[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 493-494]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


                 TRIBUTE TO MANHATTAN BEER DISTRIBUTORS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOSE E. SERRANO

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, February 4, 2002

  Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Manhattan 
Beer Distributors, the first private, non-utility company in the Bronx 
to use heavy duty Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) trucks to make 
deliveries. Manhattan Beer Distributors will roll out its first CNG 
delivery trucks at a ceremony on Monday, February 4, 2002.
  Mr. Speaker, Manhattan Beer Distributors first established a facility 
in the Bronx in 1979. The Bronx site is located on Walnut Avenue, in 
the industrialized and heavily trafficked area of the Bronx known as 
Port Morris. Today, the company employs 468 people at its Bronx 
facility, operates 95 vehicles and has an estimated 30 percent share of 
the beer market in the New York metropolitan area.
  Under the leadership of its President, Simon Bergson, and Vice 
President Mike McCarthy, Manhattan Beer Distributors will begin the 
transformation of its fleet with 15 heavy-duty vehicles that will 
operate exclusively on CNG. The dispatch of these first fifteen could 
be the ground-breaking catalyst for changing the infrastructure of the 
South Bronx, from one where pollutant emissions from multitudes of 
vehicles threaten the delicate health of our children to one where 
commercial operations can harmoniously co-exist with adjacent 
residential communities. Manhattan Beer Distributors deserves tribute 
for its initiative in this project and I hope that many other companies 
will do the same.
  Mr. Speaker, Manhattan Beer Distributors' use of alternative fuel 
contributes toward several local, regional and national interests. By

[[Page 494]]

reducing pollutant emissions through the use of CNG to power delivery 
trucks, Manhattan Beer Distributors helps improve our air quality. In 
addition, using CNG helps reduce our nation's dependence on foreign 
oil, which strengthens our nation's energy security and reduces our 
nation's trade deficit. Because it has installed a permanent CNG 
station, it is likely that the Manhattan Beer fleet will evolve into a 
total clean fuel fleet. The success of this project will demonstrate 
that other truck-based businesses in the Bronx can make similar 
improvements. These are the kinds of contributions to environmental 
quality and economic development that inspired me to introduce 
legislation providing tax incentives for businesses that use 
alternative fuels in federal empowerment zones.
  Mr. Speaker, our nation must do all that it can to support businesses 
like Manhattan Beer Distributors, who willingly exercise good corporate 
citizenship. I heartily urge all of my esteemed colleagues to join me 
in honoring this bold, conscientious and innovative enterprise.

                          ____________________