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U.S. EPA Awards More Than $800,000 in Recovery Funding to City of Phoenix to Reduce Diesel Emissions, Create Jobs

Release Date: 07/17/2009
Contact Information: Margot Perez-Sullivan, 415.947.4149, Perezsullivan.margot@epa.gov

(SAN FRANCISCO) - In a move that stands to create jobs, boost local economies, reduce diesel emissions and protect human health and the environment for the people of Arizona, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $829,697 to the city of Phoenix to reduce diesel emissions by retrofitting and replacing city-owned equipment. This clean diesel project will create jobs while protecting air quality in the Phoenix area.

“With this Recovery Act funding for clean diesel projects, we’ll be able to significantly improve air quality in areas in Arizona with the worst air pollution, while at the same time creating or preserving more than 3,000 jobs throughout the nation,” said Laura Yoshii, acting regional administrator for the EPA’s Pacific Southwest region.

The funds are provided under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) of 2009 National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program. Under this funding competition, the EPA’s Pacific Southwest region alone received more than 100 grant applications requesting more than $500 million to help fund clean diesel emissions projects. The award announced today was chosen to both maximize economic impact and emissions reductions.

The project will retrofit 45 pieces of city-owned diesel equipment with diesel particulate filters or diesel oxidation catalysts, and replace an aging garbage hauler. The retro-fitted vehicles will run on ultra-low sulfur diesel with 20 percent biodiesel. The vehicles provide a variety of services, including emergency, park maintenance, street repair, and refuse collection for various Phoenix metropolitan areas.

In addition to helping create and retain jobs, the clean diesel projects will help reduce premature deaths, asthma attacks and other respiratory ailments, lost work days, and many other health impacts every year.

The Recovery Act allotted the National Clean Diesel Campaign (NCDC) a total of $300 million, of which the National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program received $156 million to fund competitive grants across the nation. The Recovery Act also included $20 million for the National Clean Diesel Emerging Technology Program grants and $30 million for the SmartWay Clean Diesel Finance Program grants.

In addition, under the Act’s State Clean Diesel Grant program, a total of $88.2 million has been provided to states for clean diesel projects through a noncompetitive allocation process.

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 17, 2009 and has directed that the Recovery Act be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability. To that end, the American people can see how every dollar is being invested at Recovery.gov.

For information on the EPA’s implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, visit: https://www.epa.gov/recovery

For information about the EPA’s clean diesel initiatives, visit: https://www.epa.gov/cleandiesel
For information about the city of Phoenix, visit: http://www.phoenix.gov
Follow the U.S. EPA's Pacific Southwest region on Twitter: http://twitter.com/USEPAregion9 and join the LinkedIn group: http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/1823773/