EPA awards $8 million for diesel emission reduction programs

The funds are part of the Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) program’s fiscal year 2014 allocation.

   The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $8 million to communities in 21 states and Puerto Rico to reduce diesel engine emissions.
   The funds are part of the Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) program’s fiscal year 2014 allocation. 
   “Cleaner trucks, buses, boats and heavy equipment keep local economies working and thriving while better protecting the health of the neighborhoods near ports and along delivery routes,” said Janet McCabe, acting assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, in a statement. 
   EPA estimates that every $1 in DERA funding generates up to $13 in health care savings. DERA funds cover engine replacements, repowers and idle-reduction technologies to clean up a variety of older diesel engines, including those in heavy-duty trucks used at ports, delivery trucks, long-haul trucks, marine vessels, school buses, and agricultural equipment. 
   The funds are dispersed to a myriad of programs. For example, California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District will use its awarded funds to replace 11 on-road drayage trucks (model years 1991-1995) and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Air Management Association Delaware and Virginia will provide incentives to voluntarily replace 19 drayage trucks operating with 1995-2003 engines. In Texas, the North Central Texas Council of Governments will use its funds to install EPA-verified SmartWay truck stop electrification at four trucking terminals and the Port of Houston will replace 14 drayage trucks.
   Since the start of the DERA program in 2008, EPA has awarded more than 700 grants in 600 communities across the country. Many of these projects fund cleaner diesel engines that operate in economically disadvantaged communities whose residents suffer from higher-than-average instances of asthma, heart and lung disease, EPA said.