Energy Department Grant Will Promote Nat Gas Vehicles in Philadelphia Area

Susan Phillips

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Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

November 20, 2012 | 5:29 PM

A public bus in Madrid, Spain pulls into a natural gas fueling station. The U.S. lacks sufficient infrastructure for a full scale conversion to natural gas, and propane powered vehicles. Aguirre / Getty Images

The Department of Energy has awarded the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission $319,000 to promote the use of natural gas, propane, and electric powered school busses and trash trucks throughout the Philadelphia region. The DVRPC directs regional cooperation among four counties in Pennsylvania, and four in New Jersey.
The DOE says the grant will be spent to “help cut red tape, and develop the infrastructure, training and regional planning” necessary to convert municipal fleets. One of the greatest challenges to converting vehicles such as trucks, or even passenger cars, to natural gas is the lack of a nationwide infrastructure. But school districts and large municipalities can create their own fueling stations.
“Building a clean and secure U.S. transportation system that leverages our domestic energy sources will give American families, businesses and communities more options and reduce fueling costs,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu in a press release. “At the same time, these projects will help lead the way to further reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil and protecting our nation’s air and water.”
The effort is part of Obama’s “all of the above” energy strategy.