News Releases from Region 06

EPA helps upgrade Albuquerque diesel-powered trucks, protecting future generations and improving air quality

DALLAS – (Oct.10, 2019) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently awarded $909,697 to the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico to replace 14 diesel-powered trucks with new trucks that meet 2019 EPA emissions standards. Throughout Children’s Health Month, EPA is highlighting many programs and resources that state and local partners can use to protect our nation’s children. This grant was made available under a competitive national grant program administered by EPA with funding authorized by Congress under the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA).

“Protecting children’s health is one of EPA’s most important responsibilities and we are taking steps to ensure that children are breathing clean air,” said EPA Regional Administrator Ken McQueen. “This grant demonstrates our commitment to reduce emissions and improve air quality for future generations.”

Older diesel engines emit large amounts of pollutants including nitrogen oxide (NOx) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), which contribute to serious public health problems, including asthma, lung cancer and various other cardiac and respiratory diseases. DERA grants have funded projects that provided immediate health and environmental benefits. From fiscal years 2008 to 2016, EPA has awarded more than $629 million to retrofit or replace more than 67,300 engines in vehicles, vessels, locomotives or other pieces of equipment. EPA estimates that these projects will reduce emissions by 472,700 tons of NOx and 15,490 tons of PM2.5 over the lifetime of the affected engines.

October 1, 2019, marks the beginning of EPA's Children's Health Month. In 1995, EPA began to focus explicitly on the unique vulnerabilities and needs of children, including pregnant women, with respect to the air they breathe, the water they drink, and exposures to chemicals in places where they live, learn and play. Clean diesel funding through DERA has supported nearly 25,000 cleaner buses across the country for America's schoolchildren.

For more information on DERA grants and EPA's Clean Diesel Program, visit https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/cleandiesel.

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