Wisconsin Clean Cities honors the top sustainable transportation leaders

MILWAUKEE — Wisconsin Clean Cities honored the top sustainable transportation leaders from throughout Wisconsin Dec. 4 at the Wisconsin Clean Cities 25^th Annual Stakeholder Meeting and Awards, the nonprofit announced today.

“Wisconsin is fortunate to have an abundance of companies and municipalities led by those who are passionate about sustainability,” Wisconsin Clean Cities Executive Director Lorrie Lisek said. “Their work represents positive investments in the local economy that are making a difference today and will continue to do so for years to come. We thank them for their inspiring commitment to driving Wisconsin forward for the better.”

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Wisconsin Clean Cities, a nonprofit organization serving the entire state of Wisconsin, is one of nearly 100 U.S. Department of Energy Clean Cities coalitions. The coalitions partner with members in the public, private and nonprofit sectors to increase the use of sustainable domestic fuels in the transportation sector by promoting the use of alternative fuels, alternative fuel vehicles and equipment and their fueling infrastructure as well as electric vehicles and their charging infrastructure. The programs improve air quality, reduce dependence on imported oil, support local jobs and strengthen the economy.

Forward Fleet Award winners, honored for the amount of petroleum they displaced through the use of alternative fuels and sustainable transportation options, were fifth place Time Transport, Inc. of Franksville; fourth place Paper Transport, Inc. of De Pere; third place Sheehy Mail Contractors, Inc. of Waterloo; second place Contract Transport Services, LLC of Green Bay and first place Kwik Trip, Inc. of La Crosse.

Collectively, the Forward Fleet Award winners displaced more than 11.5 million gasoline gallon equivalents. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, that represents the greenhouse gas emission reduction equivalent of taking roughly 22,000 passenger vehicles off the road for one year.

New this year were the Sustainable Transportation Leadership Awards. Those award winners were selected from among nominations submitted by and for Wisconsin Clean Cities members for major efforts or accomplishments between December 2018 and November 1, 2019 that fulfill any of Wisconsin Clean Cities’ objectives.

The Sustainable Transportation Leadership Award winners were U.S. Gain of Appleton, the City of Madison and Kwik Trip.

The City of Milwaukee received the municipal Sustainable Transportation Champion Award while GO Riteway of Milwaukee received the private sector Sustainable Transportation Champion Award for their efforts to pursue the use of alternative fuels in their operations.

Alliant Energy received the Wisconsin Clean Cities Champion award for its partnership with Wisconsin Clean Cities and the City of Madison in presenting the Transportation & Innovation Expo 2019 in Madison.

Wisconsin Clean Cities also honored We Energies with the Wisconsin Clean Cities Champion Award for its 25 years of support for the coalition. We Energies was among the 69 entities represented with signatures on the memorandum of understanding creating Wisconsin Clean Cities in 1994 and has been a member and partner ever since.

All sustainable fleets were selected from among Wisconsin Clean Cities members who submitted annual survey reports, which detail their efforts over the previous year to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and displace petroleum.

Wisconsin Clean Cities presented the awards at its 25^th Annual Stakeholder Meeting Dec. 4 at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee.

The event featured networking opportunities, presentations from leaders in the sustainable transportation arena, exhibit booths and tours of the Harley-Davidson Museum. Attendees were also able to experience Harley-Davidson’s™ first electric motorcycle, LiveWire™, through the experience of a Jumpstart™ demo.

Mark Smith, Integration Program Manager for the Vehicle Technologies Office of the U.S. Department of Energy, served as the keynote speaker. Other speakers included Erick Shambarger, Director of Environmental Sustainability for the City of Milwaukee; Maria Redmond, Director of the Wisconsin Office of Energy Innovation and Jeff Richlen, Chief Engineer for Harley-Davidson™.

The event also marked the 25^th anniversary of Wisconsin Clean Cities. Wisconsin Clean Cities was founded on June 29, 1994 as Wisconsin Clean Cities-Southeast Area as the 12^th Clean Cities Coalition in the nation in the second year of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Cities program. The organization was originally created to address ozone nonattainment in the Southeast region of the state.

Lorrie Lisek was named Executive Director in 2011. Wisconsin Clean Cities-Southeast Area expanded beyond the Southeast region in 2013 to cover the entire state of Wisconsin. The coalition has seen tremendous growth since then, with membership growing to 75 members, more than five times the membership in 2011.

Wisconsin Clean Cities lives its mission through education and outreach, training, funding acquisition, project management and the development of stakeholder partnerships. Among the projects led by Wisconsin Clean Cities over the past 25 years are:

• Wisconsin Clean Transportation Program: This four-year, $15 million project in partnership with the Wisconsin State Energy Office ran from 2009 to 2013. The program worked with 53 public and private partner fleets throughout the state to reduce their carbon footprints and meet their economic goals through the implementation of alternative fuels and technologies. The program led to the successful installation of 13 private and four public alternative fuel and electric vehicle charging stations and the deployment of more than 300 alternative fuel and electric vehicles on Wisconsin roads, displacing 1.6 million gallons of petroleum annually.

• Biofuels Retail Advancement in Wisconsin Transportation (BRAWT) Program: Wisconsin Clean Cities provided education and outreach for the $3.7 million U.S. Department of Agriculture grant-based BRAWT program from 2015 to 2018 in partnership with the Public Service Commission. The program was aimed at increasing the adoption and expansion of biofuels across the state.

• REV UP Wisconsin: Wisconsin Clean Cities led the REV UP Wisconsin program in partnership with Nissan North America and Wisconsin utility companies from 2016 through 2018 to promote Wisconsin’s first electric vehicle group buy program to all Wisconsin utility employees and customers. Wisconsin Clean Cities hosted more than a dozen ride and drive events promoting the program, which ultimately led to the addition of more than 150 new Nissan LEAFs on Wisconsin roads, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions equal to those created by the use of 80,000 gallons of gasoline. Nissan LEAF discounts for Wisconsin utility customers and employees remain available through Jan. 2. Learn more at https://bit.ly/38d8tYX.

Over the past decade alone, Wisconsin Clean Cities member have displaced more than 140 million gasoline gallon equivalents and 494,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions. That’s the equivalent of removing nearly 265,000 passenger vehicles from the road for one year and eliminating the use of nearly 3 million barrels of oil.

For more information about Wisconsin Clean Cities, go to www.wicleancities.org.

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