A coalition aims for a 17 percent annual increase in the number of vehicles powered by alternative fuels on Middle Georgia roads.

Its plan was officially endorsed by the U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday, opening new funding sources for governments and businesses interested in buying electric buses, biodiesel-powered trucks, or propane-fueled forklifts.

The plan, created to improve the region's air quality and increase national energy security, includes providing electric shuttle buses between attractions and parking in downtown Macon, and adding propane-powered buses to meet every flight at Middle Georgia Regional Airport.

The plan's designers are members of the Middle Georgia Clean Cities Coalition, a public-private partnership with 31 stakeholders and participants including governments, fuel providers, and vehicle sellers and builders.

Seven years after it was founded by the city of Macon and the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, the coalition was officially inducted into the federal Clean Cities program Thursday.

Now that the Middle Georgia coalition has been federally recognized, Macon, Warner Robins, Perry, Centerville, Gray and Fort Valley will be eligible for new grants and federal funding to improve air quality. Once Clean Cities gains nonprofit status, it also will be able to seek grants for fleets owned by private companies. The coalition represents 16 public and private fleets.

Speakers at the induction ceremony emphasized the need to reduce reliance on Middle Eastern oil, as the U.S. winds down the Iraqi war and begins to focus military attention on neighboring Syria in the unstable region.

"The Middle Georgia Clean Cities Coalition can go a long way toward reducing America's dependence on foreign petroleum and improving the energy security of the United States," said Maj. Gen. Donald Wetekam, commander of the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center.

But the effort to introduce cleaner-running vehicles locally is prompted even more by the specter of the Macon metropolitan area being put on the Environmental Protection Agency's list of "nonattainment" cities with heavy air pollution. The move is widely expected either this summer or next, and is likely to trigger new regulations for the area.

"We have been pro-active in being sure we never get into nonattainment, but if we slip into nonattainment, we have measures in place to get us out again as soon as possible," said Macon Mayor Jack Ellis at the Clean Cities induction ceremony in the Wilson Convention Center.

Macon has exceeded federal ozone standards for the past four summers, and the American Lung Association last year named it the 24th most polluted city in the country. Ozone pollution has been linked to creating new asthma cases and exacerbating cardiovascular diseases.

Clean Cities Chairman Tim Stewart said that although nonattainment designation is generally undesirable, it would open federal purse-strings for the purchase of more clean vehicles.

Utilities and state and federal governments are already required by the Environmental Policy Act to purchase alternative fuel vehicles, but most of those are based in Atlanta. Nonattainment designation for Middle Georgia would require agencies such as the Department of Human Resources to use the vehicles in Middle Georgia, too.

Middle Georgia's Clean Cities plan aims to increase the number of alternative fuel vehicles used locally from the current 197 to 230 in the next year. The city of Macon has about 60 of them, including four electric and four propane-powered vehicles bought this year, said Stewart, who is also Macon's vehicle maintenance director.

Among the first coalition partners committed to buying alternative fuel vehicles are L. E. Schwartz & Sons roofing and sheet metal company, and the Macon-Bibb County Transit Authority.

Joseph McElroy Jr., executive director of the authority, said all new buses purchased will be powered by natural gas or propane. The authority would also operate the proposed propane-powered shuttle service from the airport to downtown Macon and the Robins base. Both will start once grants are awarded.

Len Hindsman Jr., assistant superintendent for operations at Bibb County schools, said the system has applied for a $90,000 grant to pay for two alternative-fuel school buses.

Conie Mac Darnell, president of NewTown Macon, said NewTown plans an electric shuttle service for downtown in three to five years. The buses would operate on a 15-minute loop past public transportation stations, parking decks, offices, waterfront development, and perhaps a convention center hotel.

Other coalition partners, such as Georgia Power and Flint Energies, are helping extend the refueling infrastructure to create a corridor between Robins and Atlanta.

Currently, only the city of Macon offers a compressed natural gas refueling station open to the public. It will soon open another for propane refueling. According to the plan, Warner Robins will also open its natural gas station to the public.

Stewart said the participation of Robins gives the Middle Georgia coalition an advantage America's other 79 Clean Cities (including Atlanta) don't share.

"Robins handles alternative fuels for the entire Air Force," he said. "They give us a lot of insight into things happening in the alternative fuels industry that wouldn't be obvious to the person outside."

The 90-vehicle alternative fuel fleet at Robins is the largest in Middle Georgia, and the base also develops prototypes for new alternative fuel vehicles. Wetekam said hydrogen fuel cell technology, which creates only water as a by-product, appears the most promising.

After the induction ceremony, Middle Georgia dignitaries had a chance to try out alternative-fuel vehicles such as the Segway, a two-wheeled electrical vehicle that a standing rider can accelerate simply by leaning forward. U.S. Rep Jim Marshall, D-Macon and Jones County Commissioner Tim Day each took two rides.

"It was awesome! You just kind of think it, and it goes," Day said. He said he'd like to see the city of Gray buy a few for police on the beat downtown.