Skillman presents Paul Dana Award to city of Fort Wayne
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman presented the 2009 Paul Dana Excellence in Bioenergy Leadership Award during the Central Indiana Clean Cities Alliance (CICCA) 10-year anniversary celebration at the governor’s mansion in Indianapolis on Oct. 14.

The award recognizes those who have exemplified leadership and innovative vision in the bioenergy industry. Gov. Mitch Daniels and Skillman established the award to honor the memory of Indy Racing League (IRL) driver Paul Dana, a strong supporter of Indiana’s growing biofuel industry, who was killed in a racing accident in 2006.

The 2009 award recipient is the city of Fort Wayne. The city began its journey with alternative fuel in 2005, under the guidance of then-Mayor Richard Graham. That first year it implemented a blend of B20 biodiesel into its diesel fleet, and began fueling its police fleet of 37 flex fuel vehicles at the Lassus Walden Road location.
Since then it has used more than 180,000 gallons of biodiesel in blends from B2 to B20 and is on track to use more than 50,000 gallons of biodiesel in 2009.

The current mayor, Tom Henry, has expanded the alternative fuels commitment and the gasoline fleet has 379 flex fuel vehicles. The city was one of nine partners in the CICCA and Office of Energy Development Clean Cities Grant application funded from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

In addition, “idling reduction” programming has been implemented into medium and heavy duty city trucks, automatically shutting them off after 10 minutes of idling. The city also continues to purchase several hybrid vehicles each year for its vehicle pool and inspectors.

Illinois agriculture programs to share $435,000

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Twenty-eight projects in Illinois will share more than $435,000 from a federal program designed to expand the availability of locally grown produce and strengthen the specialty-crop industry in the state.

The money is coming from the USDA’s Specialty Crop Block Grant Program-Farm Bill. Tom Jennings, the director of the state’s agriculture department, said the grants will encourage more local food production by creating more markets for what they grow.
Programs from all over the state will share the grant money. It will go to educational programs, advertising efforts, studies and construction projects related to specialty crops such as lima beans, asparagus and cauliflower.