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'Clean Up Missouri' Project Receives Nearly $1 Million to Reduce Diesel Emissions Across the State
Release Date: 11/02/2011
Contact Information: David Bryan, 913-551-7433, [email protected]
Environmental News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Kansas City, Kan., Nov. 2, 2011) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $999,460 to the $1.7 million Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) “Clean Up Missouri” Project to replace, retrofit and repower 196 school buses and nine switch locomotives throughout the state.
MDNR will partner with St. Louis Regional Clean Cities, Mid-America Regional Council in Kansas City, Ozarks Center for Sustainable Solutions in Springfield and the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning Commission (SEMO RPC) to reduce diesel emissions in the state.
- St. Louis Regional Clean Cities will retrofit 23 DeSoto Area School District buses with diesel oxidation catalysts and fuel operated heaters to reduce diesel emissions. A diesel oxidation catalyst is a device that uses a chemical process to break down diesel engine pollutants in the exhaust stream, turning them into less harmful components. Fuel operated heaters prevent the bus driver from having to run the school bus at idle for long periods of time.
- Ozarks Center for Sustainable Solutions will retrofit 87 buses with oxidation catalysts and fuel operated heaters in the Lebanon (41), West Plains (32), Kirbyville R-VI (7) and Willard R-II (7) school districts. The project also funds school bus replacement at Joplin (3), Dallas County (1), Willard R-II (2) and Logan-Rogersville (1) school districts. The buses will be replaced earlier than normal to reduce emissions.
- Mid-America Regional Council plans to retrofit 77 school buses in the Liberty (21), Lee’s Summit (16) and Blue Springs (40) School Districts with fuel operated heaters and closed crankcase ventilation. The project will also early replace one school bus in the Lee’s Summit School District.
- SEMO RPC plans include repowering one switch locomotive and installing automatic engine startup/shutdown devices on eight switch locomotives to reduce diesel emissions. EPA is working hard to reduce emissions from locomotives, both while they are pulling freight and while they are idling.
Diesel engines emit 7.3 million tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx) and 333,000 tons of soot annually. Diesel pollution is linked to thousands of premature deaths, hundreds of thousands of asthma attacks and millions of lost work days. While EPA's standards significantly reduce emissions from newly manufactured engines, clean diesel projects funded through these grants will work to address the more than 11 million older diesel engines that continue to emit higher levels of harmful pollution.
More information on the National Clean Diesel Campaign
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