Secretary Ray LaHood

FTA Clean Fuels Grant Program

Roll-Out Media Call

Friday September 14, 2012

• Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining the call.
• President Obama is committed to investing in sustainable transportation that helps more Americans go to work and school and enables cities and communities save money.
• Today, we are announcing the availability of $59.3 million dollars for 27 projects that will help public transit continue to put buses and other vehicles on the road that are clean, green, reliable and more efficient than ever.
• These funds are provided through the Federal Transit Administration’s Clean Fuels Grant Program and they will help transit agencies across the country.
• This program is very popular.
• Transit agencies like it because these projects help them save money by replacing old buses with hybrids or vehicles that run on more efficient alternative fuels like compressed natural gas.
• Riders like it because greener buses equal less air pollution in their neighborhoods.
• And updated buses mean a safer, more comfortable, and more reliable ride.
• The demand for these projects is strong and demonstrates the need in communities across the country.
• This year, we received requests totaling more than half a billion dollars.
• Our Clean Fuels Program fits right in with all the progress the Obama Administration is making on clean energy.  
• We’re setting new fuel economy standards for cars and trucks and investing in innovative technologies, like battery-powered electric buses, that will deliver clean, renewable power to generations of transit vehicles for years to come.
• And now I’ll turn the call over to FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff, who will provide more details about these grants.