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U.S. EPA Awards $1.7 Million in Recovery Funding to the University of Georgia Research Foundation to Reduce Diesel Emissions and Create Jobs

Release Date: 07/10/2009
Contact Information: Davina Marraccini, (404) 562-8322, [email protected]

(ATLANTA – July 10, 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 Southeast, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded $1,713,235 million to retrofit on-highway diesel vehicles in Georgia. This clean diesel project will create jobs while protecting air quality.

“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 of 2009 (ARRA) National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program. Under this funding competition, EPA Region 4 alone received 98 grant applications requesting over $140 million to help fund clean diesel emissions projects. The award announced today was chosen to both maximize economic impact and emissions reductions.

This project will retrofit 239 on-highway diesel vehicles in Athens-Clarke and Washington counties in Georgia. The retrofits will operate on ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel, providing long-term emission reductions and reducing particulate matter emissions by 6.4 tons.

In addition to helping to create and retain jobs, clean diesel projects will 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 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 Recovery 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 on Feb. 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 EPA’s implementation of the ARRA in Georgia, visit: https://www.epa.gov/region4/eparecovery/

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

For information about the University of Georgia Research Foundation, visit: http://creativeresearch.uga.edu