Among the many program terminations, reductions and savings outlined today in the president’s budget is the proposed termination of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act grant program.
Enacted funding for the program in 2010 was $60 million.
The Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) grant program was authorized as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to fund retrofits and replacements of the oldest, most polluting diesel engines, complementing the stringent emissions standards on new diesel engines that EPA promulgated in 2007.
The budget justification declares that the grant program has largely succeeded: with the $469 million appropriated by the Congress from 2008-2010, the
program has produced tangible reductions in NOx and PM emissions. In 2008, for example, the program retrofitted or replaced approximately 14,000 diesel engines, resulting in emissions reductions of 46,000 tons
of NOx and 2,200 tons of particulate matter.
EPA has estimated these reductions occur at a cost to benefit
ratio of up to 13:1, but as the program retrofits and replaces newer engines, its cost effectiveness decreases, because the same amount of grant funding results in less substantial emissions reductions.
Having achieved its short term objective to remove or retrofit the oldest and dirtiest engines, according to the justification, in the longer
term any additional emissions reductions will occur even without DERA funding, as the inventory of existing engines turns over and new cleaner engines become the norm.
To the extent that certain locales may wish to further reduce emissions for diesel engines, other sources
of funding are still available to fund retrofits or replacements. The Department of Transportation, for
instance, typically funds diesel retrofits at $45 million annually through its Congestion Mitigation and Air
Quality Improvement program. Separately, California’s Proposition 1B finances projects to reduce diesel
emissions from freight transportation. In addition, $7.1 million in diesel emission reduction projects is being
provided through Supplemental Environmental Project enforcement agreements.