Economic stimulus money to help Allegheny County shed three tons of soot
Allegheny County health officials, environmentalists and businesses earned a competitive federal grant, announced Thursday, intended to make Western Pennsylvania's air less sooty.
The county Health Department will distribute $3.49 million in economic stimulus money from the Environmental Protection Agency to four projects that will upgrade or replace diesel engines in transportation and construction equipment with cleaner-burning counterparts in the next year.
The improvements will reduce the amount of fine particulates, or soot, in the county by almost three tons every year, said Jim Thompson, the county's air quality program manager.
"Exposure to diesel pollution is linked to many serious health problems, including cancer, asthma, heart disease and premature death among those suffering from respiratory illnesses," he said.
The grant will pay for the following:
• Port Authority Transit: $1 million to replace two 1996 buses with 2010 hybrid electric buses and repower nine 2003 buses with engines that meet current emission standards.
• Constructors Association of Western Pennsylvania: $929,000 to upgrade 23 pieces of non-road construction equipment so they pollute less.
• Diamond Head Trucking and MultiServ Corp.: $603,000 to install diesel particulate filters on 35 dump trucks operating in and around U.S. Steel Corp.'s Clairton Coke Works.
• CSX Transportation: $875,000 to replace a vintage diesel switcher locomotive in the McKeesport rail yard with one that has the latest in pollution-control technology.
The Liberty-Clairton area exceeds federal standards for air pollution and a recent Carnegie Mellon University study found that downtown Pittsburgh has high levels of diesel soot, something these projects seek to address, Thompson said.
Forty organizations applied for a share of $16.1 million available to the EPA's MidAtlantic region. Allegheny County was one of seven to receive grants.
"That's very stiff competition, and the reason Allegheny County came out on top was because ... we're going to see three tons of reduction in particulate emissions from diesel engines," said Diana Esher, acting director of EPA's MidAtlantic Air Protection Division. The replacement work will create 97 temporary jobs, she said.
In addition to the reduction in soot, there will be less carbon monoxide, a toxic gas; less nitrogen oxide, which is in smog; and fewer hydrocarbons, which are in greenhouse gases, Thompson said.
"This is really just hitting the tip of the iceberg in terms of the amount of diesel emission reduction projects that could happen in our area," said Rachel Filippini, executive director of the Group Against Smog and Pollution, a Squirrel Hill environmental group. GASP and fellow environmental group Clean Water Action helped the county decide which projects should receive the federal money.
