By: JANE ROH • Courier-Post Staff • March 31, 2010

CHERRY HILL — Cherry Hill has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency for a pollution-reduction project.

The township is taking the lead on a joint initiative with Highland Park in Middlesex County and Montclair in Essex County. The project is one of 25 across the country that received awards from a $10 million Climate Showcase Communities competitive grant program.

"I firmly believe, as do our Climate Showcase municipal partners, New Jersey legislators and other public officials who supported the township's application for this innovative offering from the EPA, that the shift toward sustainability we must make as a global community must start in our local communities," said Mayor Bernie Platt.

He and other officials spoke at a presentation of the award at the Cherry Hill Public Library on Tuesday.

The program is designed to help small- and medium-sized municipalities expand communication and outreach efforts on initiatives to reduce greenhouse gases. Caroline Newton, spokeswoman for the regional EPA, said that participating communities will encourage self-audits of energy use, target energy use reduction, and promote alternative transportation.

The path to reducing emissions in the township could be difficult. Cherry Hill has large commercial centers and two state highways that run through the town. Its population is nearly five times larger than Highland Park and nearly twice as large as Montclair.

The overall goal of the Climate Showcase Communities program is to demonstrate how midsize towns can reduce emissions that are responsible for climate change, officials said.

The three towns will use the monetary award to form the Sustainable Energy Efficiency Demonstration project. The state Board of Public Utilities and the Municipal Land Use Center at the College of New Jersey are also partners.

"The New Jersey SEED program is part of a national showcase of community actions to address climate change," said Judith Enck, EPA regional administrator. "Effective programs such as the one in southern New Jersey will reduce air pollution, save consumer dollars, promote innovation, create new jobs and put New Jersey on the path to a clean energy economy."

The towns will use data on their greenhouse emissions as a jumping-off point for developing targets. Cherry Hill officials said local emissions data should be collected by the end of 2010.

"We think this project could be a model for other towns and cities around the state and across the country," said Montclair Mayor Jerry Fried.

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., alerted township officials about the program last year. The township enlisted the expertise of New Jersey Sustainable State Institute Director Randy Solomon during the application process, and reached out to Montclair and Highland Park based on those towns' sustainability track records.

The mayors and EPA representatives attended the announcement on Tuesday, along with state Sen. Jim Beach, D-Camden, and Camden County Freeholder Jeffrey Nash.