October 15, 2007

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:
Kristin Bromley, Ransome CAT
Eric Cheung, Clean Air Council
Fred Cummings, City of Philadelphia Division of Aviation
Megan Gould, EPA Region 3
Darlene Heep, City of Philadelphia Law Department
Tom Holl, Ransome CAT
Thomas Huynh, City of Philadelphia, Air Management Services
Sean Greene, DVRPC
Bill Jones, EPA Region 3
Alison Riley, City of Philadelphia, Air Management Services
Lorna Rosenberg, EPA Region 3
Brinda Shetty, Greater Philadelphia Clean Cities
Dan Snowden, PennDOT
Barbara Wilson, Krapf Bus Co.

MINUTES TAKEN BY:
Eric Cheung

INTRODUCTIONS
Alison welcomed the group and announced a change in the agenda with the monthly presentation going first at the request of the guest speaker.

MONTHLY PRESENTATION:
U.S. EPA Region 3 Green Buildings Coordinator Lorna Rosenberg presented on the Delaware Valley Green Building Council (DVGBC). She was funded by the EPA to serve as Executive Director of DVGBC for three years during the organization's infancy.

DVGBC is a chapter of the U.S. Green Buildings Council. The U.S. Green Buildings Council works to transform how communities and buildings are designed, built and operated. Green Buildings design is a growing field and the U.S. Green Buildings Council offers a number of services: stewardship, tools, education, expertise and a forum for industry dialogue. It has grown from 61 members in 1996 to 7,600 in 2006. Only organizations can be members. There are over 70 regional chapters of the U.S. Green Buildings Council, including DVGBC.

Lorna explained that buildings are a significant source of environmental problems: 12% of water use in America, 30% of greenhouse gases produced, 65% of waste output and 70% of electricity consumption. Taking steps to green buildings can result in a 30 - 50% savings in water use, a 35% reduction in the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, a 50 - 90% reduction in waste output and 30% reduction in electricity usage.

The energy savings expected through greening buildings also results in economic benefits, Lorna added. Furthermore, the U.S. Green Buildings Council is working with insurance companies to offer lower rates for green-certified offices. Other benefits that have been attributed to green buildings include increased productivity in green offices, improved test scores in green schools, earlier discharges in green hospitals and increased sales in green retail stores. The Microsoft School of the Future, which opened in West Philadelphia last year, is a LEED-certified school. Lorna asserted that those who occupy a green building perceive the value of working in such an environment and behave concordantly, which leads to lower operating and maintenance costs.

Lorna explained that the main green certification designation is known as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). Other green certifications exist, but LEED requires a third party to grant the certification to a particular building design. LEED works by scoring a candidate building in a number of categories that assess environmental impact: site planning, water management, energy management, materials use, indoor air quality and innovation and design. The scores are totaled up and that total determines whether the building can be LEED-certified.

Beyond basic LEED-certification, a building can receive silver, gold, or platinum level certification depending on how green it is. LEED certification is commonly used to assess new commercial or office buildings, but other programs are being developed to evaluate existing buildings and homes. As of 2006, 642 million square feet of buildings have been LEED-certified. Pennsylvania is among the states with the most LEED-certified buildings (173), due to efforts in the Pittsburgh area. Lorna noted a growing movement to have municipalities adopt LEED requirements as part of their building code, but that has yet to catch on in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Lorna explained that while LEED-certification was available for green design, a separate program is being developed for the construction industry. This program, called Green Advantage, trains contractors about what it entails to construct a green building. Just because a building has been designed environmentally, Lorna warned, it does not necessarily follow that the construction company will implement the project in accordance with the design. Contractors need to be educated on green building concepts in order to implement the designer's plans.

The Green Advantage program provides an opportunity for PDD to reach out to construction companies, said Lorna. While the construction companies learn about green design, they can also learn about the use of clean diesel technologies in their equipment. Moreover, U.S. EPA is working with the U.S. Green Building Council to incorporate the use of clean diesel technologies into the scoring system for LEED-certification. Accordingly, Lorna sees cross-over between PDD and Green Buildings.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Alison announced the City's "Change A Light" campaign, which is intended to make the City's buildings more energy efficient using compact fluorescent light bulbs. City Council is considering new bills concerning waste and preferred parking for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

Work continues on installing a biodiesel fuel tank for use by all city vehicles. This tank will be purchased with financial assistance through the state's AFIG program. Alison added that work continues on retrofitting the City's fire trucks using money awarded from the Mid-Atlantic Diesel Collaborative. This money will be matched with Sunoco settlement funds.

SEPTA recently announced that it is purchasing 400 hybrid electric buses for its fleet. On October 16, 2007, PADEP proposed regulations that will restrict unnecessary idling across the state. Lastly, the City's Green plan is being rolled out through the Managing Director's Office.

