Wisconsin scores grant to clean up trucks

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made a $50,000 grant to the Wisconsin Department of Commerce to fund an effort to upgrade 25 heavy-duty diesel trucks that operate in the Badger State with emissions- reduction equipment.

“Heavy-duty trucks are the workhorses of our transportation economy,” said Mary Gade, the EPA’s Region 5 Administrator. “This grant will help truckers reduce air pollution in the communities they serve.”

Gade said the cost per truck for the emission-technology upgrades will range from about $2,000 for diesel oxidation catalysts to about $12,000 for diesel particulate filters.

The grant is part of Region 5's Midwest Clean Diesel Initiative (MCDI), a collaboration of federal, state and local agencies along with communities, non-profit organizations and private companies aimed at reducing emissions from diesel engines. MCDI estimates there are more than 3-million engines in the Midwest that would benefit from new pollution-reduction technology.