Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM

A new initiative from the Environmental Protection Agency designed to reduce diesel emissions and improve air quality could help drum up business for the nation's struggling medium- and heavy-duty truck dealers.

The EPA's National Clean Diesel Campaign has launched a competitive grant program to help public agencies, such as state governments and municipalities, reduce diesel emissions from their fleets.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, signed into law February 17 by President Barack Obama, includes $300 million to support clean diesel activities to retrofit or replace not only commercial trucks, but also buses, marine engines, locomotives and non-road engines; and vehicles used for construction, cargo handling (including ports and airports), agriculture, mining and energy production.

Requests for Applications (RFAs) are now being accepted. Access www.epa.gov/otaq/eparecovery/ for the RFAs and additional information.

Funding will be available through three separate assistance programs: the National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program ($156 million), SmartWay Clean Diesel Finance Program ($30 million), and National Emerging Technology Program ($20 million).

The National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance and the Smartway Clean Diesel Finance RFAs will be open for 40 days and will close April 28. The National Emerging Technology RFA will be open for 47 days and will close May 5.

For questions regarding the RFAs or if you know a public agency in your area that might be interested, refer first to the above link or e-mail cleandiesel@epa.gov.

Although this is a national competition, applications must be submitted to the EPA region in which the project will take place. For more information, visit www.epa.gov/cleandiesel.