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News Releases from HeadquartersAir and Radiation (OAR)

EPA: $1 Million Available for Tribes to Clean Up Diesel Engines

06/16/2016
Contact Information: 
Christie St. Clair (stclair.christie@epa.gov)
202-564-2880

(Washington) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced the availability of $1 million in grant funding for tribal applicants to establish clean diesel projects. Under this grant competition, applicants may request up to $800,000 in federal funding.  
 
EPA anticipates awarding up to five tribal assistance agreements, and projects may include replacing, upgrading or retrofitting school buses, transit buses, heavy-duty diesel trucks, marine engines, locomotives, energy production generators or other diesel engines. Proposals from tribal applicants must be received by August 23, 2016. 
 
This competition is part of the Diesel Emission Reduction (DERA) program, which funds projects to clean up the nation’s legacy fleet of diesel engines. Older diesel engines emit air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and particulate matter.  These pollutants are linked to a range of serious health problems including asthma, lung and heart disease, other respiratory ailments, and premature death.  
 
Since 2008, DERA grants have significantly improved air quality and provided critical health benefits by reducing hundreds of thousands of tons of air pollution and saving millions of gallons of fuel.   This is the third tribes-only competition for clean diesel funding.  In 2014, EPA awarded over $925,000 to three tribes in Washington State to replace older marine engines with newer, more efficient ones, and in 2015 over $1.5M was awarded to six tribes in EPA Regions 6, 9, and 10 for engine repowers and replacement, and truck stop electrification to reduce truck idling.  
 
The Tribal Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program gives priority to projects which achieve significant reductions in diesel emissions and exposure in areas designated as having poor air quality and areas which receive a disproportionate quantity of air pollution from diesel fleets.  Further, priority for funding may be given to projects which address the needs and concerns of local communities, those that use partnerships to leverage additional resources and expertise to advance the goals of the project, and those which can demonstrate the ability to promote and continue efforts to reduce emissions after the project has ended. 
 
For more information on the Tribal Request for Proposals and related documents, visit /cleandiesel/clean-diesel-tribal-grants#rfp.  
 
For more information on the National Clean Diesel campaign, visit www.epa.gov/cleandiesel.  
 
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