U.S. EPA offers $3.6 Million in Grants for Innovative Diesel Emissions Reduction Projects

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-Region 4, as part of the Southeast Diesel Collaborative, today announced the availability of approximately $3.6 Million in grants to fund projects within the Southeast to demonstrate effective emission control technologies and strategies, methods or approaches to reducing diesel emissions. EPA expects to fund between five and ten grants ranging from $250,000 and $750,000. However, EPA reserves the option to fund a project at an amount lower than $250,000 if the proposed project involves retrofitting or upgrading an applicant’s entire fleet.

EPA is accepting proposals for funding from regional, state, local or tribal agencies or port authorities with jurisdiction over transportation or air quality. Proposals will also be accepted from nonprofit organizations or institutions that represent or provide pollution reduction or educational services to persons or organizations that own or operate diesel fleets or that have, as their principal purpose, the promotion of transportation or air quality. School districts, municipalities, metropolitan planning organizations, cities and counties are all eligible provided they fall within the definition above.

The Southeast Diesel Collaborative is a partnership composed of leaders from federal, state and local government, the private sector and other stakeholders in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The goal of the collaborative is to improve air quality by encouraging the use of clean, renewable energy and by reducing diesel emissions from existing engines and equipment from the agriculture, heavy construction, port, locomotive and on-road sectors.

The Southeast Diesel Collaborative is part of EPA’s National Clean Diesel Campaign, a program combining regulatory measures with voluntary initiatives to reduce the pollution emitted from diesel engines across the country. For more information about the Southeast Diesel Collaborative, please visit: http://www.southeastdiesel.org. For more information about the Southeast Diesel Collaborative Grant and application process, please visit: http://www.epa.gov/region4/air/mobile/SEDC-RFP%20FY0809.pdf.