SAN FRANCISCO - The E.P.A. has awarded $3,258,639 in Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) backing to California to reduce diesel, greenhouse gas and black carbon emissions from large polluting diesel sources, such as trucks and buses.
"By promoting clean diesel technologies, we can enhance air quality, support green jobs, and fight global climate change," said Jared Blumenfeld, Regional Administrator for EPA's Pacific Southwest Office. "Public-private partnerships like the West Coast Collaborative are leading the way on reducing harmful diesel emissions."
The DERA plan is administered by EPA's West Coast Collaborative, a clean air partnership comprised of the Pacific Southwest and Pacific Northwest Regions, which leverages public and private funds to reduce emissions from the most polluting diesel sources in impacted communities. Along the West Coast, public and private partners from Alaska, American Samoa, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington received $5,435,116 DERA grant backing to retrofit and replace old, polluting diesel vehicles and equipment, including school buses, trucks, agriculture and port equipment, and generators.
The 2015 DERA grants awarded to California funded the following projects:
City of Long Beach Harbor Department received over $1.2 million to replace 8 existing yard diesel tractors with all-electric automated guided vehicles.
San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District received $1 million to replace 75 off-road agricultural diesel tractors with new tractors that have Tier four or cleaner engines.
Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District received $642,734 to replace three diesel powered refuse trucks with California Air Resources Board certified model year 2016 RNG fueled equivalents, and to replace up to 6 nonroad diesel powered agricultural tractors with model year 2015/2016 diesel powered Tier four equivalents.
California Air Resources Board received $415,905 to retrofit 20 school buses with Diesel Particulate Filters (DPFs) throughout California.
This backing is part of U.S. EPA's DERA fiscal year 2015 allocation which include engine replacements, idle reduction and retrofit technologies to clean up a variety of older diesel engines. Since 2008, the DERA plan has awarded in excess of 700 grants across the country in 600 communities. These plans have reduced emissions from in excess of 60,000 engines.
Reducing particulate matter emissions also reduces black carbon, which influences climate by directly absorbing light, reducing the reflectivity ("albedo") of snow and ice through deposition, and interacting with clouds.
Today's selected plans fund cleaner diesel engines that operate in economically disadvantaged communities whose residents suffer from higher-than-average instances of asthma, heart, and lung disease.
To learn more about all of this year's West Coast Collaborative DERA projects, visit: http://www.westcoastcollaborative.org
For more information about EPA's National Clean Diesel campaign and the awarded DERA plans nationally, visit www.epa.gov/cleandiesel.
