Cargo Handling Equipment Replacement and Retrofit Project

Press

The News Tribune
January 27, 2009
Grant to Help Reduce Emissions from Port Equipment
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded an $850,000 grant today to the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency to help reduce diesel emissions at the ports of Tacoma and Seattle. The money will help retrofit 84 pieces of cargo handling equipment at the ports with diesel particulate and other types of filters, replace old trucks with new ones and install oxidation catalysts on two top loaders, according to the clean air agency. "By cutting diesel emissions from heavy duty engines at our ports these retrofits and engine replacements will help us clear the air and protect more people from the hazards of diesel exhaust and fine particulates," said Michelle Pirzadeh, the EPA's acting regional administrator, in a news release. The clean air agency reports that cargo handling equipment and off-highway trucks at the two ports emit almost 80 tons of diesel particulate matter per year. The retrofit project will "greatly reduce" those emissions, the agency says, help keep the Puget Sound region within federal clean air standards and help the ports meet their own pollution reduction goals under the Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy. The ports are providing an additional $200,000 toward the project and the clean air agency is kicking in $118,000.

The Journal of Commerce Online
January 28, 2009
PNW Ports Expand Program to Lower Diesel Emissions
The ports of Seattle and Tacoma, and the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency announced they have approved a total of $318,000 in additional funding for a program to lower diesel emissions of port cargo-handling equipment. The additional money comes on top of $850,000 from the federal Environmental Protection Agency for this initiative. This funding supports the retrofit or replacement of 38 off-highway trucks, cranes and forklifts at the Port of Seattle, or approximately 10 percent of its fleet. At the Port of Tacoma, 50 to 60 terminal tractors, cranes, off-highway trucks and general industrial equipment will be retrofitted. That’s about 14 percent of its fleet. All of the replaced and retrofitted equipment will use ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel. The EPA’s grant is matched with $118,000 from the PSCAA and $200,000 from the two ports. The emissions reductions will also further goals outlined in the NW Ports Clean Air Strategy, a collaborative effort between Seattle, Tacoma and Port Metro Vancouver, Canada, to reduce seaport-related emissions in the region.

Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce
January 29, 2009
$850,000 Will Help Clear Air at Ports
The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency was awarded an $850,000 grant by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to bolster a program to reduce diesel emissions at the ports of Seattle and Tacoma. Partner contributions to the program bring the total amount to $1,168,000.