SEATTLE, Wash. -- Mayor Mike McGinn announced that he has directed city departments to build on earlier "green fleet" efforts to meet the challenge of cutting the city's annual use of petroleum-based fuels by 1 million gallons by 2020. Accomplishing this goal will require improving operational efficiencies, making investments in alternative-fuel infrastructure, and ramping up purchases of alternative vehicles.

SEATTLE, Wash. -- Mayor Mike McGinn announced Seattle will be changing how it supports city employees who commute by public transit. The policy change, adding the ORCA Passport to the city's ORCA program, will enhance efficiencies and save taxpayers money while maintaining or increasing the transit benefit to nearly all employees. The Passport program allows the city to provide transit passes to most employees at a single price based on actual ridership. Passport passes are valid fare on any of the participating, ground-based transit agency routes, and have no limitations on zones of travel.

BOSTON, Mass. -- Boston Mayor Thomas Menino’s Building Energy Reporting and Disclosure Ordinance was approved by the Boston City Council in a 9-4 vote. The Ordinance requires large commercial and residential buildings to report and disclose their energy and water usage, and greenhouse gas emissions in order to encourage investment in energy efficiency and further the city’s climate action goals.

BOSTON, Mass. -- Mayor Thomas Menino joined city officials and community leaders at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Charlestown to highlight the city’s five year, $1.8 billion Capital Plan, which includes 341 projects across Boston and covers the building and maintenance of all the city’s infrastructure, including roads, buildings, key technology projects and inclusive play space for all residents to enjoy.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The California Energy Commission, California Public Utilities Commission, and the California Department of Education released draft guidance to help the state's schools become more energy efficient.

PHOENIX, Ariz. -- The city of Casa Grande, Ariz., broke ground earlier this month on its first ever photovoltaic system, joining a handful of organizations that are leveraging solar energy to reduce utility costs. Five city facilities are scheduled to be retrofitted with solar-covered parking structures. The photovoltaic system, which will be owned by the city, will provide an annual savings of $250,000.

PHOENIX, Ariz. -- Connect Montgomery is collaborating with a volunteer team of neighbors from the Montgomery Woods neighborhood who have been working on an opportunity to help assist their community neighbors and strengthen the Montgomery community. It’s a donor program structured to make it easy for others to help.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Champions within industrial facilities may be the largest piece missing from the energy policy and program landscape. Some energy program administrators are sponsoring the placement of dedicated energy managers at industrial facilities to overcome the obstacles to energy optimization. These pilot efforts seek to accelerate the pace and volume of industrial energy efficiency projects.

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. -- When you’re trying to advance sustainability in a small town, it’s important to focus on priorities, pick your battles carefully, and don’t show up in the council chambers looking for a hand-out.

CHICAGO, Ill. -- Mayor Rahm Emanuel introduced a plan to the Chicago City Council to raise the fines for cyclists disobeying traffic laws, and double the fines for motorists who cause crashes by opening vehicle doors into the path of cyclists, commonly known as “dooring.”

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved Pennsylvania’s 2012 final list of impaired waters. The list is part of a bi-annual monitoring and assessment report characterizing the condition of Pennsylvania’s surface waters.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Diesel Emissions Reduction Act program has significantly improved air quality and provided critical health benefits by reducing air pollution and saving millions of gallons of fuel. Diesel pollution is linked to a range of serious health problems including asthma, lung and heart disease, other respiratory ailments, and premature death. EPA estimates that clean diesel funding generates up to $13 of public health benefit for every $1 spent on diesel projects.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The California Energy Commission approved $4,979,070 to projects that will support increased numbers of cleaner, alternative fuel vehicles on California roadways. The awards were made through the Commission's Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program, created by Assembly Bill 118.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The California Energy Commission unanimously adopted the 2013-2014 Investment Plan Update to support the development and use of green vehicles and alternative fuels. The update sets funding priorities for the approximately $100 million in annual state funds under the Commission's Alternative and Renewable Fuels and Vehicle Technology Program, created by Assembly Bill 118.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The California Energy Commission has awarded more than $1.4 million to several projects that will improve the energy efficiency of California cities and school districts. The funds come from the Commission's Energy Conservation Assistance Act program.

BOSTon, Mass. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is beginning the process of routine Five-Year Reviews of 16 Superfund sites across New England.

LANSING, Mich. -- The Michigan Office of the Great Lakes announced $702,163 in Coastal Zone Management grants awarded to 19 coastal communities, nonprofit organizations, state agencies and universities for projects to protect Michigan's Great Lakes. These grants enhance public access to coastal areas, encourage stewardship through beach clean-up programs, promote public safety at beaches, and support local and regional waterfront redevelopment plans.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- With heavy truck fuel efficiency standards in place and federal agencies gearing up for the next phase of the program, it’s time to consider energy savings opportunities in the freight system more broadly. A new report Energy Efficiency Potential of the U.S. Freight System: A Scoping Exercise compares the findings of five recent studies to find out what energy savings estimates have been offered. Three were studies of the greenhouse gas reduction potential in the U.S. transportation sector, from which we extracted the findings on reductions in the freight sector through energy efficiency strategies. The studies generally found more savings potential from vehicle technology improvements than from combinations of system efficiency approaches, such as shifting to less energy-intensive freight modes, improving logistics, and optimizing routing.

BOSTON, Mass. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $12 million in Brownfield grants to protect people’s health and lead to a cleaner environment in New England communities.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Department of Energy has announced that Dr. Josh Silverman, Director of the Office of Sustainability Support, has been selected as a finalist for the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal from the Partnership for Public Service. Silverman was selected for his dedication to reducing the Department’s greenhouse gas emissions.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Acting Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Christopher Smith attended a dedication ceremony at the Air Products and Chemicals hydrogen production facilities in Port Arthur, Texas. Supported by a $284 million Energy Department investment, the company has successfully begun capturing carbon dioxide from industrial operations and is now using that carbon for enhanced oil recovery and securely storing it underground. This first-of-a-kind, breakthrough project advances carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies and demonstrates the potential to safely secure carbon dioxide pollution underground while providing an economic benefit and increasing our energy security.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in partnership with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and other federal partners, announced that the Urban Waters Federal Partnership is adding 11 new locations. In addition, two more federal partner agencies will join the partnership in its collaborative efforts to restore waterways and their environments, boost recreation, help local economies, create jobs, and protect Americans’ health.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Environmental Working Group applauds Rep. Earl Blumenauer and the other co-sponsors of the Balancing Food, Farm and the Environment Act for recognizing that our land, our food, and our farms are all worth protecting.

The following competitive grants are available to municipal and/or non-profit applicants, among others:

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Two years in the making, Buffalo’s new Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) – dubbed the Buffalo Green Code – is about to be unveiled. In a bold and daunting initiative, the city decided in 2010 to completely scrap its 60-year-old development code and rebuild it from the ground up, using a New Urbanism model steeped in smart-growth development principles, green infrastructure, clean energy and sustainability best practices.