Three coordinators who lead the Lake Michigan Consortium – a collaboration between Chicago Area Clean Cities, Merrillville, Ind.-based South Shore Clean Cities, and Milwaukee-based Wisconsin Clean Cities – were the latest teams to be named to the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Clean Cities Hall of Fame. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to the Clean Cities mission of reducing petroleum use in U.S. transportation.
National Clean Cities Director Dennis Smith and Co-Director Linda Bluestein inducted Samantha Bingham (Chicago), Carl Lisek (South Shore), and Lorrie Lisek (Wisconsin) into the Clean Cities Hall of Fame on Sept. 3. In addition to the coordinator trio, East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition Executive Director Jonathan Overly was also inducted.
The four winners were in Lemont, Ill., where representatives from nearly 100 Clean Cities coalitions from across the country gathered for the annual Clean Cities Coordinator Workshop.
‘These awards are not only about recognizing the numbers, but how well the recipients consistently represents the program and forms partnerships,’ said Smith. ‘All of these things are important to making Clean Cities successful.’
Created in 2007, the Lake Michigan Consortium is made up of more than 500 member organizations. Some of the consortium's efforts include creating alternative fuel corridors along I-90 and I-94, as well as creating alt-fuel hot spots in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Gary and South Bend, Ind.
Meanwhile, under Overly's direction, the East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition's petroleum displacement has increased every year through the use of alternative fuels, advanced vehicles and fuel efficiency measures. The coalition's displacement skyrocketed from 945,000 GGEs of petroleum in 2009 to more than 6.5 million GGEs in 2014.
The DOE says these accomplishments contributed to Clean Cities' major milestone in 2013 of reducing U.S. petroleum consumption by 1 billion gallons in a single year for the first time ever.
