One of the honoured companies was Verizon, for its program to add 501 CNG Ford E-250 cargo vans as part of the company wide sustainability effort to conserve energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the communities it serves. The first units are being put into service this month, while the rest will be deployed by the end of 2010.
Los Angeles Unified School District also received the award for its efforts to switch local school buses to compressed natural gas. With the help of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the district has purchased 260 new natural gas powered school buses, making it the largest fleet of natural gas school buses in the country. The first 130 vehicles have been already introduced.
The third 2010 NGV Achievement Award went to Choice Environmental Services of Fort Lauderdale (Florida), a provider of solid waste and recycling services, for its commitment to implement a natural gas vehicle program, involving the first CNG refuse fleet of 11 trucks in the state. To fuel the vehicles, the company chose Clean Energy to build a private time-fill station located at the Choice’s facility in Pompano Beach.
Honours were not also awarded to companies but also to individuals, like Oklahoma Speaker of the House Chris Benge, who has been dedicated himself to advancing natural gas vehicle development in the state. Through his leadership, the local Governor signed the Oklahoma Energy Security Act, which aims to have at least one public CNG station every 100 miles by 2015 and every 50 miles by 2025 along the entire interstate highway system.
Vice President of Operations Support for the West Region of Republic Services Joseph Noorlag was also honoured, for his leadership in implementing a natural gas vehicle program this year. The plan included 226 vehicles at 10 different locations from California to Washington. Republic is a leading provider of services in the domestic solid waste industry through 400 collection companies in 40 states.
The last award went to Manager of Product Management-Transportation for National Grid Ron Gulmi, for his long-time commitment to expanding the market for natural gas vehicles throughout the Northeast. His corporation is an international electricity and gas company with U.S. offices in New York, where it transports natural gas to more than 3.4 million customers in New England and New York.
