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July 23, 2010

Senator John Pippy E-News

DEP Makes $6 Million Available for Alternative Fuel Transportation
 Projects Applications for Financial Assistance Due Aug. 27

The Department of Environmental Protection has announced that they will be accepting applications for the Alternative Fuels Incentive Grant (AFIG) program, for homegrown alternative fuel projects throughout Pennsylvania.

Eligible proposals may include projects that use or produce biofuels, alternative fuels and alternative fuel vehicles, or those that deploy fuel-saving technology in the transportation sector. Projects may include retrofitting fleet vehicles to operate on alternative fuels, purchasing an alternative fuel vehicle, installing fleet refueling equipment for alternative fuel vehicles, or supporting next-phase advanced research.

AFIG grants may also be used to offset the incremental cost of purchasing biofuel refueling and storage equipment or related tank cleaning. Funding is also available for qualified renewable fuel producers to receive reimbursement of up to 10 cents per gallon of renewable fuels produced in a calendar year up to 12.5 million gallons.

School districts, municipal authorities, political subdivisions, nonprofit entities, corporations, and limitied liability companies or partnerships incorporated or registered in PA are eligible to apply. Applications must be submitted via the Environmental eGrant system at www.grants.dcnr.state.pa.us. Paper applications will not be accepted. The deadline to submit applications is 4 p.m., Friday, August 27, 2010.

If you would like more detailed information about the program, the AFIG program page and application guidelines can be found on DEP’s website: www.depweb.state.pa.us, keyword: Alternative Fuels.

Department of Transportation Hails Litter Collection Volunteers
12 Million Pounds of Trash Collected in Spring Cleanup Effort

Harrisburg – More than 186,000 volunteers cleaned 19,373 miles of roads, trails and shorelines in Pennsylvania during the Great American Cleanup of PA, which ran from March 1 to May 31, PennDOT Secretary Allen D. Biehler, P.E. said:

"My sincere thanks to everyone who gave of their time and worked so hard to improve our state's environment and appearance," Biehler said. "While it's unfortunate that some inconsiderate people still choose to litter, we are lucky to have thousands of volunteers who participate in Adopt-A-Highway and join in cleanup events every year."

During the cleanup, 12 million pounds of trash was collected, with 3.7 million pounds collected by PennDOT's Adopt-A-Highway program volunteers. There were 4,822 reported cleanup events statewide. Of the total miles cleaned, Adopt-A-Highway groups cleaned a record 12,340 miles of roadways, with the help of nearly 104,000 volunteers.

Over the past three years, the Great American Cleanup of Pennsylvania has yielded more than 29.5 million pounds of collected trash, involved 533,627 volunteers and resulted in 54,940 miles of roadways cleaned. As part of those efforts, 284,838 Adopt-A-Highway volunteers collected more than 10.9 million pounds of litter on 32,678 miles of highway in that same period.

PennDOT requires that Adopt-A-Highway volunteers complete four cleanups per year, and the groups were encouraged to join in the Great American Cleanup of PA. The 7,156 groups in the Adopt-A-Highway program have two-year commitments and have adopted 16,562 roadway miles.

PennDOT provides gloves and safety vests for Adopt-A-Highway and Great American Cleanup of PA groups. The department typically spends approximately $11 million annually for litter pickup with department staff.