The city of Wilmington is one of six recipients to be awarded a grant out of the $1.3 million total for projects to reduce air pollution from diesel-powered mobile sources by the state Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality.
Mobile sources are any type of vehicle that can pollute the air, including automobiles, trucks, buses, locomotives, motorcycles, off-road vehicles, construction equipment and lawnmowers.
Sponsor Spotlight
NCDEQ announced the projects totaling $1,335,020 that will replace 21 vehicles, which will reduce an estimated 8.2 tons of nitrous oxide, or NOx, and 285 tons of greenhouse gases per year. NOx, a family of poisonous, highly reactive gases that form when fuel is burned at high temperatures, is emitted by automobiles, trucks and some nonroad vehicles such as construction equipment and boats as well as industrial sources such as power plants, industrial boilers, cement kilns and turbines, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Wilmington has been awarded $270,585 to replace a diesel refuse hauler with an all-electric refuse hauler and install charging infrastructure for the vehicle. This project completely removes the emissions associated with an internal combustion engine, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 36 tons annually.
In addition to Wilmington, NCDEQ awarded grants to the following five recipients:
- The city of Charlotte was awarded $390,207 to replace a diesel transit bus with an all-electric bus. This project completely removes the emissions associated with an internal combustion engine, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 141 tons annually.
- The town of Cary has been awarded $252,375 to replace a diesel refuse hauler with an all-electric refuse hauler and installation of charging infrastructure for the vehicle. This project completely removes the emissions associated with an internal combustion engine, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 21 tons annually.
- BMC East has been awarded $251,352 to replace seven short-haul diesel trucks and six diesel forklifts with new, cleaner technology in Cabarrus, Union and Wake counties. These vehicles will reduce NOx emissions by approximately 4.5 tons and greenhouse gas emissions by 43 tons annually.
- Waste Management of Carolinas Inc. was awarded $160,000 to replace four diesel refuse trucks with four compressed natural gas refuse trucks in Forsyth County. These four new trucks will reduce NOx emissions by approximately 0.8 tons and greenhouse gas emissions by 39 tons annually.
- Sundown Seafood was awarded $10,500 to replace a commercial fishing boat engine with a new, cleaner technology engine. This new technology will reduce NOx emissions by 2.5 tons annually.
NCDEQ is awarding the grants through the Division of Air Quality’s Mobile Source Emissions Reduction Grant program, funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act, or DERA, program, which supports projects designed to achieve significant diesel emissions reductions. The DERA funds will be supplemented by North Carolina Volkswagen Mitigation Trust funds.
For more information about the mobile sources diesel emissions reduction grant program, email daq.mscb.ncdaqgrants@ncdenr.
Sponsor Spotlight
