IN ATTENDANCE:

Roy Deitchman, Amtrak
Barbara Wilson, Krapf Bus Co.
Emily Bockian Landsburg, Energy Cooperative of PA
Nathalie Shapiro, Energy Cooperative of PA/Greater Philadelphia Clean Cities
Fred Cummings, Philadelphia International Airport
Joe Grinkewicz, School District of Philadelphia
Darlene Heep, Law Department of Philadelphia
Dale Krapf, Krapf Bus Co.
Kirt Flowers, Amtrak
Tim Shepherd, Maryland Dept. of the Environment
Lonnie Richmond, Maryland Dept. of the Environment
Eric Cheung, Philadelphia Diesel Difference/Clean Air Council
Kevin Benson, Cummins Power Systems/Fleetguard
Barry Cottrell, Freedom International Trucks
Morris Fine, Philadelphia Health Department Air Management Services
Jack Schweitzer, Amtrak
William Campbell, SEDC - Biodiesel
Hallie Comer, Philadelphia Health Department Air Management Services
Alvaro Alvarado, US EPA Region 3
Ray Chalmers, US EPA Region 3
Perry Pandya, US EPA Region 3
John Hadalski, Philadelphia Managing Office
Chris Thomas, Philadelphia Managing Office
Urszula Miezio, Johnson Matthey

MINUTES TAKEN BY:

Eric Cheung

INTRODUCTIONS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Morris opened the meeting by talking about the expected announcement of a Toyota Settlement RFP. This opportunity will provide up to $20 million to pay for diesel retrofits in school district bus fleets. Morris noted that the Executive Committee met in August to discuss a plan to coordinate applications for this RFP. The Committee agreed to the plan and Eric sent out letters to the four major retrofit vendors involved with the group (Lubrizol, Johnson Matthey, Englehard and Donaldson) inviting them to contact school districts that have indicated to PDD an interest in diesel retrofits. PDD intends to submit one application for the Toyota Settlement funding on behalf of school district fleets in the greater Philadelphia region. In this way PDD can prevent school district fleets from competing for the same source of money and can offer a larger proposal than any single school district could offer. If PDD receives funding, it would be the regional administrator for the school bus fleets involved. PDD has made it clear that vendors wanting to work with PDD have to convince school districts to work with them in applying for funding. In addition the vendors must be willing to help write the application and must agree to do any needed fleet assessments without charging the school districts. PDD anticipates having multiple vendors working with separate school districts as part of its "umbrella" proposal for Toyota Settlement monies.

Morris also mentioned that Clean Air Council and AMS worked together to submit a proposal to US EPA under its Innovations grant program earlier this month. This RFP offers $50,000 for two projects nationwide that demonstrate an "innovative" way to improve air quality. The AMS project involves doing outreach to out-of-town tour bus fleets on limiting their engine idling.

Lastly Morris called everyone's attention to a report that the Environmental Defense Fund was set to release entitled "The Dangerous Days of Summer." The report ranks the Top 50 cities by the number of children suffering from asthma in connection with the percentage of unhealthful days each city experienced during the summer. Philadelphia is high on the list. The report concludes with steps cities can take to help improve air quality, including the specific mention of diesel retrofits. Morris noted that the report showcased New York City's diesel retrofit program as a good model to emulate. He hopes that next year Philadelphia will also be singled out for its accomplishments.

REPORT FROM THE CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP SUB-COMMITTEE:

Eric reviewed the minutes of the Corporate Sponsorship sub-committee meeting, which was held by conference call early in September. The sub-committee was charged with fleshing out the details of a membership dues structure and to consider how PDD could work with lawmakers to obtain additional funding for clean diesel projects. The group came up with a list of benefits to offer potential contributors that could entice them to provide a donation to PDD. Some of these benefits were of a general nature that highlighted why the program should be given support for its own sake because of how important it was to the region. Whether an entity gave money to PDD or not, they would still enjoy these benefits. The other types of benefits were specific items that would be offered directly to the contributor as a sign of appreciation (e.g., name on PDD letterhead, ads in PDD quarterly newsletters). Eric drafted a solicitation letter that incorporated the general benefits and a "membership benefits" list for those perks that are specifically tied to donations.

There was discussion among the Working Group members about how to refer to these payments. Because PDD has decided not to make paying membership dues a requirement for becoming a Working Group member, some felt that the money being requested ought to be referred to as contributions and not membership dues. Those representing public entities said that agencies generally cannot provide sponsorships but can pay for "membership dues." Morris asked Eric to send around the draft solicitation letter and membership benefits list and have Working Group members provide feedback and suggestions in terms of how the language could be made more acceptable. Eric will make sure that those entities that need "membership dues" language will be invoiced accordingly when the time comes.

