News Releases from Region 05

EPA Awards $573,178 to Twin Cities Organization for Diesel Pollution Reduction

(CHICAGO) February 14, 2018 — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded a Twin Cities organization more than half a million dollars to reduce harmful diesel emissions from trucks, utility equipment and a tug boat that operate around the metro region.

“These projects will help people breathe cleaner air,” said EPA Region 5 Administrator Cathy Stepp. “Clean diesel grants also spur innovation and support jobs by helping to replace older, dirtier engines with newer, cleaner ones.”

EPA awarded the nonprofit organization Environmental Initiative a $573,178 Diesel Emissions Reduction Act grant to implement projects with two partners: Upper River Services and the city of St. Paul. Upper River Services will replace two older propulsion engines with newer, cleaner engines on a tow/tug boat that operates in the Twin Cities moving goods to and from port facilities. St. Paul will replace inefficient diesel engines on six heavy-duty utility trucks, two on-road aerial lifts, one street sweeper, and one off-road front end loader with newer, cleaner vehicles and equipment.

Upper River Services and St. Paul are providing more than $1.6 million toward the total project cost of $2.2 million. These projects will cut the amount of nitrogen oxide, particulate matter (soot), hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in the air.

“Minnesota is fortunate to have generally good air quality, but we still face troubling disparities across economic and sociodemographic populations. Simply put: we don’t all breathe the same air and we need to improve that,” said Bill Droessler, senior director of strategic project planning for Environmental Initiative. “As about two-thirds of Minnesota’s air pollution comes from smaller, more dispersed sources, we applaud the EPA, the City of St. Paul, and Upper River Services in joining this voluntary, public-private partnership to leverage our resources and skills to create cleaner air for all of our neighborhoods. This cost-effective effort will make a difference; the project’s annual emission reductions are the equivalent of taking 17,000 cars off the road. We invite other businesses and interested public entities to collaborate with us to keep this momentum going and improve our air for everyone.”

EPA provides grants under the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act to protect human health and improve air quality by reducing emissions from diesel engines. 

For more information on the National Clean Diesel Campaign: www.epa.gov/cleandiesel.

For more information on the Midwest Clean Diesel Initiative: www.epa.gov/midwestcleandiesel.