A Friday workshop on propane vehicles will be geared toward raising awareness about alternatives to gasoline use.

The workshop, which will be attended by Harlingen school district officials and city commissioners, begins at 9 a.m.

The two-hour event will feature lectures by propane experts from the Texas Railroad Commission, Rio Hondo Independent School District, Clean Fuel USA and Rush Enterprises, a truck and heavy equipment retailer.

A question-and-answer session with the expert panel will follow the lecture series. Those in attendance will be allowed to ride and drive propane-powered vehicles following the workshop.

Leadership Harlingen Class of 2010 member and District 1 City Commissioner Robert Leftwich said the workshop is tied to the leadership class’ energy conservation and sustainability initiative, an effort to find environmentally savvy operation solutions for all city departments.

“(The workshop) is primarily for the school district for their school busses and we’ve got some opportunities in the city to use propane too,” he said, adding that propane burns cleaner and is cheaper than gasoline.

But the city commissioner said attendance at the workshop was also important “for anybody who may be in business with fleets of medium- to light-duty trucks, even for domestic use for automobiles or for light trucks you can use propane.”

“Natural gas, propane and electric hybrid use are some of the alternative fuels that (the leadership class has) in our comprehensive plan,” Leftwich said. “That’s why the city is going to be involved in hearing the presentation, so we can make considerations about where we can implement alternative fuels in terms of city fleet vehicles.”

- Gabriel Saldana

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