The first chunk of federal economic stimulus money spent on the environment will be spent in Colorado scrubbing diesel pollution from the air.
On Friday, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment received $1.73 million to retrofit 250 of the state’s more than 5,000 school buses with pollution-control equipment.
Jim Martin, director of the state health department, said the new gear includes crankcase filtration units that capture pollution; oxidation catalysts, similar to catalytic converters on gas-powered vehicles, to replace mufflers; and engine preheaters that eliminate the need to warm up a cold engine by idling it for several minutes.
Martin said the state has already retrofitted roughly 1,000 school buses.
The state may also be in line to receive roughly $62 million in stimulus funds to repair infrastructure problems involving drinking-water and wastewater treatment plants, he said.
At the same news conference at the Environmental Protection Agency offices in LoDo on Friday, acting regional administrator Carol Rushin announced that the Regional Air Quality Council had won a $455,000 grant to clean up diesel pollution in the metro area.
A portion of that money will be spent buying auxiliary power units for over- the-road trucks, which enable a driver to shut his large diesel engine off while resting or sleeping.
Tony Cromwell, a vice president with Champion Auto Carriers in Commerce City, said APUs on two of his over- the-road trucks have saved the company $16,000 in fuel in the past year.
At the news conference, Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien said she advocates bringing back auto shop classes to high schools, to help train more people to keep their vehicles running cleaner, more efficiently and longer.
The EPA’s Rushin said Colorado is in line to receive up to $100 million in stimulus funds for the environment.
Some of the money will be used for Superfund site cleanup, underground tank leakage and brownfield revitalizations. Amounts given out will be announced later this spring.
Mike McPhee: 303-954-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com
