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Mid-Atlantic Diesel Collaborative Sponsors Emissions Reduction Workshop

Release Date: 08/24/2006
Contact Information: Donna Heron, (215) 814-5113

PHILADELPHIA – Leaders from state and local governments and private industry met here this week for a workshop on reducing diesel emissions. The workshop sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Diesel Collaborative, provided training on how to calculate emission reduction benefits from specific diesel reduction efforts such as installing auxiliary power units on tractor trailers to reduce prolonged idling.

“State and local air agencies will need to utilize emission reduction projects like diesel retrofits to help meet air quality standards for fine particulate matter by 2010,” said Judith Katz, director of the Air Protection Division of EPA’s mid-Atlantic region.

The meeting, held Aug. 21-22, at the Radisson-Warwick Hotel included presentations by EPA, Federal Highway Administration, and state representatives.

“The diesel emission reduction efforts being made in the mid-Atlantic states are leading to improved air quality, and this workshop helped us understand how to quantify the benefits of proposed projects,” said Susan Wierman, executive director of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Air Management Association.

Diesel exhaust contribute to fine particle pollution and can aggravate respiratory conditions like asthma and bronchitis, and fine particle pollution increases the risk of cardiovascular illness. Studies have linked prolonged exposure to diesel fumes to increased risks of cancer.

Projects that reduce diesel exhaust emissions help improve air quality. Numerous EPA programs assist schools, small businesses, fleets, and others to reduce idling, clean up old engines, and use cleaner fuels (including cleaner diesel fuel).

The Mid-Atlantic Diesel Collaborative is planning future workshops including a funding seminar which will provide information about sources of funding for diesel emission reduction projects.

The Mid-Atlantic Diesel Collaborative is a partnership between leaders from federal, state, and local government, the private sector, and environmental groups in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia Pennsylvania, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.

The collaborative is part of an overall national campaign to reduce diesel emissions. The collaborative, formed in 2005, held its first event in February 2006.

For more information on the workshop, go to www.marama.org/calendar/events/2006_08MDC.html.


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