annual 5k Run for Clean Air was on April 19th which was a great success. CAC hosted a table at this event and will also have one at DVRPC's upcoming Ozone Season Kickoff. PDD materials have become somewhat dated so Eric has ordered 500 new brochures with updated info.

Eric sent a mailing to area universities including a survey of clean diesel activities to date and a commitment form. Temple has already signed the form and Penn has sent theirs to Facilities Management.
CAC attended the most recent Clean Airports meeting and is supporting efforts to consolidate rental and other airport shuttles. Fred added that retrofits are possible for mobile refuelers and other trucks.

COMMITTEE UPDATES:
Under the Criteria Committee, Eric has completed calculations to show that Packer and Tioga terminals have reached Platinum status for their efforts, and are eligible for recognition. Eric will work on finding an appropriate means of publicizing that award. There are some scheduling difficulties with the terminal operators.

CAC applied for a second round of EPA CARE funding, and Sean Jacobs will send out a notification when the next Ports Subcommittee meeting is scheduled.

GRANT UPDATES:
The DERA grant (under National Clean Diesel Campaign) is now open, and $3.1 million is available. Temple is putting together a proposal as is National Construction. Penn-Ridge HS is looking into hybrid electric buses. Urszula clarified that private fleets can partner with public fleets for up to 50% of the funds.

ONE MINUTE UPDATES:
Urszula reported that Johnson-Matthey has had their 1000-hr durability test completed for their SCRT product, and 75% NOx reductions are being achieved. A 2002 or newer vehicle would meet 2010 standards with this technology.

Darlene said that the City is still waiting for a response from PennDOT on the contract language and that the South Street Bridge project will go out for bid in May. Dan added that a Task Force is being put together to look at the language and its possible impacts.

Lisa stated that PRPA is working with its tenants on putting together a DERA proposal. They are signing an MOU for their green ports initiative, which is focused on energy use.

Sean Greene discussed the upcoming Ozone Kickoff on Friday. It is expected that under the new ozone standards, the number of action days will increase to 30-60/yr. The event will be held at the King of Prussia mall and will highlight their electric vehicles.

Eric will be attending a 2-day conference in Harrisburg on the future of coal.

Christine notified the group that the PennFuture 10-year anniversary event will be May 3rd at the Sheraton, with Al Gore as keynote speaker. In addition, she updated the group on House Bill 2200 which would provide for energy conservation programs in every service district. Special House Bill 1 would also invest $850 mil in energy conservation, renewables, and green buildings.

Fred told the group that the airport will be having an Earth Day event in the Food Court.

Barbara noted that Villanova is using biodiesel for their shuttle service. The National School Bus Assoc. is submitting a proposal for the DERA grant which would distribute funds to individual schools.

Dennis added that Wissahickon Charter School is refining its own biodiesel from fry grease and wants to acquire more diesel buses.

MONTHLY PRESENTATION:
Christine Knapp of PennFuture talked about her role in spearheading the Next Great City initiative, which is coordinated by a partnership of environmental groups and others committed to improving the quality of life in Philadelphia by focusing on water, air, land use, and transportation issues. At its inception, the group narrowed down a list of many ideas for improving the quality of our local environment to 10 recommendations. Each of these is deemed to be: 1) within the authority of the City, 2) achievable in 1 term, 3) relevant to business and residents, 4) successful in other areas, and 5) cost-neutral or possessing an identified source of funding.

Because the final recommendation is directly relevant to the mission of PDD and the work of AMS in using and leveraging funds already set up under the recent Sunoco settlement agreement, the Diesel subgroup of this partnership has been meeting regularly after each Diesel Difference meeting. Among items discussed are opening up the scope of the recommendation to include anti-idling efforts and other fuel-reducing technologies, as well as supporting the use of contract language.

NEXT MEETING AND LOCATION:

The next meeting will be held May 19, 2008 at DVRPC.