REGIONAL PARTNERS RECOGNIZED FOR IMPROVING AIR QUALITY ACROSS DFW

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: Brian Wilson

Arlington, TEXAS – The North Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) held its annual recognition awards on Feb. 25 to celebrate its partners’ achievements in advancing mobility and improving air quality. The event recognized regional partners through the Air North Texas Partner Awards, the Dallas-Fort Worth Clean Cities (DFWCC) Fleet Recognition Program and the Charging Smart Program Designations.

 The Air North Texas Partner Awards recognized four regional cities for their commitment to improving air quality. 

• The City of Grand Prairie was named Partner of the Year for the second consecutive year, and for the 11^th time in the past 19 years. The city demonstrated strong community engagement through participating in 13 events and consistently sharing Air North Texas’ advertising content through social media, billboards, newsletters and promotional items.
  
  
• The City of Plano was awarded for Outstanding Education. The city informed residents about air quality with a variety of virtual and in-person educational programs.
  
  
• The City of Denton was recognized for Outstanding Initiative. The city consistently took a proactive approach to addressing air quality and promoting clean air practices, including the launch of a new air quality dashboard linked to their Air Quality and Greenhouse Gases webpage. Learn more at CityofDenton.com/233/Air-Quality-Greenhouse-Gases.
  
  
• The City of Cedar Hill was presented with two awards: Outstanding Outreach and the Arlo Ambassador award. The city was commended for its outreach efforts and actively engaging with residents on air quality topics. The city was awarded the Arlo Ambassador award for its innovative use of Arlo, Air North Texas’ mascot. Through the “Arlo Promise” campaign, residents were encouraged to pledge specific clean air actions while holding Arlo.

Air North Texas is a public awareness campaign dedicated to helping improve the region’s air quality by encouraging individuals, businesses and governments to become involved in the process. For more information, visit AirNorthTexas.org.

The DFWCC Fleet Recognition Program awarded 29 local fleets for their voluntary efforts to improve air quality through the use of alternative fuels and other fuel-saving strategies. The honorees included 10 Gold, nine Silver and 10 Bronze recipients. The DFW Clean Cities Coalition is hosted by NCTCOG. The Coalition’s mission is to improve air quality by promoting clean, reliable, accessible and sustainable transportation technologies.

DFWCC tracks fleet’s efforts to improve air quality through the Annual Survey each year. In the most recent DFWCC Annual Survey, reports submitted by 48 fleets documented efforts that reduced approximately 35 million gallons of gasoline equivalent and 67 tons of ozone-forming nitrogen oxides (NO_X) over the course of one year. These initiatives contribute to local efforts to reach attainment of the federal ozone standard.

Dallas Fort Worth International Airport was awarded Gold status and honored as a 2025 Shining Star for meeting a self-imposed goal of reaching an 85% renewable natural gas content in its natural gas supply. The City of Arlington received Gold status and was recognized for 10 years of fleet reporting. Other Gold recipients included the cities of Carrollton, Dallas, Denton, Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, Lewisville and Southlake, as well as Dallas Area Rapid Transit.

The winners of the Silver recognition include Trinity Metro, PACCAR Leasing Company, Lazer Spot Inc., Arlington Independent School District (ISD) and the cities of Coppell, Frisco, Irving, Mesquite and Plano. In addition to its Silver status, the cities of Coppell and Mesquite were recognized for 10 years of fleet reporting and Mesquite was honored with a Shining Star award for meeting the self-imposed goal of reducing conventional fuel (i.e. gasoline and diesel) use by 26%. 

Bronze status recipients included Bimbo Bakeries, Birdville ISD, Denton County, STAR Transit, the cities of Benbrook, Cedar Hill, Farmers Branch and McKinney and the towns of Addison and Flower Mound. Birdville ISD was recognized for 10 years of fleet reporting, and the city of McKinney received a Shining Star award for meeting the self-imposed goal of adding 12 electric vehicles (EV). For more information, visit dfwcleancities.org/fleetrecognition. 

The NCTCOG Recognition Awards also celebrated the following four cities for achieving the Charging Smart Bronze Designation by completing several actions, some of which are highlighted below. 

• The City of Arlington standardized and clarified the EV charging infrastructure permitting process and provided EV-specific training for emergency responders.
• The City of Mesquite permitted EV chargers as an accessory use in all zoning districts and installed several chargers for public usage.
• The City of Lewisville tabled an EV booth at the Lewisville ColorPalooza event and performed a fleet analysis.

The City of Frisco addressed EVs in its 2040 Comprehensive Plan and created an educational EV webpage for residents.

Charging Smart is a technical assistance and national designation program available from the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) that recognizes municipalities for electric vehicle (EV) readiness. Through this program, NCTCOG and Dallas-Fort Worth Clean Cities have partnered with IREC to provide personalized, no-cost technical assistance to help local governments streamline planning, permitting, and inspections to more quickly and easily deploy EV charging infrastructure. Designation is awarded to municipalities that complete specific EV-ready actions outlined in the Charging Smart program guide. For more information or to learn how to participate in the program, visit DFWCleanCities.org/Charging-Smart. 

About the Regional Transportation Council: 

The Regional Transportation Council (RTC) of the North Central Texas Council of Governments has served as the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for regional transportation planning in the Dallas-Fort Worth area since 1974. The MPO works in cooperation with the region’s transportation providers to address the complex transportation needs of the rapidly growing metropolitan area. The Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area includes Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Hood, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant and Wise counties. The RTC’s 45 members include local elected or appointed officials from the metropolitan area and representatives from each of the area’s transportation providers. More information can be found at www.nctcog.org.

About Air North Texas:

Air North Texas is a regional public awareness campaign that includes 39 partners pursuing environmental awareness in North Texas. It was formed by the North Central Texas Council of Governments with support of the Air North Texas Coalition. Partners support the campaign by encouraging residents to commit to actions that improve air quality, such as working from home, bicycling, or walking to the store and packing a lunch. For more information, visit www.airnorthtexas.org.