The City of Cathedral City, Calif., received a grant in the amount of $60,000 from the Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee (MSRC) to help finance two alternative-fuel projects. Thirty thousand dollars will go toward the cost of a Vactor compressed natural gas (CNG) truck, used in cleaning sewer lines. The full cost of the truck is $425,000. The remaining $30,000 will be used to install two Level 2 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at two locations. The charging stations will be publicly accessible with initially no cost for recharging. While the City does not yet have EVs, it does plan to purchase vehicles in the future.

The funding was made possible by the MSRC’s 2012 Local Government Match Program, which offers co-funding to cities and counties within the South Coast Air District that undertake projects to reduce emissions from mobile sources. The projects are part of the City’s efforts to improve air quality by expanding the City’s alternative-fuel fleet and refueling infrastructure.

The City’s Environmental Conservation Manager, Deanna Pressgrove, has been instrumental in securing MSRC funding to help offset the costs of developing alternative-fuel infrastructure and acquiring alternative-fuel vehicles. Collaborating with grant writers, transportation experts, and environmental engineers, she has helped to secure more than $1 million from the MSRC over the years to build an on-site CNG station, make safety modifications to the fleet service facility, and purchase more energy-efficient cars, trucks, and equipment. Currently the City has 18 alternative-fuel vehicles. The MSRC helped to fund 10 clean fuel vehicles, including six dump trucks, one water truck, a delineation truck, a stake bed truck and a medium-duty CNG van.