Statement of
BJ Johnson
Co-Founder and CEO
ClearFlame Engine Technologies
before the
House Committee on Small Business
Subcommittee on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Workforce Development
ClearFlame Technologies submits this statement for the record concerning the hearing titled, Wealth for the Working Class: The Clean Energy Economy, before the House Committee on Small Business, Subcommittee on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Workforce Development on July 27th, 2021
On behalf of ClearFlame Engine Technologies, we are honored and pleased to provide this statement to the House Committee on Small Business.
Bringing Economic Development and Rapid, Cost-Effective Sustainability
A Black- and Women-founded small business since 2016, ClearFlame is dedicated to clearing a path to a decarbonized future for long-distance trucking, agricultural, and other hard-to-electrify sectors—bringing cost-effective and rapid sustainability this decade.
We have located our company near Chicago in Geneva, Illinois, because we felt this was the optimal region to create the most impact, helping create jobs and economic development opportunities. As part of the first cohort of the acclaimed Chain Reaction Innovations program at Argonne National Laboratory, we saw the outstanding potential in building our business here in the Midwest—the nation’s epicenter for advanced manufacturing and agriculture.
Not Just Protecting the Climate—ClearFlame Can Improve Air Quality and Create Economic Opportunities in Impacted Communities This Decade
ClearFlame’s mission is to accelerate a rapid and cost-effective path to a clean and equitable future. Our decarbonization solutions rapidly reduce the climate and environmental impacts of hard-to-electrify segments, while also reducing the diesel particulate pollution that disproportionately impacts low-income communities of color around the country.
From Sunset Park, Brooklyn to communities surrounding the Port of Los Angeles, from the communities surrounding the railyards of Kansas City to the farm communities of California’s Central Valley, low-income communities of color have lived with disproportionate levels of diesel pollution for decades. This pollution has led to unacceptable levels of child asthma, life-long health impacts, and thousands of premature deaths nationwide, every year.
ClearFlame believes that today’s children should not have to wait decades for cleaner air and a stable climate. By reducing soot, nitrogen oxides, and other toxic air pollutants - while also leveraging America's core competencies to mitigate greenhouse gases faster than any alternative - ClearFlame can solve problems from local to global scales.
Benefits for the Environment and Small Businesses
The ClearFlame technology maintains the power, reliability, durability, and other performance characteristics of traditional diesel engines that business owners rely on to get their jobs done. And, because our technology maintains 90% of traditional diesel engine design, ClearFlame enables job continuity for the more than 281,000 people nationwide who currently work as diesel mechanics or other heavy-duty jobs.
This job continuity, as well as the direct and indirect benefits of lower total cost of ownership for small business owners who will benefit from our cost-effective technology, will provide significant economic benefits for small businesses across our nation.
ClearFlame Supports Technology-Neutral Performance Standards to Decarbonize our Economy
To achieve our nation’s decarbonization goals, we support fuel-neutral, technology-neutral performance standards for engines and vehicles in all sectors. Ever since the first Clean Air Act was passed in 1970, this approach rewards small business innovators like ClearFlame, while accelerating rapid technology adoption, increasing consumer choice, and lowering costs.
ClearFlame Engine Technologies is honored and pleased to provide this statement to the House Committee on Small Business. Thank you for the opportunity to share our goals for ClearFlame and small businesses across the country.
Sincerely,
BJ Johnson
CEO, ClearFlame Engine Technologies