10 · SBJ.NET JUNE 24-30, 2024 FOCUS ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT What is the Ozarks Clean Fuels Coalition? The mission is to support regional economic, environmental and energy security by advancing affordable clean transportation fuels and looking at fuel conservation technologies and practices. We do that through developing regional partnerships. In February, we achieved apprenticeship designation from the Department of Energy’s Clean Cities and Communities program. Our next phase is to apply for full designation. We plan to do that early in the fall. There are about 76 Clean Cities and Communities programs across the country. We started this project a little over a year ago through the Ozarks Clean Air Alliance. We worked with the Kansas City Clean Cities program and the St. Louis Clean Cities program to look at how could we create an entity that covered every county in the state by helping organizations and counties implement alternative fuel infrastructures that are affordable, that drive fuel efficiency and improvements. We ended up dividing the state into three regions. We’re going to cover the southern part of the state. We are hosting the program through the Ozarks Environmental and Water Resources Institute here at Missouri State University to facilitate engagement across the region and get students engaged. If you reach that full designation status, what funding would the coalition be eligible for to support the mission of expanding use of alternative fuels? We will be eligible for grant funding through the Department of Energy that only Clean Cities and Communities entities can apply for. They help support infrastructure, seeding alternative fuel markets and technologies in the area to test different equipment materials. By having the Ozarks Clean Fuels Coalition, we can also leverage existing grant funds that come from the U.S. [Environmental Protection Agency] and others for things like clean diesel funding or other federal funds that right now are coming out for electric infrastructure and electric vehicles. By having this coalition in southern Missouri, we can start looking at how do we plan for that infrastructure so we have more of a strategic process. We can look at it even as a statewide plan. So, how do we make sure we have proper alternative fuel infrastructure down the main corridors across the state into rural communities that need it? For some fleets, electrification might be a good opportunity for them in terms of cost and maintenance. Some it might be propane or natural gas or biodiesel. So, it’s really looking at each fleet and understanding what’s best for them from a maintenance standpoint, from a cost-effective standpoint, from a technical standpoint. What kind of entities would the coalition engage with? We’re targeting fleets, public and private fleets – from school districts to municipalities to over-the-road trucking to construction to local delivery fleets. Anywhere from large fleets to just fleets of one or two. I imagine capital could be a barrier in making some of these changes. What are some other barriers these organizations face in using alternative fuels? Yes, capital obviously is there. Great thing is there are some grants that help fund some of that, providing infrastructure like buying a new vehicle or having a fuel tank on site that holds biodiesel. Looking at existing diesel fleets, it might be easier for them to transition into a biodiesel fuel, which allows them to not have to change the engine or not have to change the vehicles but start using at least a certain concentration of renewable fuel. It’s really doing that fleet analysis with them to see what is the best option from a capital cost and from an operational payments cost so that when they start investing, it’s an efficient investment and feasible. The Department of Energy’s Clean Cities and Communities program has been running since 1993, and there’s experts from across the country that we can leverage to help fleets evaluate those opportunities. In looking at how you’ll measure success, what’s the baseline that our area is at now in terms of alternative fuel adoption, and then where are you hoping to be? Right now, we’re completing an evaluation of how much of the alternative fuel infrastructure we have in our region – electric charging stations, biodiesel pumps, natural gas, propane, how many of those are available? We know in our region, there’s very few. Then it’s setting goals in terms of how are we going to increase this strategically to support not only our region, but making sure if fleets leave our region, they have access to that fuel in other parts of the state and also working with other states. We’re also looking at how much diesel and gasoline, straight petroleum-based liquid fuels, are we reducing each year by providing more of the alternative fuels. Do you already have community stakeholders, fleets or those in the alternative fuel space on board with the coalition? We have an advisory board that’s made up of organizations like Biodiesel Coalition of Missouri, Wil Fischer, Ozarks Transportation Organization, Southwest Missouri Council of Governments, Dynamic EVC, Sun Solar, Ozark Greenways. Our goal is to have a good representation of not only fleets, but organizations or businesses that support the transportation industry. Right now, we’re working to build a coalition of members, and that is to bring in more fleets, public and private, as well as utilities and additional fuel infrastructure, but also equipment providers like engine manufacturers, car manufacturers, so that we build a coalition of resources that supports everyone. We’re trying to provide this as a nonbiased, objective process so that we provide as much information to fleets and organizations as possible and so that they can make the best decisions, and what resources we can provide to help them with that. doug neidigh Coalition Director, Ozarks Clean Fuels Coalition, and Sustainability Unit Manager, Ozarks Environmental and Water Resources Institute at Missouri State University A CONVERSATION WITH ... TAWNIE WILSON Excerpts from an interview by Executive Editor Christine Temple, ctemple@sbj.net Protect Your Data with PCnet “When’s a good time for me to steal your data?” – The Hacker 417-831-1700 / pcnetinc.com
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