News Releases from Region 09

U.S. EPA Awards $117,129 to the Hawaii Department of Health to Retrofit Trucks

(10/22/15) SAN FRANCISCO - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $117,129 to the Hawaii Department of Health to retrofit four short-haul trucks with diesel particulate filters on the Island of Oahu. This project will reduce human health risk from toxic pollutants by reducing exposure to heavy-duty diesel truck exhaust in the communities where the fleets operate.

"By promoting clean diesel technologies, we can improve 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 program 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 over $5.4 million in DERA grant funding to retrofit and replace old, polluting diesel vehicles and equipment, including school buses, trucks, agriculture and port equipment, and generators.

This funding 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 program has awarded more than 700 grants across the country in 600 communities. These projects have reduced emissions from more than 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 projects 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 projects nationally, visit www.epa.gov/cleandiesel.