The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced more than a hundred million dollars in grants to help fund the transition from diesel engines to “cleaner and zero-emission solutions.”
On October 17, the EPA announced that $125 million is to be awarded under the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act National Grants Program.
The funding will go towards approximately 70 projects in various transportation industry sectors to assist with engine replacements and upgrades to school buses, port equipment, and construction equipment. The EPA has particularly favored funding in areas with existing air quality issues, “especially those projects that benefit disadvantaged communities and other areas that face particular public health or environmental justice risks or impacts.”
Officials say that “more than half of these selections will support replacing older equipment and vehicles with zero-emission technologies, such as all-electric school buses, terminal tractors, drayage trucks and shore power to marine vessels.”
The EPA points to nearly 8 million “legacy” diesel engines across transportation sectors that do not meet the tougher standards required of newer diesel engines. The agency says that these older diesel engines “emit higher levels of harmful nitrogen oxides and particulate matter than newer diesel engines.”
Projects receiving grant funding will involve the retrofit or replacement of existing diesel engines, vehicles, and equipment with EPA and California Air Resources Board certified engine configurations and verified retrofit and idle reduction technologies.
“Every community deserves to breathe clean air, but too many communities are still over-burdened by pollution from older diesel equipment,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “With the latest round of funding, EPA’s successful DERA program will upgrade these sources of harmful pollution, and accelerate real progress toward a cleaner, more just, and healthier future for all Americans.”
“For almost 20 years now, the competitive grants administered through the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act program have taken inefficient and old diesel engines off the road and replaced them with cleaner, American-made technology,” said Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Tom Carper. “This $125 million award will help the nation transition to a cleaner economy while also protecting vulnerable communities. This program is a testament to the kind of public-private partnerships that drive environmental and economic progress by reducing air pollution, creating American jobs, and making communities safer and healthier.”