St. Louis Clean Cities Receives $162,454 For Diesel Emissions Reduction To Replace School Buses In Jefferson County, Mo.

The non-profit organization St. Louis Clean Cities has been awarded $162,454 to replace one bus from the Jefferson R-VII School District in Festus, Mo., and five buses from the DeSoto Public School District No. 73 in DeSoto, Mo. The new buses purchased under this grant will have EPA-certified engines meeting 2013 standards.

Nationwide, EPA awarded a total of $8M for 21 clean diesel projects to reduce emissions from the nation’s existing fleet of diesel engines. This funding is part of EPA’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Program (DERA) Fiscal Year 2014 allocation which will include engine replacements, repowers, and idle reduction technologies to clean up a variety of older diesel engines.

“Supporting clean diesel projects like these is one way EPA helps make a visible difference in communities across the country,” said Janet McCabe, acting Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. “Cleaner trucks, buses, boats and heavy equipment keep local economies working and thriving while better protecting the health of neighborhoods.”

EPA allocated $8M in funding to the DERA national competitive grant program and received 50 applications requesting more than $32M.

Diesel engines are efficient but emit air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NOX) and particulate matter (PM). These pollutants are linked to a range of serious health problems including asthma, lung and heart disease, other respiratory ailments, and even premature death. Since the start of the DERA program in 2008, EPA has awarded over 700 grants across the U.S. in 600 communities. Many of these projects fund cleaner diesel engines that operate in economically disadvantaged communities whose residents suffer from higher-than-average instances of asthma, heart, and lung disease.