For Immediate Release: July 20, 2016
Mayor Lovely A. Warren and County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo today celebrated the City and County governments’ united effort to protect the environment by reducing the greenhouse gas emissions generated by each agency’s fleet of vehicles.
“The City of Rochester is committed to reducing its carbon footprint and our continued transition to cleaner fuel sources for our vehicles plays a major part in that effort,” said Mayor Warren. “Vehicle emissions are one of the leading sources of greenhouse gasses – which leads to climate change. Our efforts in partnership with the County government to reduce gasoline emissions helps make Rochester and Monroe County a cleaner, more sustainable region -- which moves us closer to our goals of creating more jobs, safer more vibrant neighborhoods and better schools.”
Mayor Warren and County Executive Dinolfo met at the City’s “Green Fueling” station at the City’s Operation Center on Mt. Read Boulevard to announce important milestones in the effort to use more non-traditional fuels.
The green fueling station, one of two such stations built in 2013 under a joint City-County project, dispenses compressed natural gas, biodiesel and E85 ethanol gasoline (85 percent ethanol-gasoline blend). The other green fueling station is located at the County’s Van Lare Water Treatment Plant on Lake Shore Boulevard. A County station on Scottsville Road also dispenses green fuels.
The City and County have an agreement to allow each agency’s vehicles to obtain fuel at any of these stations.
“These fueling stations represents the latest in a long legacy of collaboration between City Hall and Monroe County,” said County Executive Dinolfo. “By sharing these facilities, we were able to provide an outstanding service for a fraction of the cost. We are always ecstatic when we can align our commitments to fiscal responsibility and environmental sustainability.”
Since the Mt. Read and Van Lare stations were built, Rochester has dispensed more than a quarter million gallons of “green fuels,” reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 1,200 tons.
Specifically, the City has dispensed 140,000 gallons of biodiesel; 116,000 gallons of E85; and 28,000 gasoline-gallon equivalents (CGE) of compressed natural gas.
Monroe County has dispensed 683,000 gallons of biodiesel; 301,000 gallons of E85; 125,000 gasoline-gallon equivalents of CNG; and 59,000 gallons of propane at its stations in that same time period.
The green fueling stations were constructed under a joint City-County project that was managed by Monroe County under a grant from the Federal Highway Administration’s Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program.
The Mt. Read and Van Lare stations cost $7.6 million, of which $1.3 million was paid by the City and $700,000 was paid by the County.
##
Media Contacts
Rochester Press Officer Jessica Alaimo: 428-7135.
Jordan Kirkpatrick, Monroe County Community Relations Coordinator: 753-1082.