DEQ Awards $1.1M for Projects that Reduce Air Pollution from Diesel Vehicles

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality (DAQ) has awarded $1.11 million in grants for projects that will reduce air pollution from diesel-powered mobile sources.

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. DAQ 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 18 older diesel vehicles — four on-road refuse trucks and 14 off-road vehicles — with cleaner alternatives. Most of the funding, $866,300, will go toward new electric vehicles. Electrification projects, projects in historically under-resourced counties or environmental justice communities, 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 3,044 tons over their lifetimes. They will also eliminate more than 43 tons of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and 4 tons of particulate matter.

Applications for the 2023 Mobile Source Emissions Reduction grants opened last November and closed in February. After reviewing the proposals, DAQ awarded grants to the following projects:

Applicant: Premier Warehousing Services, Inc.
County: Gaston
Grant Award: $290,000
Project Summary: Replaces two diesel freight terminal tractors with electric terminal tractors. This project eliminates the greenhouse gas emissions and 5.3 tons of lifetime NOx emissions associated with an internal combustion engine.

Applicant: Ingles Markets Inc.
County: Buncombe
Grant Award: $285,400
Project Summary: Replaces two diesel freight terminal switch tractors with electric terminal switch tractors. This project eliminates the greenhouse gas emissions and 15.6 tons of lifetime NOx emissions associated with an internal combustion engine.

Applicant: Harris Teeter, LLC
County: Guilford
Grant Award: $158,480
Project Summary: Replaces one diesel freight terminal switch tractor with an electric terminal switch tractor. This project eliminates the greenhouse gas emissions and 10.23 tons of lifetime NOx emissions associated with an internal combustion engine.

Applicant: Delta Air Lines, Inc.
County: Wake
Grant Award: $132,420
Project Summary: Replaces four pieces of diesel airport ground support equipment with electric ground support equipment. This project eliminates the greenhouse gas emissions and 1.22 tons of lifetime NOx emissions associated with an internal combustion engine.

Applicant: Waste Management of Carolinas, Inc.
County: New Hanover
Grant Award: $40,000
Project Summary: Replaces two diesel freight refuse haulers with two low-NOx compressed natural gas refuse haulers. This project reduces 0.49 tons of lifetime NOx emissions associated with diesel combustion engines.

Applicant: City of Statesville
County: Iredell
Grant Award: $109,711
Project Summary: Replaces two municipal refuse haulers and one municipal rubber tire dozer with new, cleaner technology. This project reduces lifetime NOx emissions by 5.69 tons.

Applicant: Southeast Crescent Shipping Company
County: New Hanover
Grant Award: $97,933
Project Summary: Replaces four diesel port forklifts with new, cleaner technology. This project reduces lifetime NOx emissions by 5.33 tons.

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. This year, EPA prioritized funding for goods movement facilities, environmental justice and disadvantaged communities, project resilience to climate impacts and workforce development.

Diesel engines, particularly those manufactured before the stringent standards required from today’s vehicles, emit pollution that can contribute to health conditions like asthma and heart and lung disease. Diesel exhaust can also damage crops and other vegetation, contribute to the formation of acid rain, impair visibility, and further climate change and global warming. Many communities of color and low-income communities may be disproportionately impacted by pollution from mobile sources.

Awards from the 2022 Diesel Emission Reduction grant program funded the replacement of 10 vehicles and reduced more than 40 tons of NOx and 2,656 tons of greenhouse gases.

For more information about the Mobile Sources Emissions Reduction grant program, visit DAQ’s website at https://deq.nc.gov/DERA or email daq.mscb.ncdaqgrants@deq.nc.gov.