Clean Cities Criteria
This page briefly overviews the key steps to putting together a Clean Cities proposal. For more details, call the Clean Cities Hotline at 1-800-CCITIES. You might request the Clean Cities Roadmap or the Guide to Alternative Fuel Vehicle Laws and Incentives.

Here is a summary of the critical steps that lead to the designation of a Clean Cities Program:

1. Recruit Stakeholders: Clean Cities stakeholders can include local, state and federal government entities; fuel suppliers; fleet operators; vehicle providers; conversion shops, environmental and grassroots organizations; schools, universities, community activist and advocacy groups; and other interested parties. Stakeholders are accountable partners in the Clean Cities coalition who make specific commitments in the program plan and sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Stakeholders are active participants who contribute resources to enhance the coalition's overall activity and effectiveness.

2. Develop an Organization: Your Clean Cities Coalition becomes established when a multifaceted organizational structure is created to help develop and implement the program. This organization needs a Clean Cities coordinator. In many early Clean City organizations, the coordinator was an employee of the city or metropolitan coalition of governments. Many newer coalitions, however, recognize that the role of the Clean Cities coordinator can be time consuming; hence, they are looking outside the conventional setting to hire consultants or private-sector representatives. The formation of a steering or executive committee that comprises the key (and most active) stakeholders is critical to getting started right—and is often the first thing a coordinator does. The steering committee can then help recruit other stakeholders, identify a full-time coordinator and structure the Clean Cities Program plan. Identifying working groups that outline and pursue specific goals, objectives and projects is the next step. The basis for all coalition activities is the program plan, which outlines specific goals, objectives and commitments for creating a locally based, sustainable alternative fuels market.

3. The Program Plan: The essential elements of a program plan include:

Local Background:
An introductory section that characterizes the city's or region's current demographics and overall air quality picture, regulatory environment vis-a-vis EPAct and the Clean Air Act and experience with alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs). An important piece of information is whether your region is mandated to comply with EPAct or is a non-attainment area under the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments and therefore required to meet upcoming Clean Air Act mandates. This section is also a great opportunity to highlight notable AFV-related achievements and success stories (special emphasis should be given to stakeholder achievements), demonstration programs, and previous, current or planned grant programs and awards as they relate to further development of the local AFV market.

Goals and Objectives:
These represent the central foundation of a Clean Cities Program. The goals and objectives identify your coalition's intentions and plans for implementation. Inherent to the establishment of these goals and objectives is a market development planning process. Either independently or through the use of an outside expert, the coalition stakeholders need to ask themselves difficult and probing questions early in the developmental process. Clean Cities is designed to create a national network of locally based alternative fuels markets. The most effective way to do this is to identify all barriers and opportunities to overcome these barriers as the coalition is being formed, not a year after the coalition is designated into the program. Key to a thorough examination of barriers and opportunities is a comprehensive market survey and fleet identification process. High-mileage fleets are those most likely to explore greater use of alternative fuels. Where are they located? Where are the current and planned refueling infrastructures? What are the local funding opportunities, both within and outside Clean Cities stakeholder organizations? By doing this preliminary work and investigation and strategically identifying the best opportunities to establish a sustainable alternative fuels market, the coalition can realistically assess the stakeholders' expectations for the Clean Cities effort and what the overall program can reasonably expect to accomplish. A clearly identified market overview allows the group to establish meaningful goals and objectives that help foster a sense of purpose and establish momentum to hit the ground running upon final designation into the program.

The goals and objectives should be a specific list of items and activities that the stakeholders are committed to pursuing. Programmatically, a short list of specific items leads to more fruitful accomplishments than a long list of boilerplate "filler" that lacks a sense of direction. Meaningful goals and objectives also provide guidance for the types of working groups the coalition should establish to carry out its mission.

Working Groups:
These are a series of committees, each of which pursues specific areas of activity to collectively accomplish the coalition's goals and objectives. These groups typically concentrate on such areas as legislation, infrastructure development, public outreach and education, funding, special projects, or others as needed. There is no limit to the number of working groups that can be formed, but there is no need to create a large number of groups with overlapping responsibilities. Too many working groups has been a recipe for inactivity in other Clean Cities. Working groups should be convened as soon as the coalition decides on its goals and objectives in order to maximize the coalition's ability to pursue a specific and aggressive course of action. A breakdown of the membership of each working group by stakeholder name is required (by individual name with stakeholder affiliation is even better).

Market Survey:
This is a quantification of the current and future AFV market situation among the coalition's stakeholders. It captures specific numeric breakdowns (by fuel type) of AFVs and refueling infrastructure currently operated by stakeholders and specific numbers (by fuel type) of vehicles and stations to be acquired or operated year-by-year, over the next 3-5 years. This information is generally presented either with a series of charts or a series of tables. For example, the Coachella Valley, California, Clean Cities coalition includes in its program plan that Sunline Transit Agency currently operates 10 light-duty, 10 medium-duty and 40 heavy-duty AFVs, all of which operate on CNG. At the time the program plan was submitted, Sun Line planned to add an additional five light-duty and six medium-duty vehicles this year. All these vehicles will operate on CNG. To support the operational vehicles and its future additions, Sun Line operates one publicly accessible CNG refueling station at its Thousand Palms headquarters and is finishing construction of a second publicly accessible CNG refueling station to be opened next year at its Clean Air Center. The market survey section of the program plan is the coalition's opportunity to highlight its numerically based AFV commitments. Although specific data are preferred, and help communicate the success of Clean Cities for advancing the market for alternative fuels, estimates or even a "wish list" approach is better than not conveying a sense of where the coalition wants to be in the coming years.

Monitoring/Semiannual Updates:
The program plan should include a section that notes the coalition's intention to regularly report on progress toward meeting its stated goals and objectives, including updates on success stories, vehicle acquisitions, and refueling infrastructure openings, stakeholder additions, and updated contact information for individuals and stakeholder organizations. Complemented by information supplied from Department of Energy (DOE) staff who help coordinate the national Clean Cities Program, these updates are essential for highlighting programmatic successes to interested parties, including Congress. DOE generally requests that this information be submitted in January and July of each year.

Detailed Contact Information:
A comprehensive list that includes a complete mailing address, phone and fax number, and e-mail address, if available, for the primary contact person from each stakeholder entity.

4. Memorandum of Understanding: The purpose of the MOU is to link federal government objectives, more specifically DOE objectives, for improved energy security, local economic development and the preservation of environmental integrity with local efforts to expand the use of alternative fuels. The MOU, though not legally binding, formalizes The Partnership for Clean Cities activities. The MOU confirms that each stakeholder is voluntarily committed to the goals, objectives and responsibilities set forth in the program plan. The MOU codifies DOE's commitment to support each coalition's efforts and that each Clean Cities program will:

• Appoint a coordinator to serve as the chairperson for the Clean Cities Program
• Hold stakeholder meetings
• Carry out the goals, objectives and commitments delineated in the program plan
• Update the program plan as necessary
• Report Clean Cities Program progress and success stories to DOE
• Cooperate with DOE to raise public awareness of the Clean Cities Program, including use of the Clean Cities logo to prepare case studies, advertisements and press releases