News

In recognition of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Air Quality Awareness Week (AQAW), today the RAQC’s Simple Steps. Better Air. program – in partnership with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) – joined Governor Polis in his proclamation of May 4-8, 2020, to be AQAW in Colorado.

The AQAW Proclamation encourages Coloradans to improve air quality with simple actions, including eliminating or combining car trips, teleworking, carpooling and vanpooling, taking public transportation, walking and biking, using low- or zero-emission vehicles, using electric lawn and garden tools, mowing lawns and refueling vehicles in the evening.

You can read the full proclamation here.

In an effort to keep interested stakeholders informed of current happenings with RAQC programs, partners, and air quality news and events, the RAQC created The Air Monitor quarterly e-newsletter. You can read the most current issue here. If you are interested in subscribing to the newsletter, sign up here or contact Sara Goodwin.

Today the Colorado Energy Office released the Colorado Electric Vehicle Plan 2020 at the April meeting of the Colorado Electric Vehicle Coalition.Transportation is one of the two largest sources of ozone precursors and reducing transportation emissions is a critical strategy to meet federal health-based air quality standards.

The RAQC played an important role in helping to craft this plan, along with partners at the Colorado Department of Transportation and Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment. You can find the full Colorado EV Plan 2020 here.

Complementary to the RAQC’s Charge Ahead Colorado (CAC) program, the RAQC is excited to share that Xcel Energy is offering Colorado businesses and organizations another opportunity to add electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure to their locations through their Electric Vehicle Supply Infrastructure Program. Eligible organizations can offer these EV charging stations to their own fleet vehicles and customers or to the public. This new program can help you install the electrical infrastructure needed for the EV charging stations at no cost.

See more information about the program, if your organization/company is eligible and how to apply here. The application is currently open through April 29^th, and projects will be awarded and program steps will begin in mid-May 2020. There will be a second application round open in May/June 2020.

The RAQC’s CAC program, in partnership with the Colorado Energy Office, currently offers grant funding for charging station projects. The Xcel Energy program provides a great opportunity to supplement charging station project costs in conjunction with CAC funding. This makes providing charging stations an affordable option in many settings with the significant support currently being offered. Project implementation timelines for the Xcel and RAQC programs are flexible enough to take advantage of both funding opportunities. Adoption of electric vehicles is critical to improve air quality and meet the State’s environmental goals.

To improve air quality throughout the state of Colorado, today the RAQC reopened its ALT Fuels Colorado application round to continue incentivizing the replacement and scrappage of pre-2009 vehicles with fully Electric and Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) fleet vehicles. These funds are available to all public, private, and non-profit fleets statewide within Colorado. Go to the program website for more information and to apply.

Dear RAQC Members & Stakeholder Partners,

As requested by Governor Polis and the CDC, the RAQC staff is taking precautions to address concerns about and decrease possible susceptibility or exposure to COVID-19. For that reason, all RAQC meetings will be migrated towards remote conferencing using Zoom for the foreseeable future, and we will reassess as new information becomes available. Please check our meeting agendas posted under the Meetings tab on our website to get access to Zoom meeting information. The RAQC office is currently open and it is “business as usual” at this time, but that could change if building management makes a decision to close. Please contact RAQC staff before arriving in person.

Also, please note that the RAQC staff may be exercising options to work remotely, and during this time, email is the best method of communication. The RAQC is working with all of its state and local partner agencies to ensure that our programs operate as normal, however, delays could occur as the situation evolves. We are closely monitoring the ever-evolving situation in order to respond to and prioritize the needs of our stakeholder partners, as well as the health and safety of our employees.

Sincerely,

Mike Silverstein
Executive Director
Regional Air Quality Council
1445 Market Street, Suite 260 │ Denver, CO  80202
303-629-5450, x250 │ 303-915-8236 cell │msilverstein@raqc.org
RAQC.org | CleanAirFleets.org | SimpleStepsBetterAir.org

In an effort to keep interested stakeholders informed of current happenings with RAQC programs, partners, and air quality news and events, the RAQC created The Air Monitor quarterly e-newsletter. You can read the fifth issue here. If you are interested in subscribing to the newsletter, sign up here or contact Sara Goodwin at sgoodwin@raqc.org.

The North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization (NFRMPO) recently included an article in their quarterly newsletter on the 2019 ozone season, written by RAQC staff member Amanda Brimmer. Read the article on page 2 here.