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EPA awards $50,000 grant to Wisconsin to cut diesel emissions from waste haulers

Release Date: 01/19/2007
Contact Information: William Omohundro, (312) 353-8254, [email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 07-OPA012

EPA awards $50,000 grant to Wisconsin to cut diesel emissions from waste haulers

CHICAGO (Jan. 18, 2007) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 has awarded a $50,000 grant to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for a project to cut diesel emissions from Wisconsin garbage trucks.

EPA said the grant will be used to retrofit at least 21 garbage trucks with equipment that will reduce diesel emissions in the city of De Pere in Brown County and in the Milwaukee metropolitan area.

"EPA and DNR are targeting these garbage trucks because they travel the city streets everyday," said Mary A. Gade, EPA Region 5 Administrator. "While new diesel engines are cleaner-burning, we must act now to reduce emissions from the older engines that will be around for many years."

The grant is part of Region 5's Midwest Clean Diesel Initiative, a collaboration of federal, state and local agencies, along with communities, non-profit organizations and private companies working together to reduce emissions from diesel engines in the Midwest.

Diesel emissions contain large amounts of nitrogen oxides and fine particles (soot). Nitrogen oxides are precursors of ozone (smog), which is a lung irritant, and fine particles can aggravate respiratory and heart diseases. EPA has found that fine particles from diesel emissions are a leading public health risk in the Midwest.

MCDI estimates there are more than 3 million engines in the Midwest that would benefit from new pollution reduction technology.

More information on MCDI is at https://www.epa.gov/midwestcleandiesel/.