Contributed
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality has awarded $1.369 million in grants for projects that will reduce air pollution from diesel-powered mobile sources.
Among the list is Hirschbach Motor Lines Inc. of Tar Heel, which was awarded $140,800. The company will replace one diesel yard spotter with one electric yard spotter. This project, according to the application, eliminates the greenhouse gas emissions and 0.64 tons of lifetime NOx emissions associated with internal combustion engines.
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. DEQ awards Mobile Source Emissions Reduction Grants every year for projects to replace, retrofit or repair diesel vehicles and reduce emissions.
This year’s awarded projects will replace 10 diesel vehicles with cleaner alternatives. Most of the funding, more than $909,000, will go toward new electric vehicles. Electrification projects, projects in historically under-resourced counties, and projects submitted by minority-owned or women-owned businesses received bonus points during the scoring of applications.
Together, this year’s awards will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 2,656 tons over their lifetimes. They will also eliminate more than 40 tons of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and 2 tons of particulate matter.
Applications for the 2022 Mobile Source Emissions Reduction grants opened last September and closed in November. After reviewing the proposals, the Division awarded grants to the following regional projects:
• Bald Head Transportation Inc., Brunswick County, $185,600. Replaces two marine diesel propulsion engines trucks with new, cleaner technology. This project reduces lifetime NOx emissions by 23.9 tons.
• Cumberland County Solid Waste, $183,950. Replaces one diesel excavator and one diesel grader with new, cleaner equipment. This project reduces lifetime NOx emissions by 4.43 tons.
• Waste Management of Carolinas, New Hanover and Lee counties, $90,000. Replaces three diesel refuse trucks with three low-NOx compressed natural gas (CNG) refuse trucks. This project reduces 4.69 tons of lifetime NOx emissions associated with diesel combustion engines.
These grants are funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) program. The purpose of the DERA program is to support projects designed to achieve significant diesel emissions reductions.
For more information about the Mobile Sources Emissions Reduction grant program, visit the Division of Air Quality’s website at https://deq.nc.gov/DERA or email daq.mscb.ncdaqgrants@ncdenr.gov.
About Author
