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U.S. EPA’s Region 10 Awards Over $900,000 in Recovery Funding to Cascade Sierra Solutions to Reduce Diesel Emissions and Create Jobs

Release Date: 07/29/2009
Contact Information: Pam Emerson, EPA Office of Air, Waste and Toxics, 206-553-2858, [email protected] Mark MacIntyre, EPA Public Affairs, 206-553-7302, [email protected]

(Seattle, Wash. July 29, 2009) - In a move that stands to create jobs, boost local economies, reduce diesel emissions and protect human health and the environment for people of the Washington, Oregon and Idaho, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded over $900,000 to Cascade Sierra Solutions for a trailer aerodynamics project. This clean diesel project will create jobs while protecting Washington, Oregon and Idaho’s air quality.

“Investing in projects to reduce diesel pollution is essential to air quality and our quality of life in the Northwest,” said Michelle Pirzadeh, Acting Regional Administrator for EPA's Region 10. "This investment will pay off now and in the future by reducing health care costs, putting people to work in green jobs and making the air healthier for future generations."

The funds are provided under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) of 2009 National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program. Under this funding competition, EPA Region 10 alone received 49 grant applications requesting over $80 million to help fund clean diesel emissions projects. The award announced today was chosen to both maximize economic impact and emissions reductions.

The grant funds will be used to purchase and install 1,554 advanced trailer skirts, 54 advanced trailer end fairings and 54 trailer gap reducers on Class 8B Long Haul trucks in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The trailer skirts have been proven to improve fuel efficiency by 7.4 percent, the trailer end fairings by 5.1 percent and the trailer gap reducers by 2 percent. The project will reduce emissions of diesel particulate matter by over four tons, and will also reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 60,000 tons over the lifetime of the trailer retrofits.

The project will also help create or sustain an estimated 50 manufacturing and local installation jobs, and will also help truckers reduce operating costs and stay competitive. The project will save truckers an estimated $3.5 million in fuel costs annually.

An additional $1.84 million in funding will come from partners. The project is led by Cascade Sierra Solutions in partnership with private trucking fleet owners and operators Gordon Trucking and J.B. Hunt.

In addition to helping to create and retain jobs, the clean diesel projects would 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.