EPA Awards Utah Grant
Utah diesel emissions grant funding targeted a major source of local air pollution along the Wasatch Front. The EPA awarded $496,000 to help retrofit heavy-duty trucks, reduce idling and replace older vehicles with cleaner equipment.
EPA Awards Utah Targeted Heavy-Duty Diesel Pollution for Grants
A Utah truck retrofit project aimed to save fuel, cut operating costs and reduce harmful diesel emissions along the Wasatch Front.
In February 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded the Utah Department of Environmental Quality a $496,000 clean diesel grant. The state planned to use the funding to reduce emissions from heavy-duty trucks operating in seven Utah counties.
At the time, communities along the Wasatch Front faced particulate pollution above federal air-quality standards. Therefore, cleaner heavy-duty trucks offered one way to address a major transportation emissions source.
Cleaner Trucks Could Cut Particulate Matter
The retrofit project targeted diesel pollution directly.
According to the EPA, the project could prevent approximately 21 tons of particulate matter from entering the atmosphere. In addition, the upgrades could eliminate about 1,364 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
Those reductions mattered because diesel engines can release fine particles and other pollutants into communities near highways, freight corridors and trucking operations.
Meanwhile, improving truck efficiency offered another benefit. Fleets could burn less fuel. As a result, operators could reduce fuel expenses while lowering emissions.
EPA Saw Clean Diesel as Part of the Solution
EPA Regional Administrator Shaun McGrath said cleaner diesel technologies could help Utah improve air quality while delivering fuel and financial savings.
Furthermore, the project showed how existing trucks could become part of the clean transportation transition. Fleets didn’t necessarily need to replace every vehicle immediately. Instead, targeted retrofits could reduce emissions from trucks already operating on Utah roads.
Ultimately, the Utah truck retrofit program connected cleaner air with lower fuel consumption and reduced operating costs. It also demonstrated how relatively focused investments could deliver measurable environmental benefits across heavily traveled transportation corridors.
The Project Combined Cleaner Exhaust and Less Idling
This project will focus on retrofitting 19 long-haul trucks, based in Utah, with exhaust control devices that will reduce particulate matter emissions up to 90% and idle-reduction technologies that will reduce engine idling time by more than 8,000 hours. Bingham Livestock, Intermountain Rigging and Heavy Haul, L & S Transport, and Sugar House Van Lines were selected to participate due to their activity in areas along the Wasatch Front. The project will also replace two outdated vehicles operated by C.R. England Global Transportation and Pacific States Cast Iron Company with new ones that meet high emissions standards.
Investments in clean-diesel technologies save money and reduce premature deaths, asthma attacks, respiratory ailments, lost work days, and many other health impacts that affect the region every year.
In addition to the important health benefits, EPA’s grant will result in the reduction of:
48 tons of nitrogen oxides
21 tons of particulate matter (PM 2.5);15 tons of hydrocarbons
83 tons of carbon monoxide; and 1,364 tons of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide.
It will also save 83,462 gallons of fuel. At over $4.50 per gallon, it’s $375,579 of savings annually to these truck fleets in Utah!
For information about EPA’s clean diesel initiatives, visit: http://www.epa.gov/cleandiesel.
Conclusion: Cleaner Trucks Can Deliver Multiple Benefits
The Utah diesel emissions grant was designed to cut harmful particulate pollution. All the while, it’s also saving fuel and operating costs.
Projects like this show why cleaner transportation technology can deliver environmental, health and economic benefits at the same time.
For more on transportation efficiency, see our green transportation coverage.
