OAKLAND (BCN) -- Owners of heavy duty vehicles and equipment in the Bay Area can apply this week for grant money to replace or upgrade older, polluting diesel engines.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has up to $20 million in grant money for eligible projects, provided by the Carl Moyer Program, a state-funded program to reduce ozone-forming and toxic emissions from aging diesel equipment.
The program is designed to address diesel trucks and buses, marine vessels, construction equipment, locomotives and agricultural irrigation pumps.
Jack Broadbent, executive officer of the air district, said such vehicles and equipment are "a major source of toxic emissions in the Bay Area."
Particular areas of concern in the Bay Area are eastern San Francisco, West Oakland, East Oakland and San Leandro, San Jose, Richmond and Concord, and the air district will give preference to programs in those communities.
Grants will be available for projects including the installation of particle traps, the replacement of older diesel engines with newer and cleaner engines, and the purchase of new, cleaner vehicles and equipment.
The air district is accepting proposals beginning Wednesday. A workshop in San Francisco on Friday will explain program guidelines. For more information, visit www.baaqmd.gov/moyer.
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