The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed into law this week by President Obama will make $300 million available to heavy-duty diesel vehicle and equipment owners to retrofit their fleets with cleaner-burning engines.


This funding for the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act will be administered by the Environmental Protection Agency, representing a six-fold increase from last year's $49.2 million funding level.

"This funding represents a bold new investment in clean diesel technology that will be good for our economy and our environment," said Allen Schaeffer, Executive Director of the Diesel Technology Forum. "Now the challenge will be to help applicants prepare good project proposals for what will likely be an expedited application process.

"Applicants for these funds should move quickly to develop an application since time is of the essence, with EPA's application process only open for a period of 30 days," noted Schaeffer. The Diesel Technology Forum has a number of online resources available to aid potential grant applicants:

* How to Develop a Competitive Retrofit Proposal (www.dieselforum.org/webinars): View a recorded 90-minute webinar that provides tips for developing a competitive proposal. Three EPA representatives discussed the DERA program and offered advice to applicants followed by two case studies from recipients of last year's funding. The site will also post answers to questions raised by attendees.

* Access a sample application provided by the EPA. This and other materials about DERA are available on EPA's National Clean Diesel Campaign website, www.epa.gov/cleandiesel.

* Retrofitting America's Diesel Engines: A Guide to Cleaner Air Through Cleaner Diesel. This white paper describes various retrofit technologies and implementation criteria that should be considered when developing a project.

DERA funding is available for upgrading both on- and off-road diesel projects employing one of the five R's of retrofit (rebuilding engines, repowering or replacing engines; replacing entire vehicles; refueling with cleaner fuels or retrofitting with emissions control technologies). Private sector applicants cannot apply directly, but can do so in partnership with state and local governments or a non-governmental organization.

The Diesel Technology Forum is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about the economic importance and environmental progress of diesel engines and equipment.