Eric added that the Sub-committee deferred to the Working Group on a discussion of whether to create multiple membership contribution categories. Addressing this topic, the consensus of the Working Group members was that they prefer having multiple contribution categories with suggested levels of donations. The different categories should be determined according to the size of the organization looking to provide contributions. Morris directed Eric to propose a membership category system for the next Working Group meeting, after emailing the Working Group for suggestions and comments.

OUTREACH UPDATE:

Eric reiterated that PDD is currently working with school districts and vendors to come up with retrofit projects for Toyota Settlement funding consideration. Eric explained that the decision to have vendors contact school districts directly to develop retrofit project ideas is different from what PDD had envisioned before. Originally, PDD had intended to work with districts itself to develop project ideas without vendor involvement. Once the project ideas had been fleshed out, then vendors could compete with each other to work with those districts to submit for funding. After a meeting of the Executive Committee in August, PDD decided that it would be faster to have vendors directly work with school districts instead of waiting for the group to vet them. The fact that Toyota Settlement might be available shortly underscored the need to be able to move quickly with putting together retrofit projects for funding. Even if these projects are not chosen for funding under the Toyota Settlement, Morris added that he is anticipating a number of local enforcement opportunities that may provide additional opportunities for retrofit funding.

There was some discussion about whether private contractors could apply for funding under the Toyota Settlement. PDD will not know the answer for certain until the RFP comes out. Parties interested in monitoring Toyota Settlement funding can check the following site: www.cleanbusforkids.com.

Eric also reminded Working Group members that Pennsylvania's Alternative Fuels Incentive Grant (AFIG) program has money available for alternative fuel projects through October 1. Eric asked members whether any fleets in the area were planning on submitting applications. So far, Eric noted he only knew about Lower Merion School District's intent to apply for AFIG funding to upgrade and expand its natural gas refueling station.

CLEAN SCHOOL BUS COALITION:

Eric announced the formation of a Clean School Bus coalition for the Philadelphia region that coordinates all outreach efforts to reduce diesel emissions from school bus fleets. The Coalition was born out of a meeting between Eric and Greater Philadelphia Clean Cities Coordinator Nathalie Shapiro. Even though the two groups emphasize different solutions to the problems (PDD promotes diesel retrofits and Clean Cities focuses on alternative fuels), the end result is the same. Eric and Nathalie believe that presenting one unified entity for school bus fleets to interact with will avoid confusion and annoyance arising out of the duplication of outreach efforts. Eric will send out an email to PDD stakeholders calling for volunteers to participate in Clean School Bus Coalition meetings. The first meeting will be held in October and will lay the groundwork for how the Coalition will operate.

FLEET REPRESENTATIVE TO THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:

Only two fleets volunteered to be considered for the fleet representative position on the PDD Executive Committee: Amtrak and Krapf Bus Company. Ray Chalmers flipped a coin and it was determined that Amtrak will serve as the Fleet representative for the next year. The Executive Committee is now made up of the following members: Philadelphia Health Department, Philadelphia Managing Office, PA DEP, US EPA Region 3, DVRPC, Clean Air Council and Amtrak.

MONTHLY PRESENTATION:

Alvaro Alvarado from U.S. EPA Region 3 presented the findings of a report he has been working on detailing the health and economic impact attributable to diesel vehicles. Alvaro said that the modeling used to determine his findings were based on data from the 1999 National Air Toxics inventory. Alvaro stated his research indicated two-thirds of all diesel pollution in the Philadelphia region comes from "off-road" sources like construction equipment and marine vessels. After some discussion and clarification the Working Group determined that while PDD's current attention is directed towards on-road vehicles, its Vision Statement enables it the flexibility to consider addressing off-road diesel sources in the future.

Turning to the impacts of diesel exhaust, Alvaro referenced a comprehensive American Cancer Society study, encompassing data from 1982 to 1998, which showed an increased likelihood in mortality, lung cancer and fatal heart attacks as a result of increased exposure to particulates. Based on its mapping of where the largest concentrations of diesel emissions are, U.S. EPA determined the impact that diesel exhaust has on a number of local health indicators, including premature deaths, asthma attacks, and non-fatal heart attacks. These statistics, in turn, could be assigned an economic value to determine the aggregate cost of diesel exhaust to the Philadelphia region. All of these findings can be seen in Alvaro's PowerPoint presentation available for download from PDD's website: http://www.cleanair.org/dieseldifference. The presentation ended with PDD members discussing how this information could be released to the public. U.S. EPA Region 3 is considering holding a workshop to present its findings to city officials.

NEXT MEETING AND LOCATION:

The next Diesel Difference Workgroup Meeting will tentatively be held from 10 AM until 12 PM October 18, 2004 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.