PHILADELPHIA DIESEL DIFFERENCE ACTIVITIES UPDATE:
Eric reported that he and Alison attended the Mid-Atlantic Diesel Collaborative's workshop in September. Bill Jones elaborated on the event by explaining that 35 people came together to assess the Collaborative and its future, given it has been in existence for two years. Some have complained of stakeholder fatigue resulting in decreased participation and a loss of momentum because the large amounts of anticipated federal funding for retrofits have failed to materialize. Bill expects recommendations that came out of the workshop to be publicized in the future. One likely change will be to decrease the frequency of work group meetings to once a quarter. In addition, goods movement, construction and urban sectors will have their own work groups, while the school bus sector will meet on an ad hoc basis when grants become available. Returning to the subject of green buildings, Bill added that Megan Gould is the person developing a clean construction training module for use in the Green Advantage program.

Barbara Wilson asked if anyone knew anything about energy efficiency being included in Act 44. Dan Snowden of PennDOT said he could look into it.

Eric said that he was interviewed about air quality in Philadelphia for Self magazine's upcoming December issue. He mentioned the impact the transportation sector had on air quality and that clean diesel technologies were part of the solution.

COMMITTEE UPDATES:
Eric reminded everyone of the upcoming Ports workshop on November 1, 2007. He added that the next Ports stakeholder meeting will be October 18, 2007. He noted that the Council's existing National Clean Diesel Campaign grant may have some funds left over because Cummins Power systems did not spend it all with its retrofit projects at Packer and Tioga. He said the Council will consider using the excess funds to pay the incremental cost of using ULSD fuel at the terminals. Bill suggested paying for other types of retrofit technologies, such as flow-through filters.

GRANT UPDATES:
Eric reported that EPA Region 3 has issued an RFP for projects that reduce diesel emissions at the ports. Projects can cost anywhere from $250,000 to $750,000 and are to be completed within a two-year period. Bill expounded on the RFP saying that even if EPA could not cover the full costs of a proposed project, money awarded could simply be to start the project off with the understanding that EPA would look to put more money into the project in later years. EPA is expecting to receive $50 million in DERA funding in the future, which would mean $4 million - $5 million for Region 3. Bill added that he is trying to advocate on behalf of Pennsylvania to be awarded EPA Mobile Source funding for its anti-idling education initiative it proposed this summer. As for Clean School Bus funds, school districts in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, and Hampton Roads all were awarded money for retrofits. Finally, concerning the Port RFP, Bill stressed that EPA is unlikely to be interested in funding projects that other terminals are doing on their own, such as electrifying gantry cranes. He thinks anti-idling and APU projects involving switchers and other locomotives would be of interest. Moreover, these technologies would present economic savings for the goods movement sector. Alison suggested this could be a good opportunity for a meeting of the rail industry.

Eric reported that Clean Air Council was one of the plaintiffs in American Electric Power Service Corporation (AEP) case that was recently settled for $4.6 billion. As part of the settlement of this case involving violations of the Clean Air Act's New Source Review provision, AEP agreed to fund supplemental environmental projects, which could include diesel retrofits and truck stop electrification. Eric clarified, however, that any clean diesel projects resulting from this settlement would be limited to Western and Southwestern Pennsylvania, which are the only regions in the state impacted by AEP's violations.

ONE MINUTE UPDATES:
Dan Snowden requested an update on where Philadelphia stands with its clean diesel construction requirement. Alison said the City's government is in a transitional period with a new mayor poised to take over. Thus, progress may have stalled. Darlene inquired what PennDOT would think about having clean diesel construction language in connection with the South Street Bridge renovation project.

Brinda Shetty said the Philadelphia International Airport and Clean Cities started an "Adopt-A-Watt" program in January. The idea is to get sponsorships to pay for solar energy to be used as a source of electricity at the Airport. If there are enough sponsorships, the Airport can use some of the money for other pollution-reduction measures. Brinda also mentioned that Clean Energy is interested in starting a CNG-powered waste hauler demonstration project. Brinda then announced that her last Clean Cities meeting will be Thursday, October 18, 2007. She is stepping down after this meeting and Dennis Winters is replacing her as coordinator.

Sean Greene said that DVRPC's next Board meeting will be held October 25, 2007. They may make a decision about a competitive round of CMAQ funding at this meeting.

Megan Gould reiterated that she is working on a clean diesel training module geared towards construction companies.

Bill said EPA is working on regulations governing diesel emissions from locomotives and small and medium marine engines. Additionally, Bill said greenhouse gas rulemaking is moving rapidly in the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision. He expects regulations to come out in December.

Eric noted that his co-worker at the Council is on mayoral candidate Michael Nutter's environmental policy committee and that she has mentioned diesel retrofits. Alison is interested in finding out what kinds of organizational changes to expect with a new administration.

Fred Cummings reported that the Airport is ready to roll out its plans to become greener.

NEXT MEETING AND LOCATION:
The next meeting will be held November 19, 2007 at DVRPC.