It’s been two years since Congress passed the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act – or DERA
– to help states cut down on pollution. But as Brian Bull reports, an advocacy group says
no money’s gone to support any efforts yet:
Transcript
It’s been two years since Congress passed the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act – or DERA
– to help states cut down on pollution. But as Brian Bull reports, an advocacy group says
no money’s gone to support any efforts yet:
Congress authorized up to one billion dollars over a five-year period, to enable states to
“retrofit” their diesel vehicle fleets with special devices. Backers say they can reduce up
to 90 percent of emissions caused by buses, trucks, and other state vehicles.
Dawn Fenton is policy director for the Diesel Technology Forum. She says Congress
didn’t allocate any money to the programs while it was putting together the most recent
fiscal year budget:
“Retrofitting diesel-vehicles is one of the most cost-effective ways that you can reduce
emission of particulate matter. And by funding a diesel-retrofit program, the federal
government gets more bang for its buck, in terms of the investment that it’s making”
There’s reportedly 50 million dollars in DERA funding contained in the Interior
Appropriations bill for this fiscal year. The full Senate’s expected to review it this fall.
For the Environment Report, I’m Brian Bull.