Maine DEP partners with EPA's SmartWay Program

Maine - Maine Department of Environmental Protection has recently become an affiliate partner of EPA's SmartWay Program. EPA launched the SmartWay program in 2004 in an effort to help the freight transportation sector improve supply chain efficiency.

"Our partnership with the private sector is vital to the success of the SmartWay program," said Commissioner Aho. "We are fortunate that the transportation community is volunteering to work with us in an effort to find successful strategies that will help their industry, Maine's economy and protect our environment." SmartWay is an innovative partnership between the private sector, Maine DEP and USEPA.

The purpose of this voluntary program is to help businesses move goods in the cleanest, most efficient way possible. Maine trucking companies, dealers, rail carriers, logistics companies, commercial manufacturers, and retailers who ship products are all eligible to join the program. Since the program's inception, SmartWay partners have achieved a number of successes nationally:

- Saved 120.7 million barrels of oil -- the equivalent of taking over 10 million cars off the road for an entire year. - $16.8 billion dollars in fuel costs saved. - Fewer dollars going overseas for foreign oil means more dollars to invest at home. - Strong trucking industry is essential to our nation's competiveness and to US jobs.

"We are proud to be a part of the trucking industry's ongoing commitment to sustainability through the SmartWay partnership. The work done by SmartWay and its carrier, shipper and affiliate members has proven effective to find ways to reduce carbon emissions and save fuel using the proven techniques endorsed by the program," said Brian Parke, President and CEO of Maine Motor Transport Association.

Members of SmartWay will learn about cost-effective innovative technologies such as aerodynamics, idle reduction, low rolling resistance tires, retrofit technologies and transportation energy and environmental benchmarking tools. Several Maine companies have already been recognized with national awards for their SmartWay projects.

For more information, please visit Maine Department of Environmental Protection's website at www.maine.gov/dep/assistance/smartway/.">http://www.maine.gov/dep/assistance/smartway/">www.maine.gov/dep/assistance/smartw