Public Fleets Sector Workgroup
Summary
The public fleets sector is diverse, and our grant projects reflect that diversity. From replacing polluting fire trucks and ground support equipment at airports, to projects on tribal lands, the public fleets sector addresses important diesel pollution in the places we live.
Public fleets serve a vital role; keeping our streets clean and functional, keeping us safe, and getting us where we need to go. Public fleets are any state, territorial, tribal, or local government owned or contracted fleet that operated heavy-duty diesel equipment. This equipment includes Class 5 or higher diesel on-highway vehicles (>16,001 lbs GVWR), such as utility trucks, refuse trucks, fire trucks, ambulances, buses, as well as heavy-duty diesel non-road equipment, such as loaders, dozers, tractors, generators and more. This page includes information on funding assistance for a variety of heavy-duty public fleet emission reduction projects, including:
- On-highway vehicle and nonroad equipment replacement, such as cleaner model year engines, zero-emission battery-electric or fuel cell replacements and
- Lower emission alternative fuel replacements such as natural gas, and exhaust retrofits.
West Coast Collaborative (WCC) also funds a variety of Public Fleet Projects and administers EPA funding programs such as the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) and the Bipartisan infrastructure Law's (BIL) Clean School Bus programs.
Highlighted Work
One innovative WCC public fleets project is the Fire Truck Replacement Project; State of Washington (pdf) that the Washington Department of Ecology is leading with funding from U.S. EPA's 2022 State DERA program. EPA is providing $552,549 in grant funding to the Washington Department of Ecology to scrap eight diesel fire trucks in the state and replace them with eight electric fire trucks. This project will reduce about three tons of NOx emissions, a ton of CO emissions, and over 650 tons of CO2 emissions over the lifetime of the project. Learn more about EPA's DERA State Program.
Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe
Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe in Northern California also replaced an old fire truck but with a new cleaner diesel fire truck using funding from 2019 DERA Tribe and Territory Grant Program. The area is susceptible to wildfires, so funding a cleaner fire truck that works for the Tribe is important. Learn more about the Wildland Fire Engine Replacement; Blue Lake Rancheria (pdf) and the DERA Tribe and Territory Grant Program and the DERA Tribe and Territory Grant Program.
Tacoma, WA
Another project in Washington uses a different kind of alternative fuel: natural gas. The City of Tacoma, WA used 2019 DERA National funding to replace four diesel refuse haulers with four natural gas refuse haulers. The new haulers will make the air in Tacoma cleaner while it keeps the city and the homes within free from litter. Learn more about the Fire Truck Replacement Project; State of Washington (pdf) and the DERA National Program.
Los Angeles World Airports
Finally, Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), the airport authority that owns and operates LAX, repowered three diesel cargo loaders to be zero-emission battery electric powered. Funding from 2018 National DERA is supporting this project to help the airport reduce diesel emissions, a goal that is commemorated in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the airport and our local partner South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD). Learn more about the DERA National Program, and the MOUs between South Coast AQMD and the largest airports in the LA area.
Disclaimer
Reference to any specific commercial product, process, or service, by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply the endorsement, recommendation, or favor of West Coast Collaborative or its partners, including the United States Government.