Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection has awarded $19.6 million to fund 18 clean transportation technology projects spread across 15 counties, part of a continuing push to cut diesel pollution tied to freight and cargo transportation. The money is aimed squarely at communities that officials describe as disproportionately affected by that kind of pollution, from Philadelphia to Allegheny County.
The grants, announced Thursday, were distributed across Allegheny, Berks, Blair, Bucks, Centre, Clearfield, Columbia, Dauphin, Lackawanna, Lebanon, Lehigh, Luzerne, Philadelphia, Schuylkill and Westmoreland counties, according to PA Environment Digest. DEP says the projects are intended to reduce diesel emissions from freight and cargo transportation sources specifically in communities that bear an outsized share of that pollution burden.
DEP Secretary Jessica Shirley framed the funding as part of a broader strategy to wean the state's transportation sector off older diesel technology. “With the help of the PA-FIT grants we can help organizations reduce polluting emissions from diesel engines,” Shirley said, adding that the program invests in alternative transportation clean technologies and Pennsylvania communities.
What the Grants Are Expected to Accomplish
DEP estimates the 18 projects will cut nitrogen oxide emissions by roughly 88 tons per year once implemented. Nitrogen oxides are described by the agency as the gases most relevant to air pollution. The same round of projects is expected to reduce particulate matter, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide by a combined 34 tons annually, per the project estimates cited in the announcement.
The funding traces back to a May 2018 settlement with Volkswagen over violations of national vehicle emissions standards, the report notes. That settlement fed into a larger pot of money the state has been drawing on for years to replace aging diesel engines.
Part of a Longer-Running Cleanup Effort
This latest award is the newest chapter in Driving PA Forward, a DEP-administered initiative launched in 2018 under the Wolf Administration to improve air quality by pushing the transportation sector away from older diesel engines and toward cleaner alternatives, according to a Commonwealth of Pennsylvania interim report. Pennsylvania's overall allocation from the Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust was $118.54 million, with DEP designated to distribute those funds statewide.
By the close of the 2021 fiscal year on June 30, 2022, the program had already issued 79 grants and 995 rebates, totaling more than $70.9 million, the interim report states. Those earlier investments were projected to cut annual nitrogen oxide emissions by 284.33 tons, a figure that dwarfs the latest round's 88-ton estimate but reflects a much larger cumulative set of projects built up over several years.
Other Rounds Show the Program's Reach
The Driving PA Forward umbrella has funded a variety of grant types over time, and they are not interchangeable with this month's 18 awards. DEP previously opened up $3,659,904 in grants through the Fiscal Year 2021-2022 Pennsylvania State Clean Diesel Grant Program, according to papetroleum.org. About $2.6 million of that offering came from the Volkswagen Group-USA settlement and served as Pennsylvania's voluntary match funding under the federal Diesel Emissions Reduction Act program, with applications for that round due by 11:59 p.m. on October 20, 2023.
In a separate pilot effort, DEP awarded $39,605,578.58 to 16 applicants through the 2022-2023 Medium- and Heavy-Duty Zero-Emission Vehicle Pilot Grant, funded through the Environmental Mitigation Trust Agreement for State Beneficiaries, as reported by The Trucker. That grant focused on replacing diesel fleets with electric vehicles rather than the freight and cargo technology upgrades funded in this latest $19.6 million round.
Together, the various rounds illustrate how Pennsylvania has leaned on the Volkswagen settlement money for nearly a decade to chip away at diesel pollution across the state, with each new award building on the last toward the broader air-quality goals Shirley and DEP have repeatedly cited.
