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BNA: Senate Plans to Move on Reauthorization of Diesel Emissions Reduction Grants
November 29, 2010

Posted by Matt Dempsey Matt_Dempsey@epw.senate.gov 

BNA

Senate Plans to Move on Reauthorization of Diesel Emissions Reduction Grants

November 24, 2010

Steven D. Cook

Link to Article  

Sponsors of legislation (S. 3973) that would reauthorize grants to state, local, and tribal governments for programs to reduce emissions from existing diesel engines are looking to get the bill passed by the House and Senate before Congress adjourns this year.

The bill, sponsored by outgoing Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) with 29 co-sponsors, would authorize $200 million each year for the grants for fiscal years 2012 through 2016.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee plans to mark up the bill Nov. 30, according to a committee agenda for the lame-duck session.

"We're working to get the bill through committee as quickly as possible," Matt Dempsey, spokesman for Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and a bill cosponsor, told BNA Nov. 23.

With the bill garnering bipartisan support, "we feel confident we can get it through the Senate," Dempsey said.

The program, known as the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA), was established under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Pub. L. No. 109-58), and authorized $200 million for five years through fiscal year 2011. Voinovich sponsored the original legislation (S. 1265) in 2005. The Voinovich bill, which had bipartisan support, was incorporated into the Energy Policy Act.

The program was intended to reduce emissions from some of the 11 million diesel engines that the Environmental Protection Agency estimates are in operation without emissions controls.

Uncontrolled diesel engines are major sources of hazardous particulate matter pollution, and also nitrogen oxides, which are a precursor to the formation of ground-level ozone, a major lung irritant also linked to premature death.

The fiscal year 2010 appropriation for the program was $80 million. Congress in 2009 provided $300 million for the program in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Pub. L. No. 111-5). For fiscal year 2011, President Obama asked for $60 million).

The current bill's co-sponsors include Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). Sen. Thomas Carper (D-Del.), chairman of the Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety, is the chief co-sponsor.

A Senate aide said sponsors plan to move the bill through the Senate and expect the House to take up the Senate-passed bill.

"In 2005, I was proud to join my friend Tom Carper in authoring the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act, which enjoyed such broad support it was passed into law a mere 45 days after its introduction," Voinovich said Nov. 18 in a statement. "The DERA program is one of the best actions our government has taken to improve air quality and help states and localities meet air quality standards."

Carper said the program saves lives and creates jobs. "DERA leverages federal dollars so efficiently that for every $1 invested, we get $13 in health and economic benefits in return," he said.

Inhofe said the bill will help communities comply with EPA's proposed more stringent air quality standard for ozone. He called it a "targeted and cost-effective initiative."

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