Sep 17, 2010 10:16 AM

A partnership of corporations and environmentalists announced a new initiative designed to reduce greenhouse gases and improve air and water quality in the Chesapeake Bay region.

Transportation logistics firm J B Hunt Transport Services, Washington Gas Energy Services (WGES), the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and Sterling Planet have joined forces to launch CleanSteps Carbon Offsets, a new feature of WGES’ natural gas supply service that includes a newly created Carbon Reduction Fund.

When customers choose WGES as a natural gas supplier, a portion of their natural gas usage is matched with CleanSteps carbon offsets. Customers can also choose to match 100% of their natural gas usage with CleanSteps carbon offsets.

Carbon offsets will come from clean air projects that result in greenhouse gas reductions, as well as other local and regional benefits. Funding also will be provided to the Carbon Reduction Fund, administered by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The fund will be used to develop new carbon offset projects that also promote the health of the bay.

Initially, a major source of carbon offsets will be those created by J B Hunt through its program to reduce long-haul trucking mileage by shifting freight to more efficient rail transportation.

“By transferring containers from trucks to trains, we not only reduce fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions, but we also improve local air quality and reduce traffic by putting fewer trucks on busy highways,” said Gary Whicker, senior vice-president, engineering services for J B Hunt.

The Carbon Reduction Fund will be supported by contributions from both Sterling Planet and WGES, contributions that will reach more than $200,000 per year when WGES’s current customer base transitions to the new standard offer. Funds will be used by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to plant trees along rivers and streams that feed into the bay, and to work with area farmers to implement new agricultural practices that reduce toxic runoff.

Learn more at www.cleansteps.com/offsets.