What is Cascade Sierra Solutions?
The Everybody Wins lease program, created in 2004 by Sharon Banks, coordinated a grant and a tax-credit with a lease-to-own contract to finance Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) to truck owners and fleets. The program resulted in 350 upgrades and annual fuel savings of over 700,000 gallons—along with associated emissions. These annual fuel savings continue as long as the equipment is on the road.
The program was so successful that other states approached LRAPA with ideas to expand the program. During the two years of operating the Everybody Wins lease program, many lessons were learned:
- Truckers with good credit history are an excellent financial risk – LRAPA has experienced less than 1% in uncollectible accounts;
- There is an extreme lack of awareness with the owner-operator market of solutions available to save fuel;
- Rules are being promulgated to regulate the private fleet in the State of California. These rules will impact every truck doing business in California. Most owner-operators are unaware of the rules until enforcement action is taken.
- Many truck owners lack the initial capital to upgrade their trucks - even if there is a reasonable return on investment.
Cascade Sierra Solutions (CSS) was formed in March 2006 to expand the program to offer a complete corridor approach and to offer - not only APUs - but all known technologies to save fuel and reduce diesel emissions. The initial Board included Sharon Banks, Diesel Projects Manager, Merlyn Hough, Director of LRAPA, and Jim Johnson, former City Manager of Eugene, Oregon. The vision for the CSS outreach centers came from the lessons learned in the operation of the Everybody Wins lease program. The board was expanded in June 2006 to its present configuration, listed below.
Who We Are
The CSS board includes leaders from Washington, Oregon, and California with expertise in Energy, Air Quality, Climate Change and Transportation. Click member names for information about that board member.
Why We're Here
The sweeping legislation enacted by EPA that takes effect in 2007 will make new trucks 95% cleaner than existing trucks. The problem lies in the fact that diesel engines are very durable and long-lived. Heavy-duty diesel trucks are commonly on the road for 25-30 years. In order for the public to enjoy the healthy benefits of this new legislation, we need to accelerate the process by retrofitting the existing fleet.
There are over 500,000 long-haul tractor-trailer trucks in the legacy fleet. About 20% of these trucks are registered in the States of Washington, Oregon and California . Less than 1% of these trucks have been upgraded with solutions offered by CSS. The solutions offered by CSS are strategies identified by EPA’s SmartWay Transport program.
There are so many reasons why it makes sense to upgrade the legacy fleet of trucks:
- Economic
- Each truck retrofit will:
- Save up to 5,000 gallons of fuel per year
- Earn up to $15,000 in increased profits
- Increase state and federal income taxes
- Climate Change
- Each truck retrofit will reduce CO2 emissions by 50 metric tons per year
- Conservation
- Reducing dependence on foreign oil
- Conserving energy
- Reducing consumption of a finite resource
- Public Health
- Each truck retrofit will:
- Eliminate 289 pounds of toxic diesel particulate matter
- Eliminate 5,000 pounds of Oxides of Nitrogen (NO X), a key component of tropospheric ozone (smog)
- Eliminate $12,500 in health care costs
- Reduce asthma attacks
- Reduce respiratory illness
- Reduce cancer
- Environment
- Reduce harmful emissions
- Improve visibility
The long-haul sector of the truck transportation system is highly mobile, travels over 500 miles per day and impacts all of the major urban areas in the nation. Most of these urban areas are EPA classified non-attainment areas for Ozone and PM 2.5. The populations in these areas have significant exposures to diesel exhaust. The cancer risk from these exposures is thousands of times the benchmark established by the Clean Air Act.
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