Related Programs (Archive)

Note: West Coast Collaborative no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.

Below are Federal, State, and Collaborative programs related to diesel emissions reductions incentives.

Federal Resources

• FedCenter: Federal sustainability and energy and biodiesel projects.
• Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) Funding: Building on the successes of EPA’s regulatory and voluntary efforts to reduce emissions from diesel engines, EPA created the National Clean Diesel Campaign (NCDC) to work aggressively to reduce the pollution emitted from diesel engines across the country through the implementation of varied control strategies and the aggressive involvement of national, state, and local partners.
• Clean School Bus USA: An EPA effort that reduces both children's exposure to diesel exhaust and the amount of air pollution created by diesel school buses
• SmartWay Transport: A voluntary program between EPA and the freight industry that will increase the energy efficiency while significantly reducing air pollution and greenhouse gases.
• U.S. EPA’s Voluntary Diesel Retrofit Program: Works to reduce pollution from existing diesel vehicles and equipment by encouraging cleaner burning fuel and pollution-reducing devices.
• Clean Cities: A U.S. Department of Energy program that supports the idea of adopting practices that contribute to reduced petroleum consumption in the transportation sector.

• U.S. Department of Agriculture/Natural Resource Conservation Services’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP): Funds provide a voluntary conservation program for farmers and ranchers that promotes agricultural production and environmental quality.
• U.S, Department of Transportation's Congestion Mitigation Air Quality CMAQ funds: These funds are available to improve air quality and reduce congestion.

State Voluntary Efforts

Washington

• Diesel Solutions: A voluntary public-private program led by the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency to begin making diesel vehicles in the region up to 90 percent cleaner.
• Clean School Bus Program: Under this program, 5,000 diesel school buses, will be retrofitted between now and 2008 to make them cleaner for the children who ride them and at the same time make the air cleaner for everyone.

California

• Carl Moyer Program: The California Air Resources Board and local air pollution control districts provide grants for the entire incremental costs of voluntarily reducing emissions from heavy duty engines. Eligible projects include incremental cost of emission reduction retrofits, idle reduction retrofits, engine replacement (repower) and purchase of new cleaner vehicle. Originally funded by the Governor in 1995 with $25 million, this program now receives almost $155 million per year.
• Lower Emissions School Bus Program: Assembly Bill 425 directs that 20 percent of the Proposition 40 funds made available to the ARB shall be allocated for the acquisition of "clean, safe, school buses for use in California's public schools.

Oregon

• In Oregon, the state provides tax credits to assist in the prevention and control of pollution from diesel engines.
  • Oregon Clean Diesel Retrofit Tax Credit
  • Oregon Truck Engine Tax Credit
• Oregon Environmental Council: A nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with more than 2000 members throughout the state coming together for a healthy environment.
• Climate Trust: The State of Oregon took action to address the serious threat of limate change in 1997 when the Legislature enacted the first law in the U.S. aimed at reducing greenhouse gas levels. This law (the Oregon Standard) requires new power plants built in Oregon to offset part of their emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the most abundant greenhouse gas. The Oregon Standard allows power plants to comply by paying mitigation funds to a non-profit organization that meets certain qualifications. In turn, the qualified organization must use the funds to carry out projects that avoid, sequester, or displace the carbon dioxide the plant will emit in excess of the required standard. The Climate Trust was chartered as such a qualified organization in 1997.

Arkansas

• Arkansas Smart Way Program: The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality is providing low interest loans to small trucking fleets to purchase fuel-saving technology packages that can include idle reduction devices, single wide tires, trailer aerodynamics and emission control devices. They partnered with EPA’s SmartWay Transport program and were originally funded by a $3.5 million appropriation from state legislature, but now, the program now pays for itself.

Texas

• Texas Emission Reduction Incentive Grants: The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is providing grants for incremental costs associated with reducing oxides of nitrogen in poor air quality areas. Eligible diesels include on-road heavy duty vehicles, off-road equipment, marine vessels, locomotives and stationary equipment. Eligible activities include replacement, repower, emission reduction retrofit, idling reduction retrofit, idling reduction infrastructure, refueling infrastructure, alternative fuels and demonstration of new technology.

Collaborative Efforts

• Rocky Mountain Clean Diesel Collaborative: The Rocky Mountain Clean Diesel Collaborative (RMCDC) is a partnership between EPA Region 8, Denver Regional Air Quality Council (RAQC), Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment (CDPHE), and Denver Department of Environmental Health.
• Southeast Diesel Collaborative: The Southeast Diesel Collaborative (SEDC) is a partnership involving leaders from federal, state and local government, the private sector and other stakeholders in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The goal of this partnership is to improve air quality and public health by encouraging the use of clean, renewable energy and technology and by reducing diesel emissions from existing engines and equipment from the agriculture, heavy construction and on-road sectors.
• West Coast Ocean Alliance: In September 2003, the Governors of Washington, Oregon and California committed to a regional greenhouse gas reduction initiative. The Governors concluded that global warming will have serious adverse consequences on the economy, health and environment of the west coast states and that the states must act individually and regionally to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to achieve a variety of economic benefits from lower dependence on fossil fuels. As an initial step, the Governors directed their staffs to develop joint policy recommendations on reduction strategies that require regional cooperation and action.
• Northwest Biodiesel Network: The Northwest Biodiesel Network promotes the use of biodiesel in the Northwest as an immediate and effective way to advance environmental health, economic strength, and social and political well-being in our communities, our nation, and the world.
• Mid-Atlantic Diesel Collaborative: This fall, 2005, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Air Management Association (MARAMA) and U.S. EPA Region III are proud to announce the establishment of Mid-Atlantic Diesel Collaborative, a new regional effort to reduce diesel related emissions. This Collaborative is a partnership between leaders from federal, state, and local government, the private sector, and environmental groups in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and the District of Columbia and is part of an overall national campaign to reduce diesel emissions.
• Blue Skyways: The Blue Skyways Collaborative was created to encourage voluntary air emissions reduction in North America’s heartland. Conceived on a cocktail napkin at a business meeting in Bandera, Texas, in 2004, the collaborative has since grown into a full-fledged program with the help of CenSARA and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Participants of the collaborative celebrated a kick-off meeting in February of 2006 and the organization has been attracting new members ever since.
• Northeast Diesel Collaborative: U.S. EPA Regions 1 and 2, Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM)