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U.S. EPA Awards $1.24 M in Recovery Funding to Cobb County, GA Schools to Reduce Diesel Emissions and Create Jobs

Release Date: 07/19/2010
Contact Information: Dawn Harris-Young, (404) 562-8421, [email protected]

(ATLANTA – July 19, 2010) In a move that stands to create jobs, boost local economies, reduce diesel emissions and protect human health and the environment for people of Cobb County, Georgia, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded $1,240,275 million to the Cobb County School District to retrofit school buses.

“This grant is a great investment in environmental protection and will provide long-term economic benefits for Georgia,” said Stan Meiburg, EPA Acting Regional Administrator in Atlanta. “This funding will go a long way in helping to bolster the economy and protect public health and the environment by creating green jobs that improve air quality.”

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 4 alone received 98 grant applications requesting more than $140 million to help fund clean diesel emissions projects. The award announced today was chosen to both maximize economic impact and emissions reductions.

This award will fund retrofitting 108 Cobb County school buses with diesel particulate filters, and provide for retrofitting 480 buses with engine start-up/shut-off idle control systems. The result will be an estimated vehicle lifetime emissions reduction of 13.7 tons of nitrogen oxides from idle controls, .56 tons of particulate matter from filters and idle controls, 2.2 tons of CO from filters, .80 tons of hydrocarbons from filters, and 480 tons of CO₂ from idle controls. Project implementation will involve a collaboration of the Cobb County School District, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division.

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 ARRA of 2009 on Feb. 17, 2009, and directed that the Recovery Act be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability. To that end, the American people can visit Recovery.gov to see how every dollar is being invested.

Learn more about EPA's implementation of the ARRA in Georgia visit: https://www.epa.gov/recovery/

For information about EPA’s clean diesel initiatives, visit: https://www.epa.gov/cleandiesel

For information about the Cobb County, Georgia School District, visit http://www.cobbk12.org/