Americas News
U.S. Awards $30M for Clean Diesel
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says it is giving out $30 million for clean diesel projects including improvements to Marine vessels and port vehicles.
The funds, awarded through Diesel Emissions Reduction Program (DERA), will pay for the upgrades of engines and vehicles, adoption of new fuels, and emission control and idle reduction technologies.
"The clean diesel projects funded through these grants will work to address the more than 11 million older diesel engines that continue to emit higher levels of pollution," the EPA said in a statement.
The funding includes upgrades to a number of vessels with Tier 3 rated engines designed to reduce emissions of particulate matter (PM) and nitrous oxides (NOx), including $1.45 million to replace two engines on Mississippi River pushboats, and $1.2 million to repower two Virginia tug boat engines.
Other awards include $1.3 million to repower marine vessel engines and retrofit drayage trucks in the mid-Atlantic region, $2.07 million to repower 24 marine engines in South Carolina and improve various vehicles, and a $1.39 million grant has been given to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection that includes funding to repower two vessels with Tier 3 marine propulsion and auxiliary engines.
The EPA is also funding improvements at ports, including a $1.34 million upgrade to tractors and cranes at the Port of Long Beach.
The EPA has been providing DERA funding each year since 2008, awarding a total of more than 500 grants and reducing hundreds of thousands of tons of air pollution.
This year, the program offered more available funds per award, allowing the EPA to target larger engines used in marine vessels and locomotives.
