The Philadelphia Diesel Difference - Working Group Meeting
Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC)
Pennsylvania New Jersey Room
The Bourse Building
111 S. Independence Mall East, 8th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19106

IN ATTENDANCE:

Brett Alkins, Johnson Matthey, Inc.
Kevin Benson, Cummins Power Systems/Fleetguard
April Birnbaum, Air Management Services, Department of Public Health, Philadelphia
Ray Chalmers, U.S. EPA Region III
Eric Cheung, Clean Air Council
Dana DuBovis, Clean Air Council
Morris Fine, Air Management Services, Department of Public Health, Philadelphia
Kirt Flowers, Amtrak
John Hadalski, City of Philadelphia, Managing Director's Office
Peg Hanna, New Jersey DEP
Dale Krapf, Krapf Bus Companies
Jack LeBeau, Rentar
Mike McClurkin, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission
Robert Neff, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission
Bill Ross, Sprague Energy

MINUTES TAKEN BY:

Eric Cheung

INTRODUCTIONS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Mr. Morris Fine, Director of Air Management Services, Department of Public Health, City of Philadelphia, reviewed the status of various projects Philadelphia Diesel Difference has been overseeing. First, PDD offered grant-writing assistance to the City of Philadelphia Fleet Management and SEPTA in applying for the $1.5 million EPA diesel RFP, which was due earlier this month. The Philadelphia Fleet application was to retrofit 129 trash compactors. The SEPTA application was for a subsidy to cover ULSD for 69 vehicles. Second, Mr. Fine noted that the EPA Region 3 grant to West Chester School District will pay for DPFs to be installed on six Krapfs school buses. Third, Dale Krapf has signed the PDD Charter as the President of the National School Transportation Association. Charter signatories can be found online at http://www.cleanair.org/dieseldifference/about/charter.htm. Lastly, Amtrak is making progress with its initiative to install DOCs on 14 trucks, which it is funding itself. Kirt Flowers is pushing for the work to be done in August or September. Lubrizol is the company handling the retrofits.

In other announcements, Morris reminded participants that this is April's last meeting as the PDD Coordinator. She is leaving to attend law school. There will be a Happy Hour in April's honor on August 4th. Details will be sent via email. April's duties will be transferred to Eric. The program Eric formerly coordinated, Greater Philadelphia Clean Cities, is now being handled by Nathalie Shapiro of the Energy Cooperative Association of PA.

John Hadalski requested that PDD take steps to have SEPTA participate in group meetings more regularly. Morris responded that PDD has tried to get SEPTA to come numerous times by phone, to no avail. John suggested a more formal approach, such as a letter to SEPTA. Morris said he will work on this.

REPORT FROM THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE SUB-COMMITTEE:

Eric reported on the July 7 conference call meeting of this Sub-Committee. The Sub- Committee met to discuss changes to the Organizational Structure document to establish a procedure by which a representative for fleets could be selected to serve on the Executive Committee of PDD. The Sub-Committee approved language that would require the position to be chosen by lot from among a group of fleets who expressed a willingness to serve. In addition, the Organizational Structure language concerning the Executive Committee fleet representative was clarified to indicate that both public and private fleets are eligible to serve. Kirt Flowers moved to adopt the Organizational Structure language recommended by the Sub-Committee and Jack LeBeau seconded the motion. Because this motion involved decision-making procedures, the Working Group voted as a whole. The motion carried unanimously.

CLEAN AIR COUNCIL ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Eric said that the Council has sent out PDD materials to all school district and municipality fleet managers in the region. So far there has only been a limited response, which the Council will follow up with. Working Group members suggested other venues to reach out to municipal and school district representatives including county public works departments, DVRPC's Regional Transportation and Regional Citizens Committees, county intermediate units, and associations of school district fleets. Morris asked the Working Group members to contact Eric if interested in helping to follow-up with fleets who express interest in PDD. Jack LeBeau said he would work with Eric to reach out to Abington School District and Township. Dale Krapf said he can help Eric obtain useful contacts with school district fleet associations.

Eric reminded Working Group members to continue to consult the PDD website (www.cleanair.org/dieseldifference) , which is regularly being improved. The website will include a general powerpoint developed by April for Working Group members to use if they need it to present the PDD organization to a willing audience. Also, Eric noted that the Council is developing a PDD newsletter to be distributed on a quarterly basis.

CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP ACTION PLAN AND DISCUSSION:

Eric presented the Council's corporate sponsorship plan to the PDD group. The plan sets out three types of corporate fundraising that should be considered: 1) stakeholder membership; 2) Adopt-A-School Bus and 3) general corporate support. Membership dues are specifically for those private and public entities that actively participate in the work of the PDD and want to ensure the organization can sustain itself. Funding collected through such dues can be used either to help pay for retrofits or to cover the operational costs of the organization. The Adopt-A-School Bus campaign ties corporate sponsorship to specific school district fleets that the corporation wants to be associated with. Lastly, general corporate sponsorship is money given by corporations to support the general work of promoting clean diesel technologies. Such corporations may not desire to be actively involved in PDD but may see the value of contributing to the cause that PDD is promoting. The Council believes that membership dues and Adopt-A-School Bus are the more fruitful fundraising possibilities. With membership dues, the targets have already demonstrated their commitment to PDD and a package of membership benefits can be put together to reward their contribution. Eric pointed to the Philadelphia Clean Cities program as a good model for how membership dues can work to help sustain an organization. With Adopt-A-School Bus, positive public relations are fairly easy to reap as communities can see a direct link between their school districts and the corporate sponsor. General corporate sponsorships, however, take time to obtain and there would be fewer opportunities for good public relations.

John Hadalski expressed support for the concept of membership dues and definitely thinks public entities like his department should be willing to offer contributions, particularly if they serve on the Executive Committee. John further stated that if PDD wanted contributions from his department, it needs to act soon because of the City's budget cycle. Morris said that AMS could also use membership dues as a contributing mechanism. He added that AMS, through its own resources, already supplements the contractual work being done by the Council to administrate PDD. The group as a whole agreed that in order to begin soliciting membership dues, the group must come up with a list of membership benefits that can persuade payment. One member suggested that the quarterly newsletter include ads for those members who pay their dues. Morris directed Eric to draft solicitation letters to corporation and governmental organizations for membership dues. He also asked for a meeting of the Corporate Sponsorship Sub-Committee before the next PDD Working Group meeting to assist with the letters and the list of membership benefits. Eric will send out an email to all PDD members to see who else is interested in participating in this meeting aside from the existing Sub-Committee members.

Dale Krapf and Brett Alkins mentioned legislators as another source of funding, either through "Walking Around Money" (WAM) at the state level or earmarks or appropriations at the federal level. Dale said he will look into the idea of getting money from interested state lawmakers. He offered State Senator Thompson as one possibility. Morris cautioned that he would need Health Department guidance before seeking the involvement of political figures. These topics will be explored more during the Corporate Sponsorship Sub-Committee.

NEXT MEETING AND LOCATION:

The next Diesel Difference Workgroup Meeting will tentatively be held from 10 AM until 12 PM in September at the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission's Pennsylvania/ New Jersey Room, The Bourse Building, 111 S. Independence Mall East, 8th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19106. It is tentatively scheduled for September 20, 2004. There will be no Working Group meeting in August.