Two Wilmington firms are among the recipients of grants for projects to reduce air pollution from diesel-powered vehicles and other mobile equipment.
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality announced Monday that its Division of Air Quality had awarded a total of $1.11 million in grants, including $40,000 to Waste Management of Carolinas Inc. and $97,933 to Southeast Crescent Shipping Co., both of New Hanover County.
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The division awards Mobile Source Emissions Reduction Grants yearly for projects to replace, retrofit or repair diesel vehicles and reduce emissions. It said the awards this year would replace 18 older diesel vehicles with what it called “cleaner alternatives,” with the majority, more than $866,000, going toward new electric vehicles.
In total, the awards this year will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 3,000 tons over their lifetimes. They will also eliminate more than 43 tons of nitrogen oxide and 4 tons of particulate matter, officials said.
Waste Management is to use the grant money to replace two diesel freight refuse haulers with two low-nitrogen oxide compressed natural gas refuse haulers. The agency said this project reduces 0.49 tons of lifetime nitrogen oxide emissions associated with diesel combustion engines.
Southeast Crescent Shipping Co.’s grant is for replacing four diesel port forklifts with new, cleaner technology, a move that will cut lifetime nitrogen oxide emissions by 5.33 tons.
Applications for the 2023 Mobile Source Emissions Reduction grants closed in February. Electrification projects, projects in historically under-resourced counties or environmental justice communities, and projects submitted by minority-owned or women-owned businesses received bonus points during the scoring of applications, officials said.
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The grants are funded by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act, or DERA, program, which supports projects designed to achieve significant diesel emissions reductions. This year, EPA prioritized funding for goods-movement facilities, environmental justice and disadvantaged communities, project resilience to climate impacts and workforce development.
DEQ said diesel engines, particularly older equipment, emit pollution that can contribute to health conditions including asthma and heart and lung disease. The agency also cited damage to crops and other vegetation, formation of acid rain, impaired visibility, and further climate change and global warming as risks of diesel emissions.
For more information about the Mobile Sources Emissions Reduction grant program, visit the division’s website.
