Buncombe County Government, NC Buncombe News Updates, 17 May 2012

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From YouTube: Buncombe News Update :: Clean Air Excellence Awards

Description

Since 2004, the Western North Carolina Regional Air Quality Agency (WNCRAQA) has been giving special recognition to local businesses and other organizations that have gone above and beyond air quality rules and regulations to implement voluntary, innovative programs that reduce air pollution in our region. This year, with the assistance of the Agency's Advisory Committee, the awards program was updated and expanded to include more detailed guidelines and generate more interest from the local community. The recipients of the ninth-annual Clean Air Excellence Awards go to Bill Eaker, Environmental Services Manager at Land-of-Sky Regional Council, and to Mountain Mobility, Buncombe County's Community Transportation System.

Bill Eaker of Land-of-Sky Regional Council has over 30 years of experience in environmental, land use, and growth management planning at the local, regional, and state levels. He has worked at Land-of-Sky Regional Council since 1981 and provides technical assistance to local governments on environmental issues in the areas of air quality planning, clean vehicle technologies, and water resources management. Bill currently serves as the Coordinator of the Regional Clean Air Campaign, which he worked to establish in 1998, and the Land-of-Sky Clean Vehicles Coalition, which he established in 2004. Under Bill's leadership, the Coalition has assisted numerous public and private sector stakeholders in developing and securing grant funding for alternative fuel vehicle and infrastructure projects.

Mountain Mobility, Buncombe County's Community Transportation System, has taken proactive measures to effectively reduce the system's vehicle emissions by becoming the first community transportation system in the state of North Carolina to use alternative fuel vehicles in a paratransit fleet. A recent project funded by (ARRA) stimulus grant monies involved the conversion of 10 fleet vehicles to a dual fuel system using the PRINS Alternative Fuel System, allowing them to operate on autogas (liquid propane) in addition to gasoline. An onsite LP fueling tank was installed at the Mountain Mobility facility as a part of the project. In addition, 12 new Goshen Coach buses with dual compressed natural gas (CNG)/gasoline fuel systems were purchased to replace 11 paratransit gasoline-powered vans and one diesel-powered light transit vehicle. As a result of the project, 51% of Mountain Mobility's fleet now uses alternative fuels, which has reduced air pollution emissions, including 91.6 tons per year of greenhouse gases.

For more information about air quality in Buncombe County and Western North Carolina or for the Clean Air Excellence Program, you can visit buncombecounty.org or call 88-250-6777.

A

We have been doing air quality award since 2004 goal of the awards is to recognize organizations and businesses that have gone above and beyond your quality requirements to improve air quality. Here in our area and this year we had some assistance from our citizens advisory committee. They helped us to improve and expand on the guidelines for the awards that make them more informative and also reach out to a larger group of the public, and we actually have two recipients today that are going to receive the Clean Air Excellence Awards.

A

They are built a curve with lando sky, Regional, Council and mountain mobility, which is the Home Counties community transportation system fill a guru, Atlanta sky Regional Council has over 30 years of experience in environmental growth management and, ladies playing as the local, regional and state levels he's actually been Atlanta sky, since nineteen eighty-one and he helped established and currently heads up our regional, clean air campaign and our clean vehicles coalition.

A

Under his leadership, he has assisted numerous public entities attained, grant funding and on the project for alternative fuel vehicle and infrastructure grants. He has, in fact, through these projects, help reduce the amount of about three hundred and twenty thousand gallons of gasoline equivalent and over 2,300 tons of greenhouse gases.

A

He, the coalition that he heads up, has a fleet of over 1,300 alternative fuel vehicles and the include biodiesel, compressed natural gas, liquid propane or auto gas. Let's see EA t5, all electric hybrid electric vehicles he's managed over 50 projects, and that adds up to about nine point: eight million dollars in funding just since 2002, so he has demonstrated outstanding leadership and dedication and preserving and protecting our air quality. And so we would like to ask bill. We come up now and receive his clean air excellence award from being our Vice Chair.

B

Thank you very much. I really appreciate this. I'm accepting this award on behalf of the other staff and board members atlanta sky, Regional Council. We have a lot of different programs, Atlanta sky, that address air quality issues and energy conservation, but.

C

I especially want.

B

To thank all of our partners in our various programs, especially Western North, Carolina, regional air quality agency, the North Korea division of air quality and mount mobility and others that have participated in our programs. We, we started the clean air campaign back in 1998 to try to raise public awareness of air quality issues that some of the solutions and the local area to see progress, energy da Q and a handful of others.

B

Were you know, initial founding members of that organization, that program and I think we've done a really good job, all working together to get information out to the public on the air quality issues of what they can do about it. I think people know a lot more about it and, as a result of it, I think that it would put a lot of programs in place to reduce emissions. You.

C

Know this is an individual award.

B

But really know an individual really can't accomplish a lot unless they have the privilege, like I, do just my job is pulling people together in a room and addressing issues and coming up solutions and finding grant funds to implement for projects. So you know if we keep working together, we can continue to improve air quality here in Western, North Carolina, so I. Thank you very much. This that's really blogging Thanks.

B

A

Okay, so our next award is mountain mobility. They are welcome, counties, community transportation system and actually they are the first community transportation system, with a paratransit fleet to implement alternative fuel vehicle usage into their fleets in the state of North Carolina. So there are real leaders at this and they actually did a large project here recently funded by stimulus funds, where they converted 10 of their vehicles, to run on liquid propane, which, when you take propane and use it in a vehicle, they call that auto gasps I've learned recently. So they have 10.

C

A

Gas vehicles that can run on that auto gas or gasoline. They also use the grant funds to purchase. I believe it was 11, I'm, sorry, 12, buses that run on compressed natural gas and gasoline. So these are also dual fuel vehicles. So.

C

With the addition of these new vehicles and these conversions.

A

Over fifty one percent of their fleet is actually alternative fuel vehicles. There are many benefits, both the propane and this compressed natural gas are much cleaner burning than gasoline and diesel fuel. It's reduced, their maintenance costs and it also is domestically produced. Most of it is the propane and the natural gas. So it's offsetting a lot of gasoline that comes from other places, so this project has resulted in about 91 tons of greenhouse gas emissions reductions per year and they're there.

A

Just again, real leaders I'd like to mention who their partners are as bill pointed out. Their partners are the land of Sky's clean vehicles coalition, the clean air campaign, German motorworks, losman gas, bukem counties, community transportation, Advisory, Board, NCDOT, public transportation, division alliance, side of gas.

A

Think I've covered everybody there again, but they have a real success story, going they're real leaders in their field and after seeing their results, five other community transportation systems have now implemented similar projects, so we'd like to recognize them at this time and Laurie Hembree from Mountain mobility, a general manager. She is here to accept the Clean Air excellence award.

D

Thank you appreciate it. I would like to accept this on behalf of County. Without the county support. You know, we wouldn't have gotten anywhere with our project, but also I can't give enough credit to the land of sky staff. The clean vehicles coalition, as well as the Metropolitan Planning Organization staff over there, but them were absolutely critical in us. Getting the project off the ground.

A

And it is a real.

D

Rubber meets the road project on though, but you know we're actually running 130,000 gal gallons of fuel every year over a million miles and so for us to be able to burn a cleaner alternative fuel is just really that's really exciting. It's really productive, so we're very excited and proud of our project and thanks for everyone's support, all of our partners support, especially if Atlanta sky in Buncombe.

C

County I would like to encourage any business that is thinking about doing this sort of thing or would like to do the right thing to get involved. They can call the agency here and we can help businesses find ways to save on energy, which leads to less pollution, cuts down on carbon footprint to.