By ANN HINCH Associate Editor

MERRILLVILLE, Ind. — Approaching its “Sweet 16” this June, South Shore Clean Cities (SSCC) has worked down the supply chain from Indiana farmers since 1999 to promote biofuel, including biodiesel and ethanol, in communities across much of the northern quarter of the state. But inside the gas tank isn’t the only place SSCC and its national parent, Clean Cities, are eyeing to replace petroleum with products derived from corn and soybeans – and other renewable fuel and energy sources. “Oil is the key ingredient in tens of thousands of items we use on a daily basis,” pointed out Carl Lisek, SSCC executive director. Speaking at the organization’s 15th annual meeting Feb. 17, he said with gas prices being lower than they have been the last few years, some consumers feel less pinched and wonder why they need alternative fuel now, thinking prices won’t go up again. As the world’s population increases, said Lisek, more people means more demand for oil as fuel and in manufacturing needed goods. He said the net difference between the current birth and death rate means every day, the world sees about 160,000 new people – equivalent to the population of Porter County. In the United States, at least, he said Clean Cities’ mission is to reduce dependence on imported petroleum and also leave air, water and land the cleanest it can be for the future. In fact, SSCC was part of a Clean Cities-clean transportation industry joint mission under the name Transportation Energy Partners (TEP) to Washington, D.C., in late February for the Energy Independence Summit. “We just feel there’s so much value in us working together,” Lisek said. “Us” includes the 80-plus Clean Cities chapters across the United States and interested partners such as the National Biodiesel Board, automotive and shipping companies and propane and other alternative fuel groups, among others. Regarding the summit – during which these parties visit and speak with members of Congress about alt and renewable fuels – Lisek said, “The idea is we get everybody in a room … and not pick (just) one winner,” but support a mix of energy sources. One goal of the TEP is to protect the federal Renewable Fuel Standard, which mandates use of a certain amount of renewable fuel each year. Another major goal is 2016 Congressional funding for programs that “advance the development and deployment of clean transportation technologies.” It also wants Congress to provide a five-year extension of such incentives as tax credits for electric charging, natural gas, propane and biofuel infrastructure; for sellers of natural gas and propane; for producers of biodiesel and cellulosic biofuel; for conversion to plug-in hybrid vehicles and purchases of alt-fuel vehicles; and special depreciation allowance for cellulosic biofuel plant property. While the TEP effort seems mostly focused on non-corn sources of biofuel, Lisek said the SSCC does also encourage corn ethanol use through regional efforts. He talked about a Chicagoland area push to install more ethanol blend pumps, including E85. It also works with Family Express, an Indiana family-owned convenience store chain with more than 20 stations, which sells renewable fuel. SSCC manages the Northwest Indiana Green Fleet program that helps government fleets switch to biodiesel, with diesel retrofits “and other strategies” to reduce petroleum-based emissions. Lisek said the program is expanding to include private industry. A chief component of Green Fleet is to counter myths about biodiesel that keep people from using it, and one partner the SSCC works with on events and grant projects is the Indiana Soybean Alliance. He said biodiesel use in Indiana has come down from its peak and SSCC hopes to boost it again. NIPSCO, which sells electricity and natural gas to hundreds of thousands of customers in northern Indiana, is one of SSCC’s “Diamond” partners. One of its initiatives is encouraging adoption of electric vehicle (EV) use, which it does various ways. Two are the “Around Town” and “At Home” charging options for drivers, which offers credits to help offset costs of installing home and business charging stations. NIPSCO has been offering free EV charging hours between 10 p.m.-6 a.m. Kevin Kirkham, a director with parent company NiSource, Inc., said at the Feb. 17 SSCC meeting this has proven so popular that NIPSCO is extending the practice through at least Jan. 31, 2017. It began Around Town last year, which provides two free charging stations for each business customer; they cost $7,000 each beyond that (there are also credits to offset the cost of installing more expensive “fast charge” stations). Kirkham said in addition to well-known EVs such as the Volt, Leaf and Tesla, “We’re starting to see other types of vehicles trickle into the program.” In operating a car that gets an average 30 miles per gallon 15,000 miles a year, he said a driver pays about $125 a month for gasoline. By converting to an EV, he explained it costs about $25 a month for the electricity, 80 percent of which may be free under NIPSCO’s program. Don Babcock, NIPSCO director of economic development, said the utility also promotes use of compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas vehicles. Economic development and clean air, he added, go hand-in-hand. “The point is,” he said to SSCC members and supporters at the meeting, “we can do it all, but we can’t do it by ourselves.” SSCC works with energy-minded partners in Lake, Porter, LaPorte, St. Joseph, Elkhart, LaGrange, Steuben, Newton, Jasper, Starke, Marshall, Kosciusko, Noble, DeKalb, Pulaski, Fulton, Whitley and Benton counties; to learn more, call Lisek at 219-644-3690 or visit www.southshorecleancities.org The Greater Indiana Clean Cities Coalition covers the rest of Indiana; it may be reached via Executive Director Kellie Walsh at 317-985-4380 or http:// greaterindiana.com