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LNG Drayage Trucks Help Clear the Air in Southern California
When the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) wanted to improve air quality around the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, it looked to Clean Cities for help. In partnership with a variety of Clean Cities coalitions in Southern California, SCAQMD secured $9.4 million in Recovery Act funding to cover the incremental costs associated with replacing 180 diesel drayage trucks with new liquefied natural gas (LNG) trucks and to perform related outreach and education activities. Drayage trucks are used for hauling goods from the two heavily trafficked ports to regional distribution centers across Southern California.
“This was truly an example of Clean Cities coalitions working together to make a difference. From email blasts and social media postings to educational kiosks and outreach events, we worked in unison to educate folks in the goods-movement industry about the benefits of alternative fuel vehicles,” said Richard Steinhaus, administrative analyst for the City of Long Beach and coordinator of the Long Beach Clean Cities coalition. “And now we’re all reaping the benefits—the drayage truck project is expected to displace about 1.5 million gallons of petroleum and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 336,013 pounds a year.”
Long Beach Clean Cities was tasked with reaching out to and educating fleet owners, managers, drivers, and prospective new technicians. To achieve these goals, the coalition joined forces with one of its stakeholders, Long Beach City College’s Advanced Transportation Technology Center, and consultant Gladstein, Neandross, and Associates, to host an event in February for the goods-movement industry. More than 50 people attended the event, which included presentations on LNG truck equipment, maintenance, and training; LNG fueling stations; regulatory updates affecting trucks; and funding assistance. An open house featured a variety of organizations offering funding and educational resources related to LNG trucks, as well as companies in the fueling infrastructure and vehicle manufacturing business.
“Effective education and outreach is expensive,” added Steinhaus. “While the Internet offers an endless amount of information about natural gas vehicles, nothing compares to the educational experience of in-person events in terms of penetrating barriers, establishing effective relationships, and relaying the message about the benefits of alternative fuels.”
Long Beach Clean Cities also leveraged the established workforce-development processes at the local Pacific Gateway Workforce Investment Network to bolster the LNG technician pool for maintaining the new vehicles. As a result, 24 students enrolled in technician classes at the Advanced Transportation Technology Center, which offers classes in LNG truck maintenance and other alternative fuel and advanced transportation technology topics.
LBCC ATTE expands capacity for ISL G with help from Cerritos College ATTE
LBCC schedule is filled to capacity offering AB 118 compliant classes on the Cummins ISL G for the fleets in the California. We have gone through the pain of getting our classes approved as compliant to AB 118 and now we have partners everywhere who want to contract with us to deliver coursework that meets this requirement. This month we have held classes for AQMD, Sempra and ETP (through the partnership at Cerritos and El Camino Colleges). We have several instructors who are certified to teach this program but with all the classes we are doing, lab space is at a premium. To accommodate these requests, we have enlisted the help of Cerritos College to provide additional class space for this training.
We just completed 2 separate classes at the same time, ISL G levels I & II were conducted for Sempra and SCRTTC simultaneously at LBCC and Cerritos College to accommodate the busy schedule. Our training at LBCC was for SCRTTC techs under a RTF grant held by Cerritos College. We had 19 technicians in attendance who took all 5 days of training for levels I & II and the additional INSITE one day class.
In addition to this class, Sempra had contracted with us to conduct the same level I & II material for their clients at a remote location. They were unable to come up with a suitable location with just a couple of days left until the training began so they contacted us for alternatives. With the excellent rapoir we have with Cerritos College and our co-director Janet Malig, we were able to borrow a classroom and lab space for Bob Vannix to conduct the Sempra training.
We received additional inquiries from MV transportation as they have an ETP grant as well but have not done anything with it and it expires in Sept. We turned this contact over to Janet for handling as a hub function since there are more classes and topics than we can deliver. Oscar from MV came in from their head office in Dallas to coordinate training for their facilities. Little did he know, we have already been training his folks through the ETP grant with Cerritos and now he wants us to do another 10,000 hours of training for them directly. We are working on a proposal to accommodate them at their locations.